lol...Well, I'll tell you like it is. Either let the grass grow high enough & cut it with some type of mower that misses the stumps or bite the bullet & have someone to come in & grind down the stumps for you. Either way, you are going to keep having to replace mowers if you keep hitting the stumps. Check out the Stihl & Echo websites as far as your "tool collection" goes. They both make quality power heads that you can use to power multiple attachments (everything you mentioned & more). Definitely the cheaper route to go than to buy a seperate edger, trimmer, hedge trimmer etc. Good luck.

Used to be able to rent stump grinders. Another, less attractive option is to have them plucked out with a backhoe. Have you thought a couple of goats or sheep?
Getting a Powerhead is like getting a Barbie or GI Joe. You'll be at the Stihl/Echo dealer more than your kids are at ToysRus looking for the latest attachment.

Have fun,

Dave

Where I have tree stumps, I don't mow.

But I have heard that the po-boy cure for stumps is a bag of charcoal briquettes. Two fires is probably all you will need for each large stump. If the neighbors don't care for it, invite 'em over for a few beers.

>Where I have tree stumps, I don't mow.

You guys are tough.

>But I have heard that the po-boy cure for stumps is a
>bag of charcoal briquettes.

That's a great idea. A friend suggested what he called a 'stump-u-lator'. It was a 55 gal steel drum with no bottom or top. You were to put the drum down over the stump, stick some bricks under the drum to let air in, then fill the drum with brush and light it. After a few hours, only a hole in the ground remains.

He had much bigger stumps, so the stump-u-lator seemed to big a deal. My little 3" to 10" stumps will probably vanish with a few briquettes and a cheap hibachi. Time and neighbors are not an issue.

The other idea that came to mind was a chain and come-along. I could put a good sized hook in the stump and then use the come-along (connect to a tree) to pull the stump out. I don't know if a come-along would do the trick, but you never know until you try.

Add water to soil around stump they pull out mud very easy.

I have an old Ford 601 tractor (weighs about 2800 pounds) and I don't ever try to pull out any stumps over 2" in diameter.

The big problem with stumps and chains is that one of them is supposed to give up, hopefully the stump. If the chain ever gives up (never seen it, but heard of it), you don't want that coming in your direction.

Next winter I will be taking down some 12" dia trees that are in the lawn. Looking forward to trying the briquette method on the stumps.

If you have time and not much money, burn them out.

If you have some money (I'm guessing $2-400), rent a good sized stump grinder like a Vermeer 252 and take a day or two to grind them down. But be careful since you say you have a lot of rocks. Those machines will kick rocks out hard enough to seriously injure or kill. Don't go for those little lawn mower sized grinders. You'll be at it all day for a few days and spend as much or more in rental fees than getting a bigger one for one maybe two days (I'm guessing based on your stump descriptions). The only problem with the larger units is making sure they can get to the stumps.

Rent a stump grinder and obliterate them in mass.

If you only have a few then they can be burned out. Drill holes in them and soak them in diesel and them light them. They'll burn for days and give off a nice glow at night!!

Good suggestions on grinding and burning. I prefer to dig them out but another alternative is to dig around them and then cut below soil level with a recip saw and a pruning blade.

As far as staying with one brand on your "collection", I really don't think it is important except when you invest in cordless tools and the battery paks are interchangeable.

Bob
Central Arizona

Digging out or around a stump is definitely an option but I can't think of when I would do that unless I had zero money and absolutely had to have them out, even then burning en masse would be quicker than digging around and cutting off multiple stumps.

I bought an Echo 210 with the brush cutter attachment. I've spent a few hours using it. It performed very well.

Several times, I found myself cutting back a 'bush' and discovering a stump at the bottom. I was just getting back to what I had cleared 5 or 6 years ago. All the more reason to become an expert at stump removal, even the 2" stumps.

The change from string-trimmer to brush cutter is a bit slow, and requires me to use my socket wrench set, screw-driver, pliers, and cleared working area. In the interest of getting things done quickly, it would probably be wise to leave this tool a brush cutter and get myself another string-trimmer.