"Tree Stump Removal - Get rid of tree stumps by drilling holes in the stump and filling them with 100% Epsom salt. Follow with water, and wait. Live stumps may take as long as a month to decay, and start to decompose all by themselves."
A fan sent me this and I was rather curious since I've done a Good Idea Friday in the past on how plants love epsom salt. It took me a bit but I found the source of the image. Guess what? It's for a chemical powder you add to stumps, not epsom salts. But would epsom salts work?
I found quite a lot of websites that mention this method, but one thing stood out to me - a lot of them said ether rock salt or epsom salt. But as I address in the previous epsom salt post, epsom salt isn't like table/ rock salt. They have different chemical compositions, "salt" is a quite broad scientific term. I have no doubt that perhaps rock salt would work, but the minerals that make up epsom salt I don't see working as well.
I walked along my lawn trying to find maybe an old stump I didn't know was there, but alas I had none to test this out on. I looked online assuming since it seems like such a popular idea that there would be people who have attempted this as well, but could only find one blog post that talked about actually using this method. Over at Lisa Earthgirl, she writes about trying this out. I asked how it was coming along but unfortunately due to a damp summer, she's going to have to try it again to see if it shows any results. Most other search results ether pulled up questionable commercial sites, or seemed to be along the lines of "a friend of a friend tried this with success"
So I'm not calling this a Bad Idea yet, but unproven to date. Personally I think you'd have far more success with something like rock salt which is known to kill plants. If you've tried this with conclusive results, please let us know!
Epsom Salts are Magnesium Sulphate which will in solution in small quantities combat the yellowing of plant leaves caused by the lack of magnesium. Just because the word 'salt' is used, do not believe this has any relationship to sea salt or table salt which is Sodium Chloride. I use Epsom Salts routinely to assist my potted Bouganvillea, dissolving a teaspoon of the crystals in a gallon of water.
ReplyDeleteEpsom salts, poured into drilled holes in the stump of any live tree will kill it and prevent it re=shooting. Not a bad idea and proven for well over 100 years. The stump will rot away at exactly the same speed as a dead stump. The rate at which it rots merely reflects the hardness of the timber which is usually a feature of its rate of growth. Hardwoods, like oak last longer than softwoods like pine
This is from an article to plant flowers in old tree stumps. The Epsom salt promotes root growth in the bulbs or plants placed in the holes.
DeleteYou're better to use potassium nitrate or urea, someting that is acid, with high nitrogen content.
Deleteim going to try it on Monday with large sea salt crystals I will get back at ya
ReplyDeleteIt's not salt. It's Epsom Salt from pharmacy
DeleteIt's not salt. It's Epsom Salt from pharmacy
DeleteBoth rock salt and epsom salt can be used to remove tree stumps. The problem with the former is that its high sodium levels would make the soil unfit for planting later on. Epsom salt is more preferable in this regard. Nonetheless, removing a tree stump with chemicals can take a very long time. I prefer doing a stump grinding.
ReplyDeleteBilly Quaid @ MPDT.com.au
tried Epsom salt. Doesn't work. Turns stump black and thats it
DeleteSure, send me oodles of dollars and I'll have my stumps ground or buy a grinder. What? You don't want to? You think that's why people HAVE TO do it with epsom salts?
Deletehttp://www.ehow.com/way_5720752_epsom-salt-formula-stump-removal.html
ReplyDeleteHmm. This is interesting. Epsom salts are generally considered as a drying agent and so putting them on stumps will likely dry out the stumps, essentially killing them. I do have reservations with this method as a rotting tree can also draw some unwanted creatures like termites to nest on it. At the end of the day though, it depends on how fast you want the stump gone. If you are not in any hurry then you can always try this out, but if the time and situation calls for the stump to be removed immediately, then you can try some professional tree services.
ReplyDeleteHannes Dewet
I do agree, Epsom salt is mentioned in most sites as a method on how to get rid of old tree stumps, but no one can really confirm whether they work or not. What do you think about this method personally? I hope to see your results on this blog soon, if you ever decide to try it out.
ReplyDeleteRichard Smith
Epsom salt will KILL the stump but not directly make it ROT. Of course rotting can begin once a stump is dead. I read somewhere (?) to put high nitrogen fertilizer in the drilled holes and around the base to promote rotting of an already dead stump and I will be trying that. In the past, for dead stumps I am patient about removing, I remove soil around the base and hack or drill holes as best I can all over the stump. Then I put a pile of already rotting leaves and/or rotting log (from the woods) on and around the stump and keep it moist. The microbes and bugs in that stuff then start munching on the stump pretty quickly. I have had fairly large newly dead stumps rot enough in one year with this method that I could take an axe and remove them. Oak and hickory certainly take longer than pine and cherry around here.
ReplyDeleteI drilled holes in a stump in July, 2012 and put Epsom Salt in the holes. I do not believe there was any aggressive decay of that stump from the salt. A few days ago, April, 2014, I put more Epsom Salt and Vinegar on the stump and two days later I checked the stump and it as soft ..soft enough I was able to pull some of it apart with my hands. I added more salt and vinegar but haven't been able to check it for two days. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to check it and will find it is soft enough to be destroyed with a shovel.
ReplyDeleteEpsom salt will kill the stump gradually. Rock salt is quite not popular otherwise would go viral. For implementation i think its nice to try things out and if successful, then becomes a must to be shared. Thanks for the information shared.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool that you can use Epsom Salt to remove tree stumps. I have had this stump in my yard for a few years now that I want to get rid of. Hopefully something like this will get rid of it without having to call a professional service to remove it for me. http://www.heritagetreecare.com.au/stump-grinding/
ReplyDeleteI was going to try the Epsom salts method (I read about it on This Old House's site) but when my husband and I were at Home Depot yesterday we stumbled upon a product called Stump-Out so we'll try it instead. I don't care if the stump rots, I just want the life out of it so we won't end up with another $5,000 plumbing bill because the roots keep destroying the sewer lines.
ReplyDeleteI would have the stump removed, but it's half on our property, half on the neighbors AND the neighbors chain link fence is somewhere INSIDE of the stump.
Interesting article, thanks for writing it for us! Tree Service Brooklyn NY
ReplyDeleteThis is from an article to plant flowers in old tree stumps. The Epsom salt promotes root growth in the bulbs or plants placed in the holes.
ReplyDeleteInteresting tip, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI used Epsom on a stump last spring. Applied once. We had just moved in and I had nothing to lose. When I put it in the stump (ours actually had chainsaw cuts down it) the stump was rock solid solid and not going to go anywhere . My husband just 3 weeks ago was able to take a shovel and easily break up the stump and shovel it away. He determined it was possible because he kicked it and it started to fall apart. So yes it took a year. But it worked for me.
ReplyDeleteI used Epsom on a stump last spring. Applied once. We had just moved in and I had nothing to lose. When I put it in the stump (ours actually had chainsaw cuts down it) the stump was rock solid solid and not going to go anywhere . My husband just 3 weeks ago was able to take a shovel and easily break up the stump and shovel it away. He determined it was possible because he kicked it and it started to fall apart. So yes it took a year. But it worked for me.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone tried vinegar and coca-cola?
ReplyDeleteI could see enough epsom salt working if the holes were deep enough and enough salt was able to get in the tree. I think the individual "tests" may have not met the thresh hold.
ReplyDeleteIf i remember college chemistry right the term "salt" merely means ionic bond of cations and anions (positive and negative charge) from a reaction. In table salt Sodium (NA) is + and Chloride (Cl) is -. In epsom salt: Magnesium (Mg) is + and sulfate (SO4 or SO3??) is -.
Both of these are highly water soluble and by pouring water over them you mobilize it to be taken into the tree stump. With many things a certain amount of these compounds is beneficial, too much is toxic. The tree can't just shut off what is being fed to it though the bore holds of the stump. But if you don't have deep enough bore holes to allow for adequate surface area then I don't think it will work, but that is more individual technique that this method of stump killing. Sulfates should be able to kill the tree if enough gets in. Magnesium is a micronutrient so epsom salt applications to benefit plants would be pretty small and not create problems with sulfate build up.
As far as drying the tree out, it is possible that it damages the tree by pulling water across membranes to make the concentration of sulfate equal, I am not sure what the exact mechanism for how it would affect the tree stump. Could kill it by making a freshwater plant die in a salt water environment.
I tried it on several hardwoods trees, and it didnt work for me. The trunks were old, and I drilled a ton of deep holes into the base. Added epsom salt, watered it in, covered, waited a month. The result: nothing.
ReplyDeleteI have used 100% Epsom salts (very inexpensive at Walmart in the pharmacy department) to kill several stumps in my huge backyard over the last few years. The difference between using it to enrich plant roots and using it to kill tree stumps is the concentration that you use. As a plant root stimulation you are basically diluting a couple of teaspoons in a large amount of water. To kill a stump, you are using large amounts of non-diluted Epsom salts.
ReplyDeleteThe trick is once you put the Epsom salt in the holes (which should be 2" apart and at least 8-12" deep made with a drill bit 1/2" to 1" wide), you then need to then pour just a tad of water into each hole, very slowly as not to flush the salts back out to help dissolve (dissolve, not dilute) the salts just a little.
The most critical step (in my opinion) that will typically determine success is to then take a plain unscented candle, light it and let the wax drip into the top of each hole to seal it. That will help hold the salts in place as well as prevent lawn watering, rains, etc from diluting the salts. Doing this also blocks the holes as an entrance for pests. It takes anywhere from 3-6 months for the stump to die enough that you can then take a sledgehammer or mallot and give the stump a few whacks and watch it crumble.
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ReplyDeleteSpot on with this write-up, I truly think this website needs much more consideration. I’ll probably be again to read much more, thanks for that info.
ReplyDeleteYou’re so cool! I don’t suppose I’ve read anything like this before. So nice to find somebody with some original thoughts on this subject. really thank you for starting this up. This website is something that is needed on the web, someone with a little originality. Good job for bringing something new to the internet!
ReplyDeleteThis is really amazing. I won't be trying this until I am sure that what I am receiving is actually amazing.
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