decomposing stumps

[Island Lescure]

Anyone have any success with this?

 

Client wants to let newly felled cypress and Lawson's stumps decompose naturally but speedily...

 

I will just inform them, not actually go back to do something.

 

I was thinking anything with carbohydrates/sugars should speed things up.

 

They are in dry areas, exposed.

 

Pile some compost around them and keep moist?

 

Cheers for any info

[Mick Dempsey]

They sound like idiots.

Tell them if they're too tight to get them ground out, they'll hang around for years.

[agg221]

Could try drilling the stump and inserting Nameko mushroom spawn plugs:

 

https://www.gourmetmushrooms.co.uk/mushroom-info-table/

 

The deliberate introduction of fungi would accelerate decomposition, and give a crop too! Probably take around 5yrs to decompose, depending on size and how densely you fill with plugs.

 

Alec

[Goaty]

A few years ago we chipped a load around the bottom of a rubbish living sycamore. The heap heat killed it then within a year or 2months it fell over rotten. It was a healthy stem about a foot across.

 

Cut them close to the ground, pile wood chip as high as customer will let you. Heat followed by fungal transfer from the chip. It is much quicker and dead easy to do.

 

I'd like to research it more. Cheap, natural. As long as it fits in what's to lose. A stump versus a mound of chip the chip probably looks better.

[Goaty]

Could try drilling the stump and inserting Nameko mushroom spawn plugs:

 

https://www.gourmetmushrooms.co.uk/mushroom-info-table/

 

The deliberate introduction of fungi would accelerate decomposition, and give a crop too! Probably take around 5yrs to decompose, depending on size and how densely you fill with plugs.

 

Alec

 

Have you tried these Alec? They only a few miles down the road from me, it's been on my to do list for a few years now:blushing:

[Beardie]

A few years ago we chipped a load around the bottom of a rubbish living sycamore. The heap heat killed it then within a year or 2months it fell over rotten. It was a healthy stem about a foot across.

 

Cut them close to the ground, pile wood chip as high as customer will let you. Heat followed by fungal transfer from the chip. It is much quicker and dead easy to do.

 

I'd like to research it more. Cheap, natural. As long as it fits in what's to lose. A stump versus a mound of chip the chip probably looks better.

 

Do the customers have kids? I can just see them scattering it merrily around, then the customers blaming you for a) not rotting the stump and b) finding chip in unmentionable places.

[Goaty]

Yeah, there is all these out of control yet cotton wool wrapped brats to consider as well as cats toilet and dogs that have never been trained. But that's the customers issue.

In the good old days they would of been glad of a heap of chip to spread after it had cooled on other parts of the garden. The kids would of either been told not to touch the heap and obeyed or been allowed to have fun.

We used to take our pedal car to the top of a 4 m high spoil heap in our back garden and ride down it.

[agg221]

Have you tried these Alec? They only a few miles down the road from me, it's been on my to do list for a few years now:blushing:

 

I have bought from them and found them very helpful on the phone and with the instructions. I went with them partly for this and partly for their price and range. I can't say how well they will do yet - plugs only went in this spring. Only thing I found was that I needed more wax than they reckoned in order to coat the ends of the logs, but fortunately both my daughters are addicted to Babybel cheese

 

Alec

[Island Lescure]

Edible mushroom inoculation sounds good but the area is quite grubby. I would not want to eat mushrooms from there.

 

Can't really heap woodchips sky high there as one is by a ledge, another by a verge.

 

I think I will just tell them that grinding is the only viable option really.

 

Cheers for the suggestions!

[openspaceman]

Anyone have any success with this?

 

Client wants to let newly felled cypress and Lawson's stumps decompose naturally but speedily...

 

I will just inform them, not actually go back to do something.

 

I was thinking anything with carbohydrates/sugars should speed things up.

 

Exposing surface area to air and decreasing the carbon to nitrogen ratio would speed up composting, Ammonium sulphamate was used to kill regrowth from broadleaved stumps and this also added nitrogen, as it is unlicensed for stump killing it is now sold as a compost accelerant.

 

 

They are in dry areas, exposed.

 

Pile some compost around them and keep moist?

 

Cheers for any info

 

Or add an oxidiser, let them dry and then allow them to burn out.

 

All these techniques have fallen into disuse with the advent of the ubiquitous stump grinder.