Stump Grinding and Stump Removal: Pros and Cons

You have cut down the tree and now left with the stump, you may decide to let the stump as it is, there would be no problems for now but in the future, there might be a lot of unpredicted problems you will face. It can be pest infestation, sprouts growing, health hazard, ruins the appeal of your yard, and it may result in property damage too.

Now you may have decided to get rid of the stump, but you are confused whether it is good to grind the stump or remove it from the ground. 

With the information below, it would be easier for you to decide which treatment would be good for getting rid of that stump in your yard. 

Stump Grinding

Stump grinding is a process of grinding the stump with the help of a stump grinder to few inches below the ground level so that the roots can be covered with soil and dirt. Here are some good and bad things about stump grinding you should consider while comparing stump removal and stump grinding.

Pros:

Quick and efficient

As discussed previously, stump grinding is a process of grinding the stump below ground level, the roots of the stump are left as they were, they are not removed from the ground.

This process is conducted using machinery that is selected depending on the condition of the stump.

This process does not take a long time for completion if we compare it with other methods like stump removal, chemical stump removal takes a lot of time to destroy the stump, burning the stump takes a long time to completely take effect and sometimes might not be able to burn down the stump. So the stump grinding process is quick and effective at the same time. 

Not Labour-Intensive

As in Stump grinding, we don’t need to remove the roots, so that could be disposed of in a different area, we have to grind the stump until ground level and cover it with soil or dirt, which would not take a lot of manpower to operate, it can be executed with minimum manpower, this process is not labor-intensive as stump removal.

Environmentally Friendly

This process is carried out without using harmful chemicals, burning or destabilizing the ground. The process for conducting stump grinding is not harmful to the environment as it removes the stump that can later become hazardous for both the surrounding and us.

Plane Landscape

After completing the stump grinding process, the ground is as plane as other areas of the ground. There is no harm done to the ground. The stump is ground below the ground level and filled with soil.

Remains of the stump are ideal for mulching

The remains from the stump grinding process are ideal for mulching of soil because as they start to decompose they start to give back the resources to the soil.

Cons:

Investment is Required

The process of conducting stump grinding is not as expensive as Stump removal, but it can be expensive considering the other options. But this investment will result in good outcomes, as it keeps your ground stable same as other areas in the yard. 

The Possibility of eventual sprouts

As we know in stump grinding we grind the stump and leave the roots as it is under the ground. There may be some time (rarely) the root would start to grow again if gets the required resources, and sprouts will start to grow from the ground, that will be a bad thing if we are building landscape on that place.

Roots decay

When roots start to decay, it will take a lot more time to completely decay, maybe more than 10 years. There are chances that it can get infested with pests like termites. But the possibility of this scenario is very less.

Stump Removal

Stump removal is the process of removing the stump of the tree along with its roots. This process is carried out with the use of heavy machinery. The stump removal machines are extremely powerful as compared to stump grinding machines, as they have to pull out the entire stump with its roots from the ground. Here I have mentioned some pros and cons about stump removal that you should keep in mind while comparing stump removal and stump grinding.

Pros:

Complete elimination of stump and roots

The difference between stump grinding and removal is that in stump grinding, the stump is ground into pieces and the roots are left as they are in the ground, but in stump removal, the roots are removed along with the stump, so there are no remains of the tree over there. 

Replanting is easy

After removal of the stump, you are free to replant in that area if you want because there are no remains of the older tree over there. This is the benefit of the stump removal process, the area is as new as the other empty areas in the yard and ready for new plantation.

No Health hazards from pests or decaying process

After removal of the stump, as there are no remains of the dead tree, there are no chances of pest invasion in that area. So the problem of health hazards is no more.

Sprouts won’t grow again

After the removal of the stump, there would be no roots that will help small sprouts to grow again, and the problem of regrowth of trees is no more.

The minerals in the soil will not be wasted

As the root of the tree is not there in the soil to absorb all minerals and regrow itself, the minerals in the soil will be used by other plants and trees in the area.

Cons:

Time intensive

The stump removal process may take a long time to complete, as here the roots are removed along with the stump. Roots of the tree may have spread all over deep into the soil, which would be a critical process to work on. It becomes very difficult when it comes to removing stumps of large trees as the roots are spread in all directions in the ground.

Complicated Process / More difficult to remove

This process is extremely difficult when it comes to removing large tree stumps. The machinery required for removing is bigger and more powerful. Sometimes It becomes very hard to remove the stump as the roots are deeply gone into the soil.

A large Hole is left on the ground

The tree removal process leaves a large hole on the ground, and if the stump is large it ends up destabilizing the ground. Which would later be a difficult task to set the area back to normal. Sometimes it ends damaging the construction under the ground, as the root can reach anywhere below the ground.

Expensive

Stump removal is an expensive process, removing the stump is hectic as well as time-consuming at the same time, after removing the stump you have to see where to leave the stump and roots for decaying.

You have to work on stabilizing the ground to an even surface, which in total will cost you a lot more than you think

Not environment friendly

This process is not good for the environment as it unnaturally removes the roots from the ground and makes the place disturbed, it can ruin the neighboring plants and trees at the same time. 

To conclude, we can have understood the pros and cons of both the process, and it is clear that stump grinding is less expensive and less damaging at the same time, whereas stump removal is more expensive and can be more damaging at the same time. If you are from Jacksonville Fl, it would be a great decision to select the best stump grinding Jacksonville FL, to get the best results.