Increasing Strength, Vitality and Health in Trees

Old tree stumps don't look great in your yard; they also get in the way. It's hard to mow around a stump and, if you want to do some work on your garden like paving, then you need to remove the stump and its roots first.

If you want to get rid of the stump once and for all, then you may be considering using chemicals to get the stump out. Is this worth a go?

What Chemical Stump Removers Do

When you use chemical removal products on a stump, you drill holes in the stump, put the product in the holes and then wait. Typically, these products don't kill the stump but accelerate the natural decomposition process. 

Once the chemicals have a chance to leach into the stump and its root structure, they break the wood down more quickly. This ultimately makes it easier to pull the stump out. Once its wood is rotten and soft, this is just a question of digging or pulling pieces of the stump and its roots out of the ground.

What Chemical Stump Removers Don't Do

Using chemicals to remove stumps can work, but this isn't always an easy or completely effective solution. You won't get instant results. Depending on the condition of the stump, it can take weeks or even months for it to decompose enough to be removed easily.

You also have no guarantees that the chemicals will go down deep enough to affect the stump's base and root structure. This can be a problem if you have a large stump from an old tree that has an extensive root system.

If you need all of the stump removed completely — say if you're planning to pave over the area — then you need to be confident that you get everything out of the ground. If you don't, then your paving may suffer in the future.

Plus, while chemical removers are easy to use, they don't take the stump out for you. You'll still have a lot of manual work to do yourself to remove the stump and its roots once the chemicals have done their job.

If you need a stump taken out fast and completely, then consider calling out a stump removal company rather than taking a DIY chemical approach. These companies use heavy-duty stump grinding machines to cut up the stump and its root system completely in a lot less time.