Stump-B-Gone

[tweaker214]

I have never used this product before. Please briefly explain how it is used to see if I want to attempt it.


At this time, I am planning on only removing a stump from a dead pine 75 feet tall, 12" diameter. My friend has a big bad ass drill with a 1" drive. He has much larger oak stumps to deal with. He got nowhere fast with a stump grinder, and was going to attempt more aggressive means like soaking in flammable liquids to later burn it out. I figured that they were to big to simply soak and burn out, besides the eco-disaster involved.


Also is Stump-B-Gone environmentally inert? Where does one go to find it?

Thanks for your responses!

 

[Menchhofer]

I do not understand how much more aggressive one could be than using a stump grinder. I cannot imagine a grinder not being able to take out a stump, thus resorting to burning it out. Did the grinder have any teeth? Were the teeth sharp?

I do not know about the product being friendly or not, but it still requires time to work. I have not had much success with it.

Stump b gone is found almost anywhere..you drill holes into the stump and add the product. It is supposed to help break down the stump.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It was probably a small rental stump grinder, designed for small crabapple stumps. Rental equipment are so abused that I would never use one, unless it came from a dealer. That big tracked Vermeer goes for 800/day around here. Last I looked. Cost it out between all the stumps and see if it would pay. 50 hp direct drive machine just melts through stumpage.

The stump "eating" products are notheing more then fertilizers that accelerate microbial decomposition. N is the biggest limiting factor, so by adding it to the tree and expanding the surface area you will speed up the decomposition.

It will take a while to do, I always advise people to fertilize piles of stump grindings so they will break down faster, allso maintain a moist environment.

I've heard that soaking grass clippings in water will culture lignophagic bacteria, and pouring this stuff on a stump that is kept wet will also break it down faster.

 

[treeguy347]

Make sure if it's a rental that half the teeth aren't reversed. The people at the rental yard insisted that that was the correct way to have em because it helps it oscillate. The service manager saved me after 10 minutes of arguing with the flunkie trying to couple it to the truck

 

[Stephen Wiley]

????????????

Any stump grinder that could not remove a "pine stump" would not recieve one dollar from me.

Other alternatives to "stump-b-gone"

Backhoe= operator/owner, if you live in the country some farm equipment also has attachments.

Fill= 12 inches, let mother nature perform the decay, if your willing to wait for stump b gone, consider that mother nature will provide almost equal decay without introducing any toxins to the soil.

Call your local tree companies advise them; that you would be willing to wait to have your stump ground when their in your area for a discount.
($50 min.)@ $2 per inch.

 

[Stumper]

If memory serves, Stump-B-Gone is potassium nitrate and works as JPS said--by accelerating decomposition. It REALLY works!(What would have taken 20years to rot out will only take about 10-12.). If your freind got nowhere with a stump grinder then it either had dull or improperly mounted teeth or he simply couldn't operate it. (I suppose he might have gotten one of those very old grinders that attempt to cut against the grain and have very limited depth capacity)
With a Rayco RG12 (a small portable)I can grind the stump out in less time than it takes to drill the holes and apply the chem! (Yes, that does include oak stumps.) What I'm saying -with all the subtlety of a chainsaw sans muffler- is that the stump removal chemicals are a waste of time (RE environmental side effects-ingestion of potassium nitrate may result in impotence.) A decent stump grinder will make short work of your stumps and it should not cost much to hire a pro -probably less than the cost of a rental.

P.S. Your 12" diameter pine would fall into my minimum charge category-$40. If you had 2 that size it would cost $45-65 for both depending upon location, access, and rockieness of soil.

 

[treesurgeon]

hello

first, rental grinders are shi.... Been there done that.
i once did a stump with holes drilled into it. first i thought some wood pecker was working for the client first. well, i grinded the stump with out a dust mask and i was sick for 10 days later with a respatory infection. what i found out was that stump begone was used a year before i grinded it. that stuff is crap..........

 

[tophopper]

I regularly rent stump grinders.
I can rent the vermeer track unit for about 250.00 a day. If i get it on a friday i have all weekend at that cost.
JPS- 800.00 a day? sounds way out of line.

 

[Stumper]

Vermeer 252 is $90 for 3hours (minimum) or $120 per day here. I love it. Keep those rental prices up! Smart people check into it and hire me to to the dirty work.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I was quating the 50-tx price.

 

[treesurgeon]

want junk. once long ago i rented a vermeer 252 with a mil. hrs. on it and the thing was so rigged up and loose that when it touched a stump it would hop and take off. i bought one soon after that.

 

[skacutter]

Cutter's Stump Furnace

Here is a link to a very cool concept for removing stumps. Its a burn-out method but using a bit of ingenuity.

http://www.kasperwing.com/Tree Removal.htm

You can drill out a few holes in your stump and add a few ounces of fuel to kick start the "Stump Furnace". This design will burn-out a stump without having an open flame or the mess of a camp fire.

 

[appalachianarbo]

Inoculate with mushroom spore. It probably costs less than stumpbgone, probably takes the same amount of time to decay, takes the same amount of labor, doesn't dump crap into the environment, and you get free gourmet mushrooms.

 

[Wortown Mick]

Couple lbs of blackpowder and some cannon fuse :rockn:

Drill a hole under the stump fill, insert fuse. Light fuse, run like the dikkens.

use a big drill bit or plunge cut with a bad chain.

 

[skacutter]

Couple lbs of blackpowder and some cannon fuse :rockn:

Drill a hole under the stump fill, insert fuse. Light fuse, run like the dikkens.

use a big drill bit or plunge cut with a bad chain.

Yeah but that option is only available in the "professional idiot" package of the stump furnace

 

[pbtree]

Stump-B-Gone is potassium nitrate and works as JPS said--by accelerating decomposition

Not to derail the thread, but it is also a great additive for making awesome smoke bombs... :jester:

 

[OLD CHIPMONK]

Hire a professional with a stump grinder.

 

[sawyerDave]

Stump be gone, Revenge,

others, all are active ingredient potassium nitrate, aka salt peter. One thing not stated yet in the thread is that if you drill some holes in the tree, about 1" diameter, 6" deep, in a grid pattern about 6" x 6", fill each hole about 1/2 way up, cork the holes (plastic caps work just as well as long as they seal the hole tightly), then wait a year or 2 and burn out the stump, it will burn much better and deeper than an untreated stump. Another variation of the chimney effect is to use a suitably sized metal drum, bucket, barrel, etc. The important part is to use a barrel with no bottom, and a few air holes cut in the bottom edge. Farm show magazine had a good description of the process in one of last year's issues, maybe earlier than last year.