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Neat.

Nice little history.

Thanks for the pix
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I have a bunch of stumps that I'm trying to rot out too. They do break down very slowly, but I'm thinking that the rotting stump and roots eventually enrich the soil and increase its moisture-retention properties.

I'm experimenting with using organic matter to speed up the rotting of the stumps. Last year I had picked up a few bags of grass clippings, ignored them for a few weeks, and noticed that they got wet inside the bag and turned into a gloppy mess. I mounded the glop over a few of the stumps. So I just picked up a couple more bags this weekend and will try that again. Also, sometimes I collect urine and pour it on the stumps.

Simply keep the stump covered with dirt. Rate of break-down depends on climate, soil type, and tree species.

Wow that was a serious stump - a clump stump! Your yard is lovely! Really enjoyed looking at your pics.

I have a stump that was here when I moved in, oak I think. I've enlarged a flower bed to include it, and it's a cute spot for a big pot. The water draining from the pot has noticeably sped up the decomposition process. I might actually miss it when it's gone.

The best way to break down the stump is to water it all the time. If you have flowers around it, you can just water the flowers. Instead of dirt it would break down faster if covered with compost. The problem is if you water it compost will fall off the stump. But, if make a hallow inside then you can add soil and compost inside and water that and grow flowers inside. There is a lot you can do with a stump. Moss grows on the stump, and other tiny plants around it, they don't have to be flowers, maybe ferns. Ferns like the woody soil.

But, if the stump is in the sun you have to change the game plan. Water it even more if it is in the sun, it will dry out more. Once it starts to look old it can become a feature. The breakdown comes from fungal action and lots of water will facilitate it.

I have a dogwood stump and a few holly stumps that's I've drilled 1" wide holes in to help the rot process. These are very hard woods so I expect a long process.

There was one stump I had that was growing back and the gardener put potassium nitrate in the drills hole and it broke down with in a few years. It was in the sun, I watered it a lot. If you want to get rid of faster, the stump killer is good, because some trees want to regrow. Since they are still alive they won't rot.

My big stump did want to grow back, but I had to cut each sprout off as it sprouted by the time I started taking photos it stopped sprouting again. The tree was so close to the house. I could have fallen on the house. It may have been a weed tree, that got out of control. It may have been a bay laurel, but I was never sure what it was.

A colorful pot in the center is a cute idea. I am doing some potted plants now. I got the Al's mix going and I made two test potted plants yesterday.

We had a huge, probably around 40 feet pine tree, fall down when a hurricane blew through our area last October-November. I hired someone to come and cut the tree down and ground out what they could of the stump. It's probably around 3-4 feet below the surface, not deep enough to plant a tree there but maybe I could plant something with shallow roots over it. The area has lots of rocks and tree clippings. Would it be possible for me to plant over a pine tree stump? Would it create too much acid in the soil? My DH made me a screen with handles to sift out a lot of the rocks, so I'm wondering if I do that and add some compost to the area, if it will make the soil better. I haven't a clue what I can plant there but I'd like to plant something because it's a real eye sore. I love how you planted flowers around and in your stump, it looked great, but wow, what a long time to decompose.

Linda

Linda. Maybe some some acidic soil loving flowers would do? I never imagined doing this with a stump! Too cool.

Tropical. That was pretty interesting. I have the same moss and ground cover in some area of my garden. I was thinking about making a terrarium I think its called? Its a clear glass with soil and moss inside. But anyways, cool job on the stump! Your yard and soil look nice!

I tend to throw weeds and stuff on them and create a compost pile. I think the extra biological activity helps. Drilling holes is great too, I did that with half of a cottonwood stump, filled them with fertilizer granules, and that half broke down faster than the other half.

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Out here we have housing developments built on former orchards. From time to time there are termite problems. Swarm season usually prompts some kind of activity.

If you follow that Stametz guy, fungal activity is supposed to be the antidote to termite activity.

to sense
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If fungus breaks down your stump then no more stump, no more termites. But, I saw one on my big stump just recently. It could be a problem if one find some logs and brings them home to compost, you could bring home some termites also. My stump has a lot of fungus, but I still saw a termite. But, it was just one termite, not a herd. It depends on how much you look. If you start to break up the wood and look you can probably find one. If you just let it sit untouched you don't see them. I was breaking it up to make room for a big fern. If I had not broken it up years ago, it would have lasted longer. Now, I am trying to make the rest last longer. I put the broken pieces into the compost.

If I had not broken it up years ago, it would have lasted longer.

When I make a great Yogi Berra'ism like this, I appreciate when people bring it to my attention while they're LOL. Hope you have a similar sense of humor about these things... 'cuz LOL! That's a good one!

Too funny!

And when I was inspecting homes I would find loads of subterranean termites in fungus rotted wood. They actually look for the fungus. Where there is moisture there is fungus and where there is fungus there is usually subterranean termites.

So more fungus means more termites then? I don't know. I did see the one. I also found some cut up stump wood, but I saw termites and rolly polly bugs, so I did not bring that piece of wood home to compost. Someone posted about finding a lot of wood that he was bring home to compost. But, it could be a consideration, what are bring home? Sudden Oak death? If you bring home some wood with something bad in it, it may kill your trees.

Very pretty! I'll bet it's a good conversation piece. :)

Hi,

Thanks for the post. I looked thru some of your photos and wanted to thank you for the information. Nice to know that I might be on track...

I took out a diseased pear tree, not that big off a trunk. Took the stump down level with the soil. Then put a compost bin on top of it. Moist compost bin, I keep lid upside down to catch water and in Oregon Willammette valley there is lots of rain.

So, seems like I am on the right track to get rid of the stump. Was a little worried about Nitrogen robbing during decomposition of roots, but I have not seem anything... but what do I know :)

There is another Pear tree that I am planning on cutting down and just wanted to see what you think of my method.
By the way, same compost bin. Earth Machine.

Thanks,

MIke

Putting the compost bin on top of the stumps is a great idea. This way the compost will stay on the stump without being washed away. There won't be nitrogen robbing with the stump breaking down. I never saw any weakness in the plants I planted around the stump. There is a reason why. I think it is more natural for the stump to decay then to put a lot of wood around a plant. If you Google search for photos of plants that suffer from nitrogen robbing you can see how they look and if you see that happening you can be on top of the situation.

There are a few types of termites. The main two are dry wood and subterranean. The latter likes dark, wet, moldy(not a requirement though) environments. I would think dry woods would avoid mold and such