If a tree has been felled on a property in front of a single-family home, the stump must also disappear. We answer the question, which is better – burning out a tree stump or milling a tree stump?
Burn out tree stump
If you are not in a hurry to remove the remains of the felled tree, the stump can perhaps be burned out. The Internet recommends getting to the root of the stump with fire accelerants such as denatured alcohol or fuel paste. You can also read about diesel being poured into the stump, which is then lit with a little petrol. Once the tree stump burns, firewood should be piled up on top so that the tree stump can be transformed into a crater in the ground. There are also reports of a conveniently located tree stump being the site of a campfire for several years. With every campfire a piece of the tree stump has disappeared.
However, burning will only work if the tree stump has been prepared in a certain way beforehand. Because every fire needs oxygen so that it can develop its destructive power. The stump would therefore have to be made with cuts over the entire surface by sawing the tree stump crosswise from above with a chainsaw until the cuts form a grid. If the fire gets enough oxygen through your power work, it will burn better, but will also become more dangerous. If the roots are dry enough, in extreme cases a fire can continue to smolder underground in the ground for several weeks; this smoldering fire could even spread further and break out again in completely different places.
With all burning methods, however, you would have to find out in advance whether such a fire is permitted on your property. As you inquire about the permit, you will also have access to the relevant fire safety regulations, the requirements of which you should definitely comply with. Which could sometimes be difficult, because with a tree stump you don't have a choice as to where the fire should start. Simply avoiding uncontrolled sparks (the wind direction should be taken into account in every fire) could therefore become a problem.
In any case, be critical of the ideas about ignition that are brought to you. As promising and uncomplicated as it sounds to simply place several glowing briquettes on the tree stump and let it burn slowly, the reality is that it is complicated and time-consuming: you will either sit next to the smoldering stump for hours or you will have to start the fire at some point leave to burn unattended. All sorts of things can happen for which you are not only liable, but could also be punished. If the tree has just been felled, you usually won't have much luck with the burning method anyway because the tree stump is still far too moist.
Remove tree stump by milling
The quicker and safer method is to mill the tree stump a few centimeters underground. If you have the strength and experience to handle a large power tiller yourself, you can rent a tree tiller from the rental stations of the hardware stores. There are tree stump grinders for tree stumps of different diameters, you will be advised on site. However, renting isn't exactly cheap, you'll definitely have to expect something under €100.
If you are hesitant about using the heavy equipment anyway, you can also hire a service provider to mill out the tree stump. That's not much more expensive than renting the milling machines. Especially if you take advantage of the summer offers from some gardening companies, you can get rid of your tree stump for as little as 80 cents per centimeter of trunk diameter. Even if the journey is added to that, if the tree is not very thick, this could almost be cheaper than renting the milling machine.
Treatment of the entire rootstock
Whatever method you use, what disappears here is just the actual tree stump. The rootstock remains in the ground and it prevents you from planting anything you want in the area of the removed tree. However, removing this rootstock is really no fun: you can get to work with a digging fork, spade and shovel; by the time the coarsest roots are extracted from the ground, you will have big muscles.
Other methods to remove a tree stump
There are a number of other methods being promoted for getting rid of a tree stump: Blasting with dynamite, but only a company with the appropriate specialist knowledge and permits is allowed to do this. Or destruction with chemical agents, which is probably not entirely safe: if a chemical agent is so effective that it can destroy wooden structures, it will probably also cause a fair amount of contamination in the surrounding area.
If you have more gardening patience, you will avoid all these violent methods and let your tree stump decay gracefully. This is a little quicker if you drill holes in it thoroughly with a drill. Until it has completely disappeared, you can still use it as a garden decoration; there are a lot of ideas for the decorative transformation of a tree stump. Or you can make art out of your tree stump by hiring a wood artist who knows how to carve with a chainsaw.
