It happens to everyone who owns property. Preparing a spot for a new garden or putting in a road down to the lake and there's a tree stump in the way. Tree stumps certainly have a nasty reputation. And rightly so - without the proper know-how (or tractors and bulldozers) dealing with a stubborn stump can seem almost impossible. Here are three techniques for any landowner's arsenal.

Do it yourself
If you're on a budget or just prefer working on your own property it is possible to remove stumps with just some decent tools and good, old-fashioned hard work. To remove a stump by hand you'll need tools. First up is a mattock or grub hoe. A mattock is like a pickax, but is shaped more like a hoe in order to cut through roots. Next up is a landscape bar. This is a long iron pole with a wedge on one end so that you can pry stumps or large rocks out of the ground. Finally you'll need a heavy-duty garden spade. This a demanding job, so use the sturdiest spade you can find. If youve had your eye on that tempered carbon steel blade with the beveled edges and the 15-year warrantee, now would be a good time to pick it up. If all you've got is the nine-dollar spade you got at the local discount store, now would be the time to go out and pick up the 15-year warrantee spade. Hey, if you're going to be doing the work, why not make it easier on yourself? Finally, don the stump removal uniform. Shorts and sandals are strictly forbidden; steel-toed boots and safety glasses are de rigueur.

It's time to approach the stump. When removing a stump the temptation is to cut the trunk as close to the ground as possible. Resist that temptation - three or four feet of trunk will let you use the tree itself for leverage as you work the base out of the ground. Use your spade shovel to dig a trench around the stump and expose the roots. The size of the stump will determine how far away from the base you will want to start your trench, but its better to start further away. If you start too close youll have to cut through larger roots. Roots can extend a distance of up to twice the height of the tree. After the trench is complete, walk around with the mattock and chop through each visible root. You can also use the sharp end of the landscape bar to cut roots, and it's very handy for cutting roots that the trench has not exposed. Work around the trench, jabbing the landscape bar under the stump. It may take some time but eventually you'll have severed all the roots and will be able to pry the stump out of the ground. Drag the stump away and fill in the hole. You're done!

Can't someone else do it?
Sometimes we dont have a spare afternoon to devote to pulling stumps out of the yard. Or sometimes there are enough stumps around to make it worthwhile to hire a professional. Any good tree service or landscape contractor will come to your yard and remove your stumps for you. They dont work for free: expect to pay at least $60 just to have them come out and destroy one stump, although you may be able to swing a group discount if you have a number of stumps to be disposed of. If the idea of hundreds of pounds of hydraulics and carbide tipped power appeals to you, consider renting a stump grinder for a day. It will cost about 120 dollars a day, but you can grind down as many stumps as you want. Be sure you get trained on the operation of the unit before you take it home.

There are a few disadvantages with stump grinding, regardless of if you hire someone or do it yourself. First, grinding a stump sends bits of wood and dirt and rock flying through your yard. Be sure to keep any kids and pets out of the yard and be sure to wear protective clothing if you're operating the machine. Grinding a stump will also leave a huge pile of wood chips behind. Thats good news if you use wood chips for landscaping, but you'll have to move all the chips and fill the hole in if the stump was in the middle of your lawn. Even then, some homeowners have reported having trouble getting grass to grow in the area that a stump was removed from. Proper fertilization should alleviate this problem - making grinding and easy, if not cheap, method of stump removal.

The Easy and Cheap Method
There's a cheap and easy way to get rid of the stumps? Why all the other instructions? Quite simply, the third way of dealing with stumps is just to leave them where they are. Put a bird feeder on top of the larger ones, cut some down to knee height for impromptu lawn furniture and cut the rest down to ground level and drive over them. Many kinds of trees will send new saplings up from the old root structure; so leave it alone if you want new trees to grow around the stump. If you still want to get rid of that stump, but don't want to mess around with digging or renting, there is another alternative. It involves speeding up the natural process of decomposition. Cut the stump down to ground level with your chainsaw, drill about a dozen wide, deep holes in the stump. Fill these holes with a nitrogen-based fertilizer and top them off with water. Then cover the base with fertilizer and cover the whole works with a tarp to help capture moisture. Be advised that decomposition will still take time - perhaps as much as a year. During this time, clip or mow any sprouts that grow from the area. Add fertilizer as needed and eventually the stump will be nothing more than a pile of rotted wood.

As we have seen, a stump doesn't have to be the nightmare some people believe it to be. With a collection of skills any stump can be removed with ease. So don't be intimidated by tree stumps, as they can be eliminated with moderate or very little effort at all. Enjoy your stump-free yard!

-InstantAcres.Com Staff