I have two tree stumps in my back yard that are 20 years old. I have had my compost pile on top of them for years hoping they would decompose. Nuthin! In January of 2010 I unburied one of them and turned my misting nozzle loose on it. I left the mist on for a week or so and repeated every few weeks. In a few months I had those wood rotting mushrooms growing on it. I was as proud as a mother hen. Here are my babies on May 20, 2010.



and on May 22 after they got a little rain and grew up. At this point the wood was still very solid.



On Halloween of 2010, following an unusually rainy summer, the stump had visibly changed. Parts of the top had sunk away and the roots were becoming soft enough to be damaged with a pitchfork. Parts of the roots could be broken off with considerable effort.



That picture was taken on the last day we got any rain until this fall of 2011. It has been a year of heat and drought. This fall we've had a lot more rain than predicted and the fungus has really stepped up to the task. Yesterday I went out to kick my test stump. My foot sunk into it about 4 inches. It is mush. The wood looks solid but you can pick it off and crumble it to dust in your fingers. Then I had to see what my control stump had been doing all this time. I unburied it from under the compost and it is still as hard as the day it was cut down.

I'm declaring this experiment over with the conclusion that you can decompose a stump in 2 years simply by misting it with water.

The common belief is that stumps take years and years (decades?) to decompose. I always agreed with that since my stumps showed no signs of decomposing even after 18 years. But then when I went to the trouble to create a friendly, moist, environment for the fungi, the decomposition began immediately and carried through quickly (in stump-years). Had we not had the drought last winter it might have happened six months faster.

The last time I used water to cure something it was hard soil. My process took weeks. Then Morph came along with suggestions to use soap, aloe, and some other surfactants to speed up the process. I hope my stump project stimulates his interest to find a faster way to get rid of a stump. I'm not sure the surfactant approach would work with stumps, but it is intriguing. I have two more stumps to play with.

That's great!! Good info. The water may be an enabler more than the actual solution though - this is not the first time I've read about accelerated decay involving mushrooms. I have in my collection of articles one about someone doing it with edible mushrooms, although I'm not recommending that to those that don't have experience ID'ing mushrooms.

Organic Stump Removal with Mushrooms

My method for breaking down stumps is to drill a boatload of holes in the top surface of the stump and fill the holes with CGM. You could use alfalfa meal or whatever other source of nitrogen you wish. The holes are drilled with a 1" dia. x 18" long ship auger and heavy duty electric drill (not cordless). I drill them as deep as the drill will push into the stump. A good sharp auger will sink holes all the way to the drill chuck. I put as many as will fit onto the top surface of the stump. As a result, a large portion of the stump mass is reduced to drill shavings right out of the gate. I don't water the stump regularly, but you obviously could. Rain water fills the holes for me. I do throw a few shovelfuls of compost up against the shoulder of the stump to keep it nice and moist. It works pretty well. I have in the past tried the OP's other method of burying the stump with compost with similarly unspectacular results.

vanimal, how long does it take for your stumps to go away? Do you see the fungus growing on it?

I stepped on my stump yesterday and it was softer than a sponge. It's kind of unnerving.

That is a good question and I don't know the answer. I have quite a few of them that I have done this way and I'm not really sure which ones were done at what time. If I had to guess, I'd say in the 1 to 2 year range. If I did what you're doing by really socking the water to it, I'm sure that it would go much faster. They do get fungus on them, but right now I rely solely on rainwater, which slows things down considerably.

I used to dig stumps up or have them ground religiously. Then, I had an epiphany and realized that for the most part, this was a lot of work to no useful end. We have heavy clay soil here, so my new methodology is to work the soil as little as possible and not remove organic material from the ground whenever possible. I did a lot of things out of ignorance to damage my soil that I am now trying to correct.

...haven't we all.

Lol... My own method of dealing with stumps is to pile mulch and top soil around them and let the Wife plant flower beds.... That way, they aren't as much of an eyesore....

Thanks

You could always use the approach my dad did. He had a huge willow tree that was about 3 feet across when he finally had to have it taken down.

He had the tree service leave about 3 feet above ground. He carefully sanded it smooth and put on a few layers of varnish so he could use it as an outdoor table for years to come.

I think it was completely rotted away by the following summer.

Meanwhile, I've got stumps that are stubbornly staying around more than 5 years after I cut them to the ground, drilled holes, filled with stump remover, covered with compost, etc. I think the difference is the amount of water here versus in Illinois where my dad demolished his tree.

bpgreen wrote:You could always use the approach my dad did.

My dads neighbor would take a burn barrel and cut out the bottom, place it over the stump and build a really hot fire. The hot coals take care of the stump; although I am not sure how "organic" that is for stump removal.

Dave I thought you moved out of SA?

I lead two lives. During the week I'm the lonely tax appraiser in Live Oak County. On weekends I'm at "home" in San Antonio with my family.

Revinooer! Get the shotgun, Granny!

I really am the revenuer. Texas does not have an income tax so the budget comes from real estate and personal property (for businesses) taxes...in addition to all the other fees they collect from lottery, license plates, taxes on telephones, etc.