Greetings humans, Answer me this. When killing small bush/shrub/trees why remove the stump at all. If the roots are say 4″ diameter max. will there ever be a visual settling on the lawn? I doubt it. Why not cut it 6″ below grade and forget about it. Will certain species just keep growing? ( Stumps will be under a new deck)
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Did alot of this (and am still doing it) carving out my place from hardwood forest. Seems like Basswood, some species of Ash, Cherry, and I think Ironwood will send suckers up for a few years but they eventually give up. Get one of those STIHL bushwackers..the kind with the flexible driveshaft that you can put a BLADE on, cut the original trunk as deep as you can, and then do sucker patrol.
There are commercial products that do the same thing but a splash of diesel fuel on the top of the sawed off trunk will usually kill the roots for good.
If you leave the stump below grade, especially on fast growing shrub type trees, they will be more resilient than the worst villain in a string of bad horror movie sequels.
Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
Grub out all organic matter, non-negotiable.