Friday, January 28, 2011

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!!

5 comments:

Nay said...

they say that it works to drill holes and pour the salt in the stumps. Not sure if it really does or not. I just had to chop down a tree in our backyard, but I want to use the stump as a table. Let us know if it works out for ya!

Beth said...

You're giving that squirrel a workout putting that bird feed so far away from its reach ;)
Hope that that helps to kill that stump!!

Willow Branch said...

I really hope it works too. I may go out tomorrow & add a little more salt to the wound.

Pam

CarolynArtist said...

Did you put holes in the plastic bag or leave it alone? I laughed aloud at that sneaky squirrel, fantastic pics as always Pam!

Unknown said...

You should have probably poked holes in the bag, but none the less you did it right. DIY style! Very nice post.

-Samudaworth Tree Service
Tree Removal Brooklyn