digging up a tree stump

[benm]

The previous owners of my house helpfully left a tree stump in the middle of the lawn. It was cut off at ground level so pokes through the grass, and is about 9 inches in diameter. I was hoping to get rid of it so I can lay new turf down. I spent sunday afternoon digging around it to a depth of about 2 feet, but it seems pretty well anchored into the ground. Is it worth me trying to dig it up (I guess I'll have to chop through the roots with an axe or something like that), or is this a futile task? Would I be better off chopping off a couple of inches from the top and re-burying it and hoping the turf grows over it? I reckon it's an apple tree btw (judging by the leaf on a sucker it produced, so a bit of guesswork involved there). Any advice welcome, as always...

 

[hooly1]

I would try to remove as much as possible and use a brush killer. Or can you turn the small area into a flower bed, the turf may grow over but suckers may come up. i would try to make a feature were it was and you`ll never know it was there. ie bit of gravel and a couple of pots or a paving slab with a bird table on. try gardening expert.co.uk for how to lay turf.

 

[david and julie]

My next door neighbour as just had one removed by a firm called stumpbusters. They charged about £50 to grind the stump away, it took less than an hour. The machine they used went through a garden gate about 30" wide. I suppose it depends how much you like work I suppose!

 

[madmattman]

you can hire those machines for around that much but could be quite dangerouse without the right experiance

 

[skwirrel]

I had ten 30foot leylandii stumps removed it cost me £250 for tree surgeons to do it. To hire a similar machine would have cost me £140 a day plus fuel and protective clothing.

I opted for the tree surgeon it only took him 2 hours and all the wood shavings were hoed in for mulch.

 

[benm]

I dug it up myself in the end - luckily only had to go down about 2 feet. I needed an axe to chop through a couple of the roots in order to pull the thing out though. It took about 3 hours in the end, but I think I was quite lucky that it wasn't rooted too deeply.

 

[dave_p_r_b]

is it ok to leave the roots buried? will they die?

Dave.

 

[benm]

Once I'd chopped through all the roots the bits that were left were no thicker than a centimetre or two. I pulled a few of them out while digging over the rest of the lawn (as preparation for laying new turf) but left most of them behind as they were pretty deep. So far nothing has sprung up but I guess I wouldn't expect it to yet. I'd be a bit suprised if they survive though, and whatever does appear will be much better than having a tree stump in the middle of the lawn.