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do ground silver maple stumps sprout?

14 years ago

We had two 16-year-old silver maples removed from our lawn. I am wondering if we only grind down the stumps and the exposed roots to just below soil level, will we expect to get some maple sprouts coming up later? Does the stump need to be pulled out in order to prevent future growth? There is currently a 10 foot diameter of mulch from each tree area. We want to plant a replacement trees just outside the current mulch circle and perhaps some shrubs with groundcover in the old mulch areas. It is in full sun, front yard of our south facing house.

Just wondering if anyone had the experience of unwanted silver maples returning from the grave from what root system lay below!

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Comments (4)

brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
Yes, silver maples stumps will produce some sprouts. Cutting and treating the sprouts with glyphosate might be easier than digging up the stumps.
breenthumb
14 years ago
We've removed two and have never had any sprouts. But as far as replanting in the area, I don't know. Those root systems were huge. They ground it out as best they could but could never have gotten all the roots.

I'd like to replant something too, but not sure how far is far enough away.
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that's just it, these persons above said nothing about less desirable characteristics (even that varies i.e. some may like the seeds as toys for their kids to play with). They only rail about the Silver Maple, and say cut it down etc with no explanation or reasons stated. Besides with a trunk of 4 feet, I'm confident the original poster is quiet familiar with all the "features" of a silver maple as it has been there for a good while. The original poster also said nothing of where it was planted etc., only asked for advice as to how to best try to SAVE the tree. And in this case, it sounds like most of the damage was at least a few feet away from the main trunk, and for all we know, it could have easily been lighting that caused the original split (seen that more than a few times as I live in a fairly active t-storm area). I agree don't plant them 3 feet away from your house/driveway etc., but what large tree would you suggest be planted close to these structures. I would have no reservations about planting them away from or perhaps on the east side (our storms come from the west) these structures if I wanted to. I personally prefer large trees with better fall color, but I do see the positives of them.
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I could show you a several-thousand acre swamp right near to where I write this consisting largely of very huge silver maples. They are extremely tolerant to moisture. On the other hand, silver maple is a known poor compartmentalizer. So what kind of "rotted out" are we talking here? A hollow trunk? That's par for the course! My giant had several areas of extensive decay buried deep inside the enormous trunk. And where storms had taken limbs off were some nice developing breaches of Wall 1, to use the Shigo system. BTW, I drove through that swamp about a week ago. It is the headwaters for Duck Creek, which runs into Green Bay just above the city of that name. These trees were in standing water everywhere one cared to look. Likewise at my son's where we planted trees this weekend. He's got lots of green ash in the floodplain forest he owns there but there are some big silvers too, which is utterly commonplace up here. I'm having a hard time picturing one just rotting for the hell of it. Now if you're talking about a hollowed-out trunk, via the breaching of Wall 1, as described above-sure, a hollow tree like that can be perfectly healthy and stand that way for a long time.
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mustard_seeds
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the responses.

Well, I ended up deciding to get the stumps and main roots pulled up - a man came with a "skidster" - okay - I did not realize how much this would compact the ground around the work area. Lots of lawn also torn up - those roots were massive. I am glad the trees were cut as out driveway and sidewalks would have been affected in a few years.

So, with ripping all those roots out I was able to plant replacement trees right away - we needed to put something in these areas. So then I had the pleasure of learning how to plant grass seed in the damaged areas. Thankfully we are now blessed with cool rainy weather for several days.

Okay, now ready to stop landscaping for a while!
lwelch
14 years ago
Glad to hear your got the stump & roots out. For what it's worth, we had to have a mature silver maple removed from our yard about 4-5 years ago (it was too close to the house & driveway). The tree trimmers removed everything except the stump. My husband drilled several large holes (i.e., one inch diameter) as deeply as possible into the stump and then put a stump remover product (purchased at a hardware store) into the holes. We covered the whole thing with mulch, planted a few bulbs & annuals around it, and then let the stump rot. We didn't have any sprouts from the stump or roots, and sure enough, the stump eventually rotted to a point where we could put another (much smaller) tree there.

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