Stump grinding
A stump is the job half done. We grind it out below grade, not just level with the grass, so you can seed, turf or plant over it and forget the tree was ever there. Included with our removals, and priced on its own for the stumps other people left.
Below grade, or just level with it
Plenty of stumps around Columbus have been ground level with the lawn and called finished. Level is not gone. A stump cut flush still has its whole top intact an inch under the grass: the mower finds it, nothing roots over it, and in wet years it sprouts.
Below grade means the grinder keeps cutting past the soil line, usually six to twelve inches down, until what is left of the stump sits well under the surface with soil above it. That is deep enough to seed or turf over and mow like the rest of the lawn. If you want to plant into the spot rather than just grass it, say so before we start and we grind deeper and chase the bigger surface roots too.
What happens to the grindings, and the roots
Grinding turns the stump into a mound of chips mixed with soil. The usual move is to backfill the hole with them and let them settle, which costs nothing; expect the spot to sink a little over the first year as they break down, and top it up once. If you would rather have clean topsoil and seed right away, we haul the grindings out instead. They also work as mulch on beds, though fresh chips dug into a bed will borrow nitrogen from the soil for a season, so on top is better than dug in.
The root system stays, and that is fine. Without the stump feeding them, the roots of most species simply die and rot into the soil over a few years. The exceptions are the suckering kinds, locust and tree of heaven above all, which can send up shoots from live roots after grinding; those need the shoots pulled or treated as they appear, and we will warn you if your stump is one of them. One thing not to do is replant a new tree in the exact hole: it would be rooting into a pocket of chips and old root instead of soil. Plant a few feet to the side and it gets a proper start.
How a grinding visit runs
- Utilities checked before the grinder starts Shallow lines run everywhere in these subdivisions: irrigation, low-voltage lighting, the odd gas line to a grill. We locate before we cut, not after.
- The machine comes to the stump The grinder tracks through a standard gate. Tight side passages and back corners are usually still reachable; we will tell you at the look if yours is not.
- Ground below grade, wide as well as deep The cut covers the visible stump and the flare where the big roots leave it, so there is no ring of buried wood an inch down around a finished middle.
- Backfilled or hauled, your call Grindings go back in the hole and get tamped, or they leave on the truck and the hole is filled with soil, ready to seed.
- Raked out and blown down Chips off the lawn, dust off the driveway. The spot should look like a patch of fresh soil, not a work site.
What finished actually looks like
What people ask about stumps
How deep do you actually go?
Six to twelve inches below the soil line for grass, deeper on request if you plan to plant into the area. What matters as much as depth is width: we grind the root flare out too, so there is no buried collar of wood around the hole.
Will the stump grow back?
Ground below grade, most species are done: no stump, no regrowth. The suckering species, locust and tree of heaven in particular, can push shoots up from live roots for a season or two; pull or treat them as they appear and the roots run out of stored energy. We tell you at the quote if yours is one of these.
Can I plant a new tree where the old one was?
Beside it, yes; in the same hole, no. The hole is chips and decaying root, not soil, and a young tree roots badly in it. Move over a few feet, or give the spot a couple of years and a load of topsoil first.
What about the roots under the lawn?
They stay and rot down over a few years, which is normal and harmless. Roots from a ground stump do not keep growing toward pipes or foundations; growth stops when the tree does.
Can you get the machine into a fenced backyard?
Through a standard gate, yes. Genuinely tight access changes the machine or the method, and occasionally the price, which is one more reason we look before we quote rather than after we arrive.
Is grinding better than pulling the stump out?
For a yard, almost always. Pulling a stump means an excavator, a crater the size of the root ball, and a ruined lawn. Grinding takes the wood out and leaves the ground around it alone. Excavation earns its place on lot clearing jobs where the ground is being reworked anyway.
Other things we do
Where we work
Count your stumps, then call once
One stump or six, the visit is free and the price is written down. Several in one trip is the cheap way to do it.