they keep trying to grow back

[darkoshi]

I'll have to try this:

How to stop stumps from growing back, organically! - drill holes in the stump and apply epsom salts, and replenish the salt every week or so.

Another idea - after doing the above, cover the stumps with black plastic / garbage bag and weight it down with bricks, to both block sunlight, and to keep the salts from being washed away by rain.

How To Use Epsom Salt For Stump Removal - this page says to put a little bit of water in the holes with the epsom salt.

How to Mix Epsom Salts to Kill Stumps - this page says to use a one-inch extra long drill bit... Oh, that must be a spade bit.

Comments

[gfish]

I definitely would not recommend trying it with a 1" twist drill!

[darkoshi]

Why not - what would happen? Not that I have any that big, I'm just curious now that you said that :)

[gfish]

Mostly just that it would be very expensive. Even more so for an extra long one, which would have to be a special order even to find.

But it would also likely be unpleasantly (and maybe dangerously) torquey -- twists drills can bite into softer materials like wood and pull themselves in, then get stuck, all before you have any chance to lower the power on the drill. I'd only use something as big as a 1" twist drill in a drill press, myself. Maybe if you very cautiously step-drilled it in small increments, but even I only have 5/8", 3/4" and 1" bits! I'd certainly put the side handle on my cordless drill, if I didn't have any other choice but to try. At least working on a stump implies not being on a ladder for all this!

[darkoshi]

Well, I checked my case of drill bits and I do have spade ones up to 1", though not extra long. But they should be good enough. Most of the stumps I'm dealing with are fairly small. And yes, I'm glad there's no need for a ladder, and that it doesn't matter if the holes end up crooked or in the wrong place, or anything like that.

[randomdreams]

I've done something similar, only I used straight salt rather than epsom salts. And yes, lots of fairly big holes. I went with a 3/4" silver-and-deming bit, which is just a big twist drill, because deep drilling with spade bits tends to twist my wrists more than I like.

[darkoshi]

From what I read, salt is bad for the soil, but epsom salts are good. So I don't have to worry about unintentionally killing off the other plants.

[randomdreams]

Salt is absolutely bad for the soil. I'd not heard of using epsom salts before. Back when ammonium nitrate was still safe, I'd also pack that into the holes, because after eating the wood it would have diluted enough to be fertilizer.

[gfish]

Huh. Apparently our experiences here are in contradiction. Interesting. :)

[randomdreams]

It should be noted that I have a bucket full of S&D drills from the 1950's, not a one of which has a decent lip on it, so I don't think they could grab under any circumstances.

Can we compromise on ship augers? because I also have a bucket full of those.