How To Get Rid Of Stumps Without Uprooting? Fast And Effortless Chemical Hemp Removal On Site

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

The appearance of stumps in a summer cottage is an ordinary matter. Old trees die off, the change of generations takes its toll here. Finally, stumps when clearing a building site are also commonplace. But the woody remains on the site look unattractive, and it becomes problematic to move around the territory. But these issues can be solved, and there are enough ways to eliminate hemp.

Peculiarities

If the site has not yet been touched by development, the problem of removing stumps can be solved radically - earthmoving equipment is brought in, and the owner himself is removed from the case. Everything will be done by a specialist. But if the site is landscaped, the options open up different. For example, you can get rid of old stumps with the help of specialists: professionals work with a powerful cutter that crushes the stump 20 cm from the ground. Such manipulations interfere with the landscape locally. There is another option: cut the stump - old or fresh - under the root with a chainsaw. And this is not the best solution: yes, the stump will not be visible, but this piece cannot be used either, it will remain a kind of "bald spot" on the site.

There are other ways left, and they are most in demand:

• lifting by hand;
• destruction by fire;
• chemical destruction;
• water.

Each method is good in its own way, depending on the goals and moods of the owner of the site - whether he chooses an environmentally friendly method or uses chemistry to destroy stump. But there is another option worth mentioning. You don't have to remove the stump from the territory, treat it humanely and transform it into an original art object. For example, hollow out the middle of the hemp and turn it into a flowerpot. This can be done with the remnant of the old apple tree, about which you still want to leave some kind of memory.

For example, the hand does not rise to uproot or burn out a tree beloved by more than one generation, so you have to turn it into a chair, flower bed, etc.

Timing

If you need to get rid of the stump urgently, many take a chainsaw in their hands. Yes, the problem can be solved in minutes. But this method only covers up the problem: after some time, young shoots may appear. And here is the use saltpeter - a method of high reliability, but it will take several months. Saltpeter is poured in early autumn and the stump is not touched until spring. If time is running out, you can trust this method.

A method such as the use of urea has also found widespread use .… It is popular due to its environmental friendliness: the composition does not harm the soil. But it will take a whole year to get rid of the hemp, and even after a year you will have to spread firewood on the stump and set it on fire. The wood destroyed in a year will quickly burn. An even more long-term effect is suggested by table salt: it destroys the stump in a year and a half. Various industrial reagents also do not give an instant result, the instructions for them usually suggest leaving them on the stump for the winter, that is, the action still takes several months.

Applied means

Destruction of hemp in the garden is possible without uprooting, which requires a lot of effort. Chemical action will give a good, albeit not a quick result.

Urea and saltpeter

The stump must initially be perforated: perforation with drills will not be a problem … Urea is poured into the holes formed from drilling (this is urea) . The top of the holes is poured with water, and then the stump is wrapped in a polymer film. The remains of the wood will completely rot in a year, maybe two. And in place of the former hemp, a usable, fertile soil layer will remain.

The advantages of this method are in minimal physical costs, in the absence of soil pollution with nitrates, in the fact that as a result, there will be no trace of the stump . The main disadvantage is, of course, the inability to remove the rest of the tree quickly. And you will need a lot of chemicals for burning. Saltpeter is an even more popular method for breaking up tree stumps. It consists in burning those wood residues that were originally impregnated with such a strong oxidizing agent as saltpeter. Such a remedy helps to burn out not only the upper parts of the stump, aboveground, but also deep roots.

How to deal with stumps with saltpeter:

• drill several large holes in the remaining wood (do this at the end of summer or at the beginning of autumn);
• potassium nitrate must be poured into the holes to the very top (and sodium nitrate is suitable), and then pour water to understand how saturated the tree is;
• the top of the hole must be closed with wood corks, wrapped in polyethylene.

And again the stump is left in the same form until summer. In a few months, the saltpeter will fulfill the purpose, the root system will dry out. And again a fire must be made around the stump, and this fire will completely destroy the skeleton. After burnout, the area where the stump was located must be dug up and covered with earth. The main advantages of using nitrate: no great effort, almost total removal of the skeleton (perhaps very deep roots cannot be completely removed). Of the minuses - saturation of the soil with nitrate. Although it is a fertilizer, it damages tuberous crops and fruit crops in large quantities. And, again, you will have to wait a long time for the stump to rot. Ignition is also indispensable, which is not particularly pleasing.

Copper and iron vitriol

This substance is an active reagent that kills any bacteria in the wood . The drug must be introduced into the structure of the tree in the same way as it was done with saltpeter. But there are some differences: holes in the hemp are made 5-8 mm in diameter and to a depth of 5-10 cm. The vital activity in the wood fades out quickly, in a few days, but the stump will die off completely in 1-2 years. When this time has passed, the stump must be dug out along with the root, uprooted (which will be very simple at that time) or burned.

Attention! If there are metal pipes next to the stump, vitriol cannot be used .… It will only accelerate metal corrosion. It is possible to plant other plants on the site, but with a distance of at least 3 m: in the area of application of vitriol, the concentration of chemicals is high.

It will take from 2 to 10 years to completely restore the soil in this place, depending on whether the stump was dug up or burned.

Salt

It is considered one of the gentle chemical methods. In just a couple of months (sometimes one is enough), the reagent blocks the vital activity of roots and microorganisms. Adding salt is similar to adding saltpeter and urea. If this area is later to be filled with concrete, the dead stump will be easier to burn.

If the site will be used as active fertile land, the dead stump must be uprooted . Salt in excess makes the soil unusable, therefore leaving the stump until self-decomposition is dangerous for the future harvest. For reference: 1 stump takes about 2 kg of table salt. Salt is sent into the drilled holes and filled with water. If the humidity outside is high, you can do without water.

Removal

If the stump needs to be uprooted very quickly and without personal effort, you need to order a tractor, excavator, hand milling cutter. But sometimes the method of such elimination of the stump is impossible, even due to the size of the site, which does not allow for such a technique. You have to uproot it yourself.

Removal takes place in several stages

• Training … About half a meter you need to excavate the space surrounding the stump. To do this, you will have to work the ground with a bayonet shovel. With an interval of 1.5 m, a pit 1 m wide and 0.5 m deep is dug from the stump, and a drain from the tree frame is equipped to it. The soil around the hemp is washed out with hose water. The stronger the water pressure, the sooner the root system is found.
• Winch application … The stump must be wrapped along the trunk and roots with a metal cable, which is pulled through the winch. The cable goes to the winch through the saw cut.
• Mechanical removal … If the option with a winch is excluded, the skeleton can be eliminated by cutting or removing the roots. If the root cannot be exposed, it can be cut right in the ground with a crowbar or a thin pipe with an ax fixed on it.
• Central pillar . After the side branches are removed, the central pillar is preserved - it is not so easy to approach it. And it must be turned from side to side. The amount of work is large, but if other options are not suitable, you will have to act like this.

Self-uprooting also has supporters and opponents. From the pros: this method is not particularly costly in terms of money, the work will progress relatively quickly. Of the minuses: the process is laborious, sometimes it is simply physically impossible to approach the stump for destruction.

It happens that you can't cope alone either, you have to look for helpers.

Precautionary measures

All methods are potentially dangerous for the person who is carrying out the removal. Chemicals require maximum care and protection, burning a stump - compliance with fire safety, uprooting - calculating physical strength.

Recommendations for safely removing stumps:

• where the stump was processed with saltpeter, there should be a zone of increased caution - there should not only be fires in the coming months, but even smoking;
• in a dry state for a person's skin, copper sulfate does not pose a danger, but during the processing of hemp, a person must necessarily use protective glasses, a respirator and thick gloves (when water is added to the dry vitriol, the drug becomes a toxic liquid that adversely affects the mucous membranes);
• table salt does not require special protection, but working with small particles, it is better to protect your eyes with glasses;
• during the burning of a stump that has already been treated with chemicals, a small earthen rampart of 0.5 m high must be formed around the pit - this is a necessary fire-fighting measure;
• during the ignition, there should be a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water nearby;
• when wood is burning, it is forbidden to stand on the leeward side - during the combustion process toxic substances are released into the atmosphere, and it is harmful to inhale them;
• ideally, if before burning the stump, the owner of the site goes to the Ministry of Emergency Situations and draws up a special permit - otherwise a fine is quite likely.