Stumps Begone

Last Fall I had to cut down several little trees.  The trees had sprung up from my little gardener squirrels cache & had grown too close to the house.They weren't large trees, but large enough to leave annoying stumps in my future flower beds.  I wanted to find a way to get rid of the stumps without chemicals & a lot of work ('cause I don't like it so much) & stumbled across this method.  I don't know if it's going to work, but thought I'd try it & see what happens.

Soooo, I drilled holes into the stumps.  I probably drilled the holes about an inch to two inches deep & pretty close together without running the holes together.

My neighbors didn't even look twice at me when they saw me drilling holes in a tree stump, then taking pictures.  I guess they're used to seeing me hammering away on the curb.

I filled the holes with salt.  I happened to have rock salt (the kind for ice cream), but I'm sure other salt would work.  I tried not to get a lot of the salt on the ground around the stump because I do want to be able to plant flowers in the area.  I also read that sugar works, but I'm going to try salt for right now.

I heated some water in my kettle & poured the hot water into the holes, trying not to flood out all of the salt.  A lot of the salt quickly melted so I may go back, add more salt, then just pour in cold water.  The last step is adding a little hat to the top to keep in the moisture & to let the bacteria get started.

This was the most tedious art of the whole operation.  I used a piece of plastic bag & cotton twine.  It was a bit fussy, but I didn't have any rubber bands around so I had to make due.  I think I'll invest in some rubber bands the next time because I ended up chasing little plastics bits around my yard.  I wish I would have thought to get those little shower hats that people put on top of bowls for storage because they would be perfect & easy to take on & off.  You know what I'm talking about...right?

I haven't peeked under the plastic to see what's happening under there, but the plastic is still foggy.  I think that means that there's some kind of heat going on so I've just left it alone.  Also, I don't feel like chasing plastic right now....maybe tomorrow.  I'll keep checking & let y'all know how it works.

Speaking of working.........

Come on....really!!!!!??????  That's not for you, that's for the little birdies.  You're the reason I'm drilling & salting & wrapping & saying ugly words.

Sorry for the gratuitous trash can shot.  It was trash, yard waste & recycle day so all of the soldiers were lined up on the curb.

Happy weekend!!