Birch tree

[Ramona]

My 40 year birch tree is dying and large branches have fallen down. We had to cut it urgently as it was a hazard for humans and animals. There is un ugly stump from the former four branches and many suckers in the ground. What shall we do? Grind the stump and put sod?
Wait for the suckers to grow and produce a new tree?
Remove the stump with its roots?
Thank you

[Paul Cleaver]

Can you post a photo please

[Excels1or]

12 hours ago, Ramona said:

My 40 year birch tree is dying and large branches have fallen down. We had to cut it urgently as it was a hazard for humans and animals. There is un ugly stump from the former four branches and many suckers in the ground. What shall we do? Grind the stump and put sod?
Wait for the suckers to grow and produce a new tree?
Remove the stump with its roots?
Thank you

Grind or ecoplug. New growth from an old stump will have a weak union if allowed to grow to maturity. 

[Muddy42]

Cut the stump as low as possible with a chainsaw and an old chain, then grind the stump below ground level and cover with soil and reseed.  There are no short cuts here, aside from matching the size of the grinder to the size of the job, grinding a big stump with a small grinder can take hours.  Holy suckers will die with one or two applications of glyphosate.  I've just done exactly this over the past few weeks.

[Mick Dempsey]

I’ve never understood this ‘use an old chain’ thing.

If it’s not sharp you’ll never get through the stump.

As soon as you hit a stone or whatever you’ll have to sharpen it anyway, whether it is new, or on its last knockings.

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Muddy42 said:

Cut the stump as low as possible with a chainsaw and an old chain, then grind the stump below ground level and cover with soil and reseed.  There are no short cuts here, aside from matching the size of the grinder to the size of the job, grinding a big stump with a small grinder can take hours.  Holy suckers will die with one or two applications of glyphosate.  I've just done exactly this over the past few weeks.

I keep my old chains ( well sharpened coz they cut faster ) Use a new one so later it can become a fast cutting " old " chain . 🙂

[Dan Maynard]

2 hours ago, Mick Dempsey said:

As soon as you hit a stone or whatever you’ll have to sharpen it anyway, whether it is new, or on its last knockings.

 

If you hit a stone badly on an old chain then bin it.

 

I actually have some semi chisel Rotatech chains for the job so they are easy to sharpen for small dings but if I hit something big I'm not going to spend 20 minutes sharpening it, just bin and move on.

[Muddy42]

Its each to their own I guess.  I hand file only so if I hit a stone with a new chain and I've got 30 minutes of filling to do. Maybe then a test cut to see it cuts straight and the rakers are set right.  All of this barely matters for an old stump chain - basic sharpen and go. If it looses too many teeth then bin it.  I'm basically using old chains as a quick small grinder for small stumps, cutting vertical slots, cutting off diagonal sections.

[madmaxtree]

Yanking out the stump and roots might be a bit of work, but it'll clear the way for a clean slate.

[Paul in the woods]

If it was me I'd be tempted to try drilling and plugging with mushroom spawn. Although best done when freshly cut.

[dan blocker]

On 19/07/2023 at 15:02, Excels1or said:

Grind or ecoplug. New growth from an old stump will have a weak union if allowed to grow to maturity. 

Eco plug stump, birch won’t take long to rot away. If you want a quick result and can’t wait for result bring in a stump grinder.