I'm interested in responses to this, too. I had to do the same thing last month with a crepe myrtle that was planted in a bad spot a long time before we bought this house. I'd love to get it under control while I keep working on getting my procrastinator... I mean husband to dig out the root ball.

Salt and Vinegar should do it. I had a sweetgum cut down to the ground, and it tried to come back. I cut off the new growth, poured vinegar and salt on the stump, covered that with plastic, and put bricks over it. A year later, I uncovered it and it's not trying to come back now...but it did make a baby about two feet away from it this year. I just pulled it up...I hate sweetgums.

Puhleeze do not poison your soil with salt-
sugar does the job, & the micro-critters love it!

Drill the holes, or make cuts in the surface with a saw or ax, & pour on the sugars.

I my own self like to put in a sort of creative mix-
flat soda, stale beer (beer has an expiration date, & my neighbor works for a beer company!), old wine, old jellies & jams, etc.

My neighbor, being a more no-nonsense type, buys a 10-lb bag of sugar & dumps it on the stump & keeps it moist.

Ok I'm interested in this one also and have to throw out my exsperience...we have a brick fence all the way around our back yard....the neighbors to the west have a wood fence and for whatever reason - double fenced the property line between us and them (years ago)...so there is like 4-6inches between their fence and ours. They do not take care of their yard at all and of course 3 trees have grown up between those 2 fences. Last year the house sat empty for 8month while on the market to sell...so my hubby and the neightbor from our other side went over and removed pickets from the wood fence...cut all the trees down, drilled holes un the stumps and poured in gas and burned those stumps. They sat their for several hours until the stumps were not burning anymore.
SURPRISE - 2 of the 3 trees are now 6 foot high agian!!!
and new people live there so we can't go back and try it agian....I have been considering pouring some round-up betweent he fences to see if that would work?

Scuba-gal, I've used the 'pour the round-up' technique on those hard to get to places (like over my neighbor's fence! :-) when hackberry and pecan trees sprout near it -- of course knowing it is not something they want.

My trick is to put round-up, or a broad leaf brush killer, full strength in a little spray bottle, set it to spray big droplets and trickle it on the new leaves, or an open cut.

I don't see why that wouldn't work on a sprouting stump also. If the stump was cut anywhere near level then a pot plant could be placed on top of it and the moisture would speed the decomposition.

I like the sugar idea - Now this may be a dumb question, but do you get loads of ants in that area then? I think I need to saw this stump a little lower first - it's still about 3' tall - and then I'm going to pull out the drill and give this a try. I'm always cleaning out honey bottles and jam jars for recycling anyway, so I guess I could just pour the sweetened water over the stump after I clean them out.

Sounds like I need to get some extra sugar on my tree stump in the front yard. Oh, and I'll drill some holes too. I know we're going to have to get an ax or stump grinder to cut the thing out because I just can't wait too long since we're putting in a new tree this fall. But, it will help to get it softened up.

I used sugar and a construction strength black plastic bag. Cooked the stumps to the ground no problem.

Hi !

What has worked for me... is to
* Get one of those 5 gallong steel barrels and cut the top & bottom out,
* Dig a small trench below ground-level in order to get the stump below ground level
* Place the Barrel over the stump
* Pour and ignite a 5 pound bag of charcoal in the bottom well distributed around the tree's circumference.
* You may need more than 1 bag of charcoal depending on the size and moisture content of the stump, and type of tree.
I've gotten rid of MANY various types of trees in this manner, even though it may take a while in some cases; but the stump will eventually burn below ground level, and the ground cover usually comes back with a month or so.

Good Luck !

Ed VA
edv7028@yahoo.com

go to your local feed store and get some ...2-4-d..you can dilute as per directions,but i paint it on fresh cut with a cheap sponge brush.IT WILL DIE

drill holes, fill with sugar, jam, jelly, old syrup...cover with heavy black trash bag or coffee can and wait awhile and it just kind of rots into nothingness.

I am interested in the 'rot it out with sugars' technique. How long does it take for the stump to rot out into nothingness? Days? Weeks? Months? Years?

Just curious.... I've not heard of this method of stump treatment before now.

Thanks,
Cathy

Cathy- Now that I have read more of these responses, I was just thinking the same thing. How long does it take to rot a tree stump using sweets and plastic? "And how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? The world may never know . . ." Sorry - talking about sugar and how long this takes reminded me of that silly old commercial with "Mr. Owl!" Hee-hee!

So would like to rot out the middle of a 4ft high tree stump so I can use it as a planter. Can you use the sugar to selectively rot out a bowl in the stump

Denisew - I was thinking the same thing!! LOL! Actually, I am curious about how long the sugar would take to rot the stumps. Also need advice about a large quantity of tree stumps - what would be best to use? I have a pasture full of honey lotus tree volunteers that I need to have cleared and stumps gone, but don't want to pollute the grasses around them.

How big of holes and how deep do you need to drill in the tree stump?