Eucalyptus Stump Removal- Epsom Salt?

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GoldField

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I have a few eucalyptus trees that are showing up where they shouldn't. After taking them down, will holes drilled in the stumps and filling these holes with epsom salt make these stumps rot and stop any suckers from returning? It is an agricultural property and I do not want to interfere with crop production.

Any informed thoughts or suggestions are welcomed.

If this is not the proper forum, please let me know.

Thanks.
 
Hi, I deal with eucalyptus everyday here and I can tell you that drilling holes will not work. This is what I suggest and as a certified arborist, no one will disagree with me. Grab a saw and make a fresh stump cut. Have full strength round-up with you. As soon as you make the fresh cut, use the round-up generously on the outer 2-3 inches of the stump all the way around the stump. That is the cambium and it will immediately suck the the round-up into the stump and into the roots. When you drill into the stump, you are drilling into the xylem and heartwood, the herbicide does not get to the roots.
Jeff
It was a beautiful day!
 
I've seen a couple of videos about using manure compost to rot out a stump. A few videos said epsom salt does not work on roots. Just yesterday I dropped some tractor buckets of horse manure and hay mixture on the stumps. Only time will tell for sure but the video posters said it works.
 
I tried the epsom salt trick on a poplar stump about 7 years ago. Drilled about 12 holes starting in the outer perimeter and worked. Few into the center of it. Holes were 1 1/4" round and as deep as the bit would go (6-8" ish) filled all the holes tippy top, then watered them down. Stumps still there to this day. It is rotting but not as fast as I thought it would, especially being poplar. I never had any suckers or shoots try to grow off the stump though. Just my experience with it. A stump grinder would have worked better.
 
I'd think that salt will kill the yeast and bacteria that decompose the wood, slowing the process
Epsom salt isnt really a salt like your thinking of. It's actually magnesium sulfate, and commonly used as a soil amendment. Provides magnesium and sulfur to plants. Go grab a bag and toss it around the yard, perks up the grass pretty good for a wile.
 
Epsom salt isnt really a salt like your thinking of. It's actually magnesium sulfate, and commonly used as a soil amendment. Provides magnesium and sulfur to plants. Go grab a bag and toss it around the yard, perks up the grass pretty good for a wile.
Looks like in small doses you're right, but in high doses it does kill microbes
 
Looks like in small doses you're right, but in high doses it does kill microbes
Semi retired. Years of Lawn and Tree care. One lawn under contract had a stump hard as any freshly cut stump. Lady said this thing won't rot out. Didn't want to spend the money for a stump grinder. I asked her for a cup of Table Salt and a cup of Sugar. Told her not to stop the Ants. I wet the stump put that atop. Covered that with thick plastic. Laid a big flagstone on top. Next year the ants were building in the stump. I kept it wet The next year (about 24 months) after the first treatment I removed everything and with a sledgehammer broke it all up and cleaned out the hole. Some parts remained but under the soil. I had that account for 10 or 12 years. I'd add some dirt as the land dropped until one day you couldn't tell a stump had ever been there. Many stumps can rot well if you plunge cut an X pretty deep into the stump add your Sugar and Salt. The trick is covering the stump so moisture can get under there. I have a stump grinder but when I use that it's not cheap and even then after a few years there will be a dimple. Burning a stump can work at times but I've seen some last for years after being charred. Charred wood seems to resist rot and bugs hate the taste
I charr my treated Posts and coat them with (a mix, thats another topic) something to keep them from rotting when building pole barns and out buildings. My oldest barn built in 1993 was built using Landscape timbers, and pine poles charred and treated and they are solid after all these years.
This year I cut a tree and then cut a round and instructed the homeowner to put a cup of Salt and sugar on the stump, lay the round on top and keep it moist. We'll see.
 
Grind it. Spray new growth with Remedy. I have never had luck spraying the fresh cut stump. It need to travel back down on new growth.
 
Here where I live we have Sweet Gum trees. New stuff even sprouts from the roots. Grinder works but I've missed part of a root and small trees came back. Now I cut the gum tree and witn in minutes with FULL STRENGTH 41% Glyphosate (Generic, Round up) Using a 2 inch paint brush I paint the outer 3 inches all way around the stump. This big Gum NEVER has had sprouts 3 years later
 

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Grab a saw and make a fresh stump cut. Have full strength round-up with you. As soon as you make the fresh cut, use the round-up generously on the outer 2-3 inches of the stump all the way around the stump. That is the cambium and it will immediately suck the the round-up into the stump and into the roots.
i prefer on a warm day, going into the warmest part of that day,
Aiming to command to slurp as much RoundUp into the cold blooded system by the patient.
i also tic-tac-toe hash-tag cuts to
>> expose more surface area
>> and give system of nooks and crannies for catching and hiding water and biologicals
>> and leaving micro fissures into wood separating single fibers, rather than smooth clean finishing cut.
else, the exact opposite/inversion to opposite paradigm of Doc Shigo prescription for clean cut that does not promote rot.
.
Buttermilk supposedly is good bio inoculation to do few times a yr.
>> But any bio-active probably better than none
.
Burning roots underground risks fire finding mass of mulch, other decaying pockets.
Tho fastest burn is by force feeding oxygen as fuel w/blower!
 
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