In the new house my husband and I are moving into next Friday we have at least 1 tree growing too close to the house that we will unfortunately need to cut down. I was searching for a way to remove the stump without using harsh chemicals, and I feel I found a way that will work well for us! With the use of a simple power drill and Epsom salt we can get rid of the stump with very little physical labor at all.
What you will need:
-Power Drill
-Epsom Salt
-Water
-Mattock or grub hoe
What to do:
-Once the tree is removed you will be left with you stump, you will want to drill some holes in the stump with a 1 inch spade bit. The amount of holes will depend on how large your stump is. You will start your holes about 3 inches from the perimeter and continue with the holes being about 3-4 inches apart from each other until there is no space left on the top of the stump. You will want the holes to go at least 8 inches into the stump.
-At this time you will want to fill your holes with the 100 pure Epsom salt.
-Once the holes have been filled you will want to add water to moisten the salt.
-Now you will want to use the hoe to expose as much of the root structure as you can.
-Add a thick layer of your Epsom salt to the roots which will prevent the roots from carrying moisture and nutrients to the base of the tree.
How it all works:
The Epsom salt is hygroscopic which means it will absorb water. With the large amount of Epsom salt used in this process it will pull moisture from the wood which will in time kill the stump. The benefit of using this over typical stump killers is that it will actually improve the soil around the stump. The Epsom salt will improve the soil by adding magnesium and sulfur which plants require for chlorophyll and production.
**This process can take up to 1-2 months to die and you will need to reapply the Epsom salt every 3 weeks. **
I localted this information from: http://www.ehow.com/way_5720752_epsom-salt-formula-stump-removal.html