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!!
