11 Reason Why You Should Remove A Tree Stump

The most aesthetic part of nature is trees. They are equally efficient as beautiful they are. From food to shelter, they provide us with everything. And trees in the landscape of your own yard add up to its beauty even more, isn’t it? But the dead tree stump of a tree, not so beautiful, right?

After the wild process of removal of a big tree from your yard, what you are left with is the gross tree stump. Or maybe you have bought a new house and there is a tree stump existing already over there.

The worst part is that you might not even know what to do with it, whether to remove it completely or to let it stay the way it is. That is the reason we are here. We’ll let you know everything related to the removal of the tree stump including the reasons behind it.

According to us, removal of the tree stump is the best alternative. There is no point in keeping it the same way. The only thing it might do is to reduce the beauty of your lawn along with taking up extra space. There are various other reasons to consider tree stump removal. They are listed below.

Stump

Reasons to Consider the Tree Stump Removal

1. Ruins the Beauty of Your Yard

A Living-Dead Tree in Your Lawn

Your yard is a place which you expect to be the most beautiful. The presence of a tree definitely would have enhanced the beauty of your yard in the past, but with its removal, the remaining part of the trunk isn’t that beautiful. Instead, it makes the landscape look shabbier.

 Imagine yourself taking a walk in your yard while admiring the beauty of it and there the stump appears suddenly in front of your eyes. The first thing that comes to your mind is to remove it, right? So go ahead and do it.

2. Health Hazards

Health Hazards

While the presence of the stump spoils the whole look of the garden, it is hazardous too. Do know that presence of a stump in your yard is an open invitation to a number of microbes and diseases? Probably no. When the tree is cut down, nothing will happen to the stump initially. But over time, the stump starts decaying and turns into a residence for several varieties of fungi and other diseases.

 If not handled on time, it might get even worse. In the worst scenarios, the other healthy plants and trees might get infected, affecting their growth and other factors as well. So if your healthy plants are showing stunted growth or are infested with fungi, the tree stump is to be blamed for that.

If you have children or a pet, the presence of those diseases might be dangerous for them too. Tree stump removal becomes necessary for their as well as your safety.

3. Pests and Insects

Pests and Insects

 For someone who has a yard around their house, it is very important for them to maintain the beauty of it. And if you are someone who would want their visitors to be butterflies, tiny little birds and other adorable species, here’s a piece of bad news for you. Rather than attracting them, the tree stump would attract nasty insects and other pests that cause infections.

 To mention some, beetles, carpenter ants, termites and wood wasps are among the ones that can reside over the decaying tree stump.

If you have a pet that loves to play around in the yard, you better watch out for the pests on the stump. If the pet goes near the stump, it is unsafe for it. We never know what harm those pests might cause to your furry friend. Not only your furry friend but you and your family members too. It is a matter of safety friends; you might not want to compromise over it.

4. Extra Space Occupied

Whenever you look at that tree stump just sitting there without any function, you might have thought that you could use that extra space for many reasons. May it be for planting other plants or just to place any other useful thing in its place.

Especially while having any party in your lawn, the biggest space seems smaller. So many things to arrange, and having that useless big stump in the lawn might spoil your mood.  Just imagine how well you could use the space for the sitting arrangement of your guests.  Or for other reasons as well.

And during the party, the appearance of your lawn gets curbed too. That tree stump would definitely ruin the whole look of your house in front of the visitors. We’re sure you don’t want to let that happen, especially if you are a neat freak.

5. Fear of Someone Tripping Over It

Sunday is the most awaited day of the week. And for your children, a perfect Sunday is when you play football, lawn tennis or any of their favourite game in your yard. This tree stump is a real danger for your children.

What if, your child is engrossed in chasing the ball and he/she accidentally trips over the stump? Now here, having that stump possesses a greater deal of risk. Not only children, but your guests or the people invited to your lawn party too would be at a greater risk of stumbling over the stump.

Better get it removed before it is too late and before you need to face the consequences.

6. Other Plants Get Affected

Even if the tree is cut down, the roots persist under the ground. They need the nutrition to spread out. So the existing roots take up the nutrients from the soil and spread deeper. Due to this, other small plants find it difficult to take up the vital nutrients and end up growing nutrient deficit. They might not be resistant to harsh climatic conditions and grow weak.

 Also, the roots of the stump might mess up with the roots of other plants, causing a greater deal of difficulty for their growth.

The other plants need to sacrifice their nutrition for no use. The used-up nutrition by the stump is for no use but to keep its roots intact, making it even more difficult for you to remove them.

7. A Living-Dead Tree in Your Lawn

A Living-Dead Tree in Your Lawn

You probably might be wondering what a living-dead tree is. In the former point, we mentioned that the roots take up all of the nutrition. Not only nutrients but water too. You might have wondered where these nutrients are utilized. All right, here are the answers to all of your questions.

A living-dead tree is when a new outgrowth of the same tree grows from the stump itself with the help of the nutrients taken. The sight of such a mess is a real blot on the landscape.

And did you think about the difficulty you are going to face once this new outgrowth is formed? After the growth of new sprout, new roots are being formed and the old ones move deeper, creating a stronger mess underneath. Tree stump removal becomes more difficult in such instances. It’s better if you consider the tree stump removal initially before it gets worse.

8. Gardening Tasks Made More Difficult

Beware; the stump might cost you a heavy loss.

Mowing is one of the important garden tasks. Now you don’t want to make this task tougher. Over time, the stump gets layered up by the growth of grass over it. At that time, it is even more difficult to notice it. It might not even be clearly visible to you. While mowing, your mower might bang into the stump by chance, damaging the mower completely.

You may need a completely new lawn mower or need to repair it. Whatever you need to do, you’ll have to pay for it and the stump is to be blamed for that.

Even the weeding chores are difficult to do as the weeds can grow near or over the stump, making it a tricky job to remove them.

9. Your Water Supply System Is at Risk

As we told you earlier, even though the tree is gone, the roots are still alive. Along with the nutrients, they want to take up the water from the soil too. The natural tendency of the roots is to grow in the direction of the water. In search of water, they move towards the water pipelines and might hit them, cracking them into pieces and bursting out all of the water inside.

Your lawn may meet flood situations, while you face the shortage of water in your house. And, here comes the expense. You’ll have to spend a lot on the repair of the water supply system.

As we said, better consider the tree stump removal rather than spending this much. Also, using that water, the roots might grow deeper into the soil, further complicating the process of tree stump removal.

10. Affects Property Price

Are you someone who is looking forward to selling your house? Here’s bad news for you. Even though you make all of the arrangements perfectly inside out, the stump will be sitting right in the middle with its unpleasant appearance. This definitely would disturb the overall aesthetic appearance of your house.

What if the presence of the stumps is one of the reasons because of which the buyer denies the deal, especially if that person is fervent about aesthetics. Devastating, right? And if there are more than one stumps lying in the yard, it’s far worse.

11. Elevation of Sidewalks

Elevation of Sidewalks

It seems like the roots of the stump cause most of the problems. Here’s the last one but an important reason to consider the tree stump removal. The stump roots when they get enough amounts of nutrition and water supply, they move deeper and spread wider. While spreading out, they might reach up to the sidewalk, crash into them and affect them badly.

Such elevated sidewalks will not only spoil the whole look of your house but is dangerous too for the people passing by.

If you have decided on the tree stump removal after reading the reasons given above, here are the processes to do it.

We’re not saying that you shouldn’t go for DIY methods at all, but we suggest you to go for a professional tree stump removal service rather than doing it on your own. They have specialized skills in this process and you will not need to worry about the consequences after removal. Also, the tree stump removal process needs the handling of chemicals and other substances carefully; you might not want to risk it.

Here Are Some of The Techniques Which You Can Use to Get That Vexing Tree Stump Removed.

1. Grinding it

It involves the usage of a big grinding machine that chops down the tree stump into pieces. It covers a depth of about 1 foot under the ground. You can go for it as it is one of the easiest ways, but it has got some drawbacks too.

If the roots are beyond the depth of 1 foot, then they may persist right there. They may decay over time, but their decaying process requires a whole lot of time.

2. Use Chemicals

Using chemicals is also an easy way but at the same time, it is quite risky. It involves the usage of some chemicals over the stump to make the decaying process faster. Small holes are drilled into the stump and they are filled with the chemicals. The stump and the roots start decaying over a few weeks and you can get rid of the remaining residue easily. In this method, you don’t have the problem of constant whirring sound, unlike the grinding method.

Once the tree stump is removed, you can fill up the holes with soil and plant new saplings over there easily.

We hope you found this article helpful and helped you out in taking the correct decision regarding tree stump removal. But if you are still hesitant about the removal of the tree stump and want to do something creative out of it, you can read our another article related to tree stump ideas for a quirky yard.  Thank you!

Quinn Roberts

Quinn Roberts, with a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from the University of Washington, has been a nature enthusiast since childhood. With over a decade of experience in environmental research, Quinn's work has been pivotal in understanding ecosystem dynamics. Joining our team in 2019, Quinn has enriched our platform with insights into natural landscapes and sustainable practices. When not working, he loves hiking and photography, capturing the serene beauty of the wilderness.

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