15 trees removed. Stumps ground. How to stop sprouts from roots?

fishgutzy

fishgutzy

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Now that we have decluttered the overgrown trees in front of the house, new growth is popping up from the roots that are not dead.
Will these roots eventually died if I keep chopping off the sprouts? Or should I rent a monster roto tiller to destroy the roots?
I do have some larger root sections that are exposed that I need to excise. I'll uses a sawzall and pruning blade for that because dirt kills a chain saw blade fast.
 
I've been fighting this too. I've had some success letting the sprouts get about a foot tall, then dosing them with crossbow. Lather, rinse, repeat. The goal is to suck the life out of the roots by allowing it to expend unnecessary energy into new growth.
 
Tordon will usually kill them.

edit: treat the old stump of you can, and drill the exposed roots. I wouldn’t cut out the exposed roots right away, they give you some access to the system.
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong @fishgutzy , but I believe you're saying there is no stump left (it's been ground up). The sprouts are coming from underground roots. Roundup would only maybe work if you doused the entire ground.
 
9outof10mms said:
Correct me if I'm wrong @fishgutzy , but I believe you're saying there is no stump left (it's been ground up). The sprouts are coming from underground roots. Roundup would only maybe work if you doused the entire ground.
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Correct. The stumps were ground to a good 6 to12 inches, maybe more below the surface by the tree company that removed the trees.
Many new "branches" are sprouting in the grass area. The root system is massive for some of these trees. Extends 50 get or more from the former base.
Some of the exposed roots are from trees removed by the previous owner one a decade ago.

A side note, the front walk was put down over tree stumps that were not properly ground. They kept growing and pushed up the walkway. Gotta redo at least half of it.

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Now wait til the roots are rotting then come the fairy rings
 
Tree guy did say to wait until next year to plant any grass. Too acidic right now. So splashing the area with Roundup certainly is an option right now.
Late summer, I'll get a few lawn/landscape brainiacs in to figure out next steps. Gonna need some grading to improve overall drainage.. Probably rip up and completely redo the walkway too.
 
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Not the best one but the only image that let me copy paste. if you dont have a yard yet get the roots out.
 
Dig them up and break out the sawsall. Grass will not grow where the stump grindings are left. Shovel it out and fill with dirt. When the chips decompose the ground will have a hole without removal.
 
fishgutzy said:
Late summer, I'll get a few lawn/landscape brainiacs in to figure out next steps. Gonna need some grading to improve overall drainage.. Probably rip up and completely redo the walkway too.
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Depending what kind of grading has to be done just be aware someone doing the work will not be happy finding a large stump and roots under the surface to deal with. I would disclose its there so they can plan ahead and not get a surprise bill later. Some of it will rot away but it will take many years depending. For killing the sprouts you can use something like trimec if there is grass there or round up if not grass. Worst case cut a couple of the big roots left and paint the cuts with round up in 2 or 3 week intervals
 
Jp8819 said:
Depending what kind of grading has to be done just be aware someone doing the work will not be happy finding a large stump and roots under the surface to deal with. I would disclose its there so they can plan ahead and not get a surprise bill later. Some of it will rot away but it will take many years depending. For killing the sprouts you can use something like trimec if there is grass there or round up if not grass. Worst case cut a couple of the big roots left and paint the cuts with round up in 2 or 3 week intervals
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Thanks.
I certainly "paint" the fat echoed roots. This appear to be from trees long gone. I can check around for other shallow stumps.
The tree guy did grind one old stump that was obvious bear the surface.
The trees in the back that we want gone will be more of a challenge as the back is fenced and the trees are closer to the house and our neighbor's garage.
But 5 pines are straight and tall enough that he can send this to a mill.

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Treat the shoots as they come up with a brush killer instead of simply cutting them down or digging them up.

Treating them with a brush killer will let the shoots take the killer down to the roots, which will help kill off the root system they're coming from.

When you notice the shoots actually dying, then cut them off/out.

Keep doing this and you'll get them.

We have some shrubbery my son and I cut and dug out on the corner of our yard, but were "not allowed" to complete the process as it borders on our in-law's property any my sister-in-law wasn't too happy with what we did. (I didn't care...it was on our property, so it went. The stuff on their property, they can keep.)

We had plenty of shoots popping up. I used a brush killer every time I found some, when my wife wasn't around to see me do it. When the leaves curled up and dropped off, I pulled/hacked the root up and went on my way. Eventually they quit popping up on our property.
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
Treat the shoots as they come up with a brush killer instead of simply cutting them down or digging them up.

Treating them with a brush killer will let the shoots take the killer down to the roots, which will help kill off the root system they're coming from.

When you notice the shoots actually dying, then cut them off/out.

Keep doing this and you'll get them.

We have some shrubbery my son and I cut and dug out on the corner of our yard, but were "not allowed" to complete the process as it borders on our in-law's property any my sister-in-law wasn't too happy with what we did. (I didn't care...it was on our property, so it went. The stuff on their property, they can keep.)

We had plenty of shoots popping up. I used a brush killer every time I found some, when my wife wasn't around to see me do it. When the leaves curled up and dropped off, I pulled/hacked the root up and went on my way. Eventually they quit popping up on our property.
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Cool.
I'll have to do that to the Holly sprouts too. Somebody removed a Holly bush a long time ago. But Holly roots can spread like weeds. Not as bad as mint does.
 
fishgutzy said:
Cool.
I'll have to do that to the Holly sprouts too. Somebody removed a Holly bush a long time ago. But Holly roots can spread like weeds. Not as bad as mint does.
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Good luck with the Holly. The gf has been battling one holly that was cut 25 years ago. Try to kill it. It'll not come back the next year. Then , bam, it's back the next with a vengeance
 
Can’t you just regularly mow them? The roots can’t last too long without chlorophyll and sunlight.
I cleared allot of trash trees around the house in wooded areas. I hit the new upshoots with a strong roundup mix a few times/year.
 
Burt Gummer said:
Now wait til the roots are rotting then come the fairy rings
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That sounds like it belongs in the basement...


Get Off My Lawn said:
Can’t you just regularly mow them? The roots can’t last too long without chlorophyll and sunlight.
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I thought that too and tried to regularly mow some out in the middle of the yard after yanking out a tree. It worked, but it took 3 years.
 
Round up brush killer concentrate mixed 1:1 in a spray bottle. Focused steam in the sprouts. That seems to have worked so. No new sprouts in those areas or near them. Not seeing sprouts pop elsewhere. I a patrol with the bottle to kill anything that looks like a sprout.

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fishgutzy said:
Round up brush killer concentrate mixed 1:1 in a spray bottle. Focused steam in the sprouts. That seems to have worked so. No new sprouts in those areas or near them. Not seeing sprouts pop elsewhere. I a patrol with the bottle to kill anything that looks like a sprout.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk
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You are nowhere near done. Wait till spring. They will be back.
 
LeeMajors said:
Good luck with the Holly. The gf has been battling one holly that was cut 25 years ago. Try to kill it. It'll not come back the next year. Then , bam, it's back the next with a vengeance
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I cut a holly tree down mid Oct. I have a long process ahead getting that 12” stump and main roots out. The first one cut down took three days of digging. Almost nothing kills those suckers.
 
ontheroad said:
Score up some glyphosate (Roundup) concentrate. Drill a hole down into the stump. Pour some of the concentrate in the fresh hole. Let it soak in and do its thing.
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This is better done with Copper Sulfate. You can get some off Amazon.

Glyphosate needs to be sprayed on leaves when the plant is growing, so it'll absorb it down to the roots. Otherwise you have to hope it goes down the tubules into the root system.
 
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