Trying to hide a stump

[pepper]

I have a stump in the yard that is driving me nuts. It's from a large spruce tree that was cut down about 4 years ago. It's dead but still solid. It's cut at ground level but the stump and roots around it are still visible and I can't cut with the lawn mower around it. I'd like to dump a foot of soil over top of it and plant something that runs and will blanket it. It's in full sun so I'm not sure what to use that would creep over top but not mind full sun.

 

[Ruderunner]

How big around an area?

Pumpkin comes to mind or some sort of melon plant.

For something more permanent, pacasandra (sp?)

 

[Tetters]

Maybe you could stick a nice big pot on there, tipped up it would make a spilled planter look like this...

 

[DirtMechanic]

If you cover it and can keep it moist it will not last long, maybe 3 years. They become a good planting place. You should plant things that like high N fertilizers, green leafy plants that suite your fancy. This might not help flowers, but it will help the soil digest the stump.

 

[Tetters]

If this stump was drilled into with a fat drill bit a few times, and the holes filled up with Epsom salts and packed down well, covered over with plastic, and covered with a pot or ornament of some kind, it would help it to crumble away to nothing in a couple of years or so. Epsom salt is a feed to plants, unless applied in bulk, and then, whilst killing off what you don.t want, it will feed all surrounding plant life.

 

[pepper]

Thank you all for the ideas! The area around the stump and roots are about 6' at most to cover the stump and all the roots. It is in my front yard though so that's why it is a real eye sore. When I cut it down I cut pretty deep grooves into the center of the stump with the tip of the chain saw and I think if I remember right I filled the grooves with Epsom salt, but I didn't think to cover it. The rain probably washed away the salt after a few weeks.

Maybe I will put some more salt and cover it with plastic and put some red cedar chips over top and a large flower pot on-top of that with some flowers... make it half decent looking while it rots away. I love trees but they are a pain after they have to be taken down lol.

 

[pepper]

That tipped flower pot looks really nice with those purple flowers. That is the look I'd like to go for.

 

[Tetters]

I think it's a good idea to get the epsom salt as deeply into the wood as possible, and yes it mustn't get washed out or it will never work. We use old compost bags and make sure they are well weighted down so the salt can't escape. If you use the tipped over pot idea you will be adding a pile of soil/compost over the top anyway, so it can take its time rotting down. Interesting project. Please can we have a look when you have it all in place. Have fun

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Next time leave it long. We had one, about 2ft tall and covered in ivy, which looked a bit grotty. A little while ago the missus stripped off all the ivy, and it looked really grotty. I tied a loop from the top to the concrete post for the washing line, then put a stick through and wound it out with a Spanish windlass.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Next time leave it long. We had one, about 2ft tall and covered in ivy, which looked a bit grotty. A little while ago the missus stripped off all the ivy, and it looked really grotty. I tied a loop from the top to the concrete post for the washing line, then put a stick through and wound it out with a Spanish windlass.

Yeah the long tops will stay dry and thats good. MeI take a sawzall and flush cut with tose blades that can handle nails and drill by the exgesdown so rain water can get in there as runoff.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Length and leverage is everything if you want something to move.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Few other ideas come to mind:

• Inoculate the stump with some type of mushroom? The fungus will take it out in a few years, but you'll be left with a crater.
• Get a large auger type drill bit and hog out several deep holes. One brand name is Nail Eater by Greenly.
• Hiring a stump grinder around here costs a few hundred dollars.
• If you're confident of your capabilities with tools I know many tool rentals carry stump grinders.

Any way, as the wood rots out there will be a crater left in a few years.


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OR more fun and more likely to upset HOA neigbors or the Department of Making you Sad

Drill some nice big holes in it and pack it with black powder or thermite... Oddly enough the common black powder ingredient Potassium Nitrate is sold as stump remover.