thanks for all your suggestions,someone also said hammer copper nails
in to the top of the stump,might do that and leave it and break off any
new shoots and make a feature out of it,thank you kaz44

I found a stump of something, elderberry I think, I planted thyme in the
top, it looks very pretty

kate

Peter James wrote:

kaz44 wrote:


hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to the
expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

You want ammonium sulphamate sold under the tradename rootout eg
http://www.daxproducts.co.uk/rootout.html

I am not too sure about the truth or otherwise of this suggestion, but!
A farmer once told me that the best and easiest way to get rid of tree
stumps was the following technique.
In the top of the stump, drill as many holes as you can using a brace
and a large bit and drill as deeply as you can. Pack the holes with
saltpetre and plug the top of the holes with putty and leave it all
winter. In the spring build a bon-fire on top of the stump and set
fire to it. He said that the bonfire would burn the stump away down to
the roots.

It might work if you live in the mediterranean where the ground is bone
dry in winter, but it doesn't stand a cat in hells chance of working in
the UK. I loaded my pear tree stump with 2kg of potassium nitrate
(roughly this way) and was only rewarded with a huge crop of fungi. No
way would it burn as the wood at ground level was still saturated with
water even in mid summer.

This is only hearsay, but it might well work. It won't cost you a lot
to try it. If it doesn't work you'll have to dig the stump out by hand,
or hire a stump chipper.

Strangely copper nails or copper sulphate might help accelerate the tree
roots demise by inhibiting the enzymes that protect it against fungal
attack. I have never tried this but it is supposed to help.

Ultimately you may find spade, crowbar and scaffold pole the most
satisfying way to remove them after they are dead.

Regards,
Martin Brown

Malcolm Stewart wrote:

"Peter James" wrote in message
.. .

kaz44 wrote:

Pack the holes with
saltpetre and plug the top of the holes with putty and leave it all
winter.


As private individuals, how can we get hold of the saltpetre (potassium
nitrate?) ?

On the shelf of any decent garden centre.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"kaz44" wrote in message
...

hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to
the
expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

Use RootOut from B&Q - or almost anywhere.
Follow the instructions on it.
Works well.

I've killed many sycamore and ash stumps over the years.
My technique is to strip as much bark as possible from the stump
down to ground level (and below) and to drill a few deep holes
in the centre of the stump using a brace with a broad auger bit.
Every time the roots send up a sucker or some more leaves, hack
them off. The lack of bark causes the live wood to die. The holes
in the centre trap rainwater which causes the centre to rot slowly.
Even the strongest sycamores give up after a year or two of this treatment.
The best tool for removing bark that I've found is a hand adze
with a blade 50mm wide from Tiranti.

On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 09:34:26 +0000, kaz44 wrote:

hi i have 2 sycamore tree stumps 2 1/2 to 3 feet wide,i want to kill
them because 1 is starting to sprout again,someone mentioned drilling
holes in the stump and putting some pellets in the holes,but i can't
seem to find any anyware,all i get in a search is the DEEP ROOT TREE
KILLER,does anyone knowwhere i can get it please?i have tried my local
garden centre,but they have'nt got any,i don't really want to go to the
expense of grinding them out.thank you kaz44

Drilled holes with Brushwood Killer worked for mine; assuming it hasn't
been banned yet.
--
Jim
Tyneside UK

Hi all,

In a previous career as a tree surgeon we were often asked to kill or remove stumps.
The most effective way is to cut a groove in the cambian layer (the area of growth inside the bark) this layer holds the tree's vascular system. Put a systemic herbiced in the groove. Then place a bin liner over the stump tp stop rain washing it off or animals getting to it.
As the groove has been cut in the cambian layer the vascular system will help to take the herbiced into the root system.
This method has had 100% success everytime i have used it.

Unfortunately the copper nail method is false.

If you dont have a chainsaw to make the groove, drilled holes will do, but be sure they intersect the cambian layer.

HTH

To kill a stump it is easy, apply any poison, ammonium sulpamate is the prefered method..usually you peel back the bark around the stump (or the cork cambrium) and apply poison.....the other way is just prune any growth back, the tree will run out of energy in the long term and die....the best way of getting rid of it is, as has been as suggested grinding it out...this is a good site for info on stump grinders...www.stumpgrinding.eu.com

In article , "alan
thwaites" wrote:

"stumpy66" skrev i en meddelelse
...

To kill a stump it is easy, apply any poison, ammonium sulpamate is the

should read "ammonium sulphamate"

prefered method..usually you peel back the bark around the stump (or
the cork cambrium) and apply poison.....the other way is just prune any
growth back, the tree will run out of energy in the long term and
die....the best way of getting rid of it is, as has been as suggested
grinding it out...this is a good site for info on stump
grinders...www.stumpgrinding.eu.com


--
stumpy66

A.T. (resident in Denmark) wrote.- A "fun" method of removing stumps is to
drill vertical holes in said stump,fill with sodium chlorate, cover to keep
dry,wait a month and then light a small fire on the top of the stump which
has become highly inflammable and will burn right away. I was looking
forward to trying this but found that sodium chlorate,once used as weed
killer is no longer available in this country as it may be used to make
bombs ! Maybe it is still sold in U.K.

Sodium Chlorate is a powerful oxidising agent and as such is potentially
dangerous. It is still available as a weedkiller in the UK but the
material sold has sodium chloride and maybe other things added in an
attempt to reduce the inflammibility of any mixture. So maybe the fun
method won't be
much fun after all.

"John McMillan" wrote in message
...
In article , "alan
thwaites" wrote:

"stumpy66" skrev i en meddelelse
...

To kill a stump it is easy, apply any poison, ammonium sulpamate is the

should read "ammonium sulphamate"

prefered method..usually you peel back the bark around the stump (or
the cork cambrium) and apply poison.....the other way is just prune any
growth back, the tree will run out of energy in the long term and
die....the best way of getting rid of it is, as has been as suggested
grinding it out...this is a good site for info on stump
grinders...www.stumpgrinding.eu.com


--
stumpy66

A.T. (resident in Denmark) wrote.- A "fun" method of removing stumps is
to
drill vertical holes in said stump,fill with sodium chlorate, cover to
keep
dry,wait a month and then light a small fire on the top of the stump
which
has become highly inflammable and will burn right away. I was looking
forward to trying this but found that sodium chlorate,once used as weed
killer is no longer available in this country as it may be used to make
bombs ! Maybe it is still sold in U.K.

Sodium Chlorate is a powerful oxidising agent and as such is potentially
dangerous. It is still available as a weedkiller in the UK but the
material sold has sodium chloride and maybe other things added in an
attempt to reduce the inflammibility of any mixture. So maybe the fun
method won't be
much fun after all.
'**********

1. If you acquire a dose of Sodium Chlorate take great care to protect
yourself and slowly and carefully flush surplus it down the toilet.
2. One of the old methods , - ( and I have used it on two occasions), - is
to drill a small number of one-inch holes into the top of the sawn-off
butt, with a carpenter's hand-drill, ( the bigger type with a round wooden
handle for the left hand at the top and half-way down the shaft is a
right-hand handle to turn the chuck and drill bit.)
Carefully, - using rubber gloves,- fill the holes to near their tops with
H2S04, -
(Sulphuric Acid). Dispose of surplus H2S04 immediately if such has been
used, and keep children away from the stumps.. Select from among your
wooden
cast-off bits of wood planks, a piece, (saw it off), and nail it firmly
over
the top of the stump securely so that the kids can't get at it or the
holes.. Be sure about this because the little b.....s'll be there poking
their grubby little fingers at it, despite stern warnings.
Last year my Son-in-law and I dug up four big tree stumps which had stood
on the lawn,
lopped, for four years.
Had they been fresh we would have failed, in spite of the fact that none had
tap roots. But they had big side roots and they were fairly deepish. There
were good
signs of rotting, but they were in unworked land and it took us five days
and much sweat and labour to dig and hack them out. It was hard work and
sheer hard grafting for me.
This was at Rainham Kent and the Council binmen would not collect them so we
had to hire a smallish lorry to take them to the tip.
Doug.
**********

to remove four tree stumps with a diameter of 40 inches say...would take me 2-3 hours, maybe less.....5 days is a long time, at least you got to spend time with your son in law...

I admire those that do it themselves, prefer those those that pay me to do it for them....