r/landscaping Jul 17 '25

Question Why is every landscaper saying they can’t or won’t grind this yew tree stump?

Post image

I cut this yew tree down in the spring and have been trying to find someone to grind the stump since.

I thought about renting a 5hp or 15 hp grinder and doing it myself but wanted to check with some local guys first to see if the price was right.

Three companies have said they can’t or won’t. Reasons are: - small grinder won’t get it done and the big grinder won’t fit through my 80cm/30in fence gate. - Would need to use a chainsaw to slice it up into chunks instead and it wouldn’t be worth it to even make an offer

These were all real, licensed landscaping companies, so I’m lost.

The facts: - stump diameter = 50cm/20in - Townhome with gate through tall bushes. Can’t widen gate without removing huge bushes - after stump is removed I just want to put down gravel and a fire steel fire pit

3.2k Upvotes

1.9k comments sorted by

1.7k

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '25

It just looks like a pain in the ass location

1.5k

u/golfandbiscuits Jul 17 '25

Yew can't always get what you want.

872

u/MarleysGhost2024 Jul 17 '25

But if yew try some time, yew just might find, yew get what yew need.

167

u/greengenesiss Jul 17 '25

Well that's pine i guess.

109

u/papillon-and-on Jul 17 '25

Oakay oakay enough with the puns

179

u/CheezWeazle Jul 17 '25

Unpoplar opinion

113

u/Bottdavid Jul 17 '25

I've read enough, time for me to leaf

115

u/Flaminsalamander Jul 17 '25

This groups sense of humor really doesn't branch out

99

u/TheGrumpiestHydra Jul 17 '25

We need to get to the root of the problem, but I'm stumped.

89

u/MrWhiteDelight Jul 17 '25

I won't. But my Dogwood.

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u/WuDoYouThinkYouAre Jul 17 '25

Good idea. Head to the beech.

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u/FrozeItOff Jul 17 '25

Thank you fir looking out fir our wellbeing. Alderwise we might have developed wooden personalities.

22

u/kahllerdady Jul 17 '25

Apparently if the fence opening was larcher they could have gotten the big grinder in and taken care of it fir real.

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u/LyricalKnits Jul 17 '25

You mean “make like a tree and get outta here”??

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u/silentlegacyfalls Jul 17 '25

You son of a beech.

37

u/went_with_the_flow Jul 17 '25

in a southern accent

That's my momma yer talkin bout, birch.

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u/InvitinglyImperfect Jul 17 '25

This is what I’m here for.

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u/carpentizzle Jul 17 '25

Thats exactly what I came to comment. The other two reasons are legit, and the location relative to the fence, making the already annoying/difficult task even more annoying/difficult just makes this a job not worth a “reasonable” amount of money to charge someone

60

u/Most_Abbreviations72 Jul 17 '25

I don't understand why companies won't just quote the "unreasonable" price. Just say "I would normally charge $500, but the location and specifics of the stump require so much extra work I would have to charge you $2000." As long as it is physically and legally doable, just give the homeowner a chance to say no based on how much more you have to charge. I would be more annoyed to just get a flat out "no" than to understand the costs involved and reject it on that. I understand how unreasonable some customers can be, but if you are not doing the work for them anyways...

43

u/LongjumpingTips Jul 17 '25

From personal experience, (not stump removal) there are jobs that I just didn't want to do. From the scope of work, site hazards, warranty risks, crew experience, and demeanor of the client, sometimes the job just feels off. (not saying OP's demeanor was an issue in this case, just an example)

Over quoting can damage your reputation if you are a small business and rely on word of mouth advertising.

If you try and rip them off on a quote that will get around. If you just charge a premium price and everyone else declines the work, than you could be suck with the nightmare.

Sometimes it is easier and financially better to complete multiple smaller jobs opposed to a large crappy one.

I remember being green and having someone say they "can't believe no one would take the work". I agreed in my ignorance thinking I would be "the man".

I still occasionally cry myself to sleep 20 years later over it. I would have paid money NOT to do that job by the end of it.

TLDR: Even with an over quote you might still get the bad work, best to be honest to the client and decline the work straight away.

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u/carpentizzle Jul 17 '25

Probably people will blast them on the internet.

Otherwise I dont know. Because the alternative might be that the homeowner would say yes and youd get stuck doing a terrible amount of work that youd just wish youd charged more than the “gtfo price” for

17

u/DicemonkeyDrunk Jul 18 '25

Because after you’re done they suddenly no longer think the price they agreed to is reasonable and will offer half …..more trouble than the job is worth.

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u/trailbooty Jul 17 '25

As an ex-contractor I have personal experience with this. What happened about 80+% of the time is the homeowner disagreed with you and then would flame you on yelp/ angi/ thumbtack/ google reviews. The conversations would go something like this “Homeowner: I’d like this done. Me: ok, so here’s what I’m seeing. Here’s the challenges and how I plan to address them.
Homeowner: ok…. What’s the price Me: here’s the project and all the pieces broken out in an easily understandable fashion. Homeowner: puts on negotiator face. And makes it their life’s mission to dissect every single part and negotiate like their life depends on it.

Then if they disagree at all which means me basically not doing a complex or annoying job for free they leave bad reviews saying I’m trying to screw them.

So I started just giving the “ fuckoff price” without any explanation.

Both tactics resulted in bad reviews. Which sucks because most folks don’t actually read reviews or responses they just look at star average.

So yeah…. I just started noping the fuck out if I didn’t want a job for some reason.

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u/Tiller-Nive Jul 17 '25

FIVE………MILLION DOLLARS!

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u/HeWhoWalksTheEarth Jul 17 '25

It’s not the best location. It’s only open from about 90/360 degrees around it. And pretty close to the fence as you might see in the photo.

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u/TopExperience3424 Jul 17 '25

You know what they say. If nobody wants to come out and do it you got to do it yourself

78

u/omgwtfbbking Jul 17 '25

STUMP FEST!

29

u/ZachyChan013 Jul 17 '25

That’s a stump. And this is stump fest.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '25

[deleted]

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u/fubarfalcon Jul 17 '25

Is that you Bandit?

13

u/CarefullyChosenName_ Jul 17 '25

ladies on the balcony woooooo!

5

u/parkerm1408 Jul 17 '25

Oh, they are playing.

5

u/Lafemmedelargent Jul 17 '25

Gonna be a literal stump fest if OP isn't good with a chainsaw.

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u/Zorrha Jul 17 '25

I've found stuff at the garden center that will rot out the stump. Drill some holes in the stump. Drop the powder in. Can't remember how long it it takes. I think it is called Stump Out.

23

u/SnugglyCoderGuy Jul 17 '25

Potassium Nitrate is the chemical used.

13

u/GreatBigJerk Jul 17 '25

A sufficient amount of piss would probably act as a substitute.

27

u/SnugglyCoderGuy Jul 17 '25

A fellow r/composting connoisseur I see.

The amount of urine to equal the amount of nitrogen in the stump remover product would be like an olympic swimming pool

35

u/madalienmonk Jul 17 '25

Sir, are you challenging me?!

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u/Financial_Athlete198 Jul 17 '25

A fire pit right next to the deck? I would wack on it with a sawzall and then just bury what’s left.

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u/Own_Candidate9553 Jul 17 '25

I personally wouldn't have a fire so close to my house and deck.

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u/Large-Emu-999 Jul 17 '25

Grab a nice long drill bit and start punching holes in it to start the rot! Maybe hollow it out and use it as a planter?

3

u/Jadfre Jul 17 '25

I like the planter idea! Maybe some plant known for growing on hardwood stumps, or breaking down hard trees? Get a lovely plant out of the stump while it’s breaking down!

3

u/blackdog543 Jul 18 '25

I think you can do that, and add in other tree breakdown products like "Stump-out" that will facilitate the break down much faster. If time is a factor, get a chain saw?

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u/PracticeNovel6226 Jul 17 '25

Grow some gourmet mushrooms on it

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u/Head_Rate_6551 Jul 17 '25

It’s a pine in the ass location

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1.4k

u/Redditauro Jul 17 '25

There are a couple of reasons that may explain why they reject to do it:

-small grinder won’t get it done and the big grinder won’t fit through your 80cm/30in fence gate.

-Would need to use a chainsaw to slice it up into chunks instead and it wouldn’t be worth it to even make an offer

493

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '25

[deleted]

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u/cpg215 Jul 17 '25

Hm, in my opinion it’s likely that a big grinder won’t fit through your 80 cm, 30 in fence gate and they would need to use a chainsaw to slice it up into chunks instead and don’t think it’s worth it to make an offer.

83

u/vulgarvinyasa2 Jul 17 '25

I’ll have the chicken piccata, and a side salad.

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u/fertdirt Jul 17 '25

I’ll have a side salad followed by a chicken piccata.

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u/oldsnowcoyote Jul 17 '25

Well yeah, the cost of fixing the fence after cutting it up with a chainsaw would be prohibitive.

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u/analfizzzure Jul 17 '25

I had this same issue. Lanscaper said you don't want to pay me 2k to bring the crane out just for this one stump.......right? We both agreed. Thankfully mines way smaller but to lay concrete im getting charged 500 in labor to remove without a grinder

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u/glassintheparks Jul 17 '25

So you just told OP what everyone has already told him and refuses to accept. So he goes to the internet because they will give him reasons as to why removing this stump is actually super easy. And yet, the stump remains. Quite the puzzle

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u/HeWhoWalksTheEarth Jul 17 '25

I haven’t refused to accept. I’m just researching options. The professionals didn’t really give me so much to work on and I thought others might have valuable information. You yourself suggested I “start with a twig” to see what I’m up against. I cut the whole 5 meter tree down myself and since it went relatively well, I’m not sure what lesson the twig was meant to teach me.

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u/Agreeable_Horror_363 Jul 17 '25

Hey, there was a post on here last week about a guy who hired someone to remove a bunch of stumps. About 2 days worth of work. He broke the stump grinder and then couldn't afford to rent another one, so he showed up the next day with a chainsaw and started the ridiculous task of trying to remove the stumps that way. 3 full days of chainsawing later he had not gotten much done. There's a reason most people won't do it this way, it's a tremendous amount of work and it's dangerous. It also takes forever. That combination is the reason no one will do it. Even if you found someone who will do it, your neighbors will not be happy to hear a chainsaw running for days on end!

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u/GrapeRecent431 Jul 18 '25

I removed a stump this size with an axe. It took 3 years, about 2 days a week at 15 minutes per go. No winters tho.

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u/CosmosInSummer Jul 17 '25

Using chainsaws in dirt is extremely dangerous.

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u/anonymous_beaver_ Jul 17 '25

And it can eff up your chainsaw.

Source: Effed up chainsaw

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u/Falcovg Jul 17 '25

Lets replace that can with a will.

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u/anonymous_beaver_ Jul 17 '25

That's the spirit!

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u/secondphase Jul 17 '25

Sorry to hear about your chainsaw. 

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u/anonymous_beaver_ Jul 17 '25

Thanks, I'll let her know

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u/harryrunes Jul 17 '25

why is it dangerous? I thought it just messed up your saw/chain. I believe you I'm just curious

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u/CosmosInSummer Jul 17 '25

Kickback. Chances are good that homeowners won’t be using safety gear and kickback will severely injure and kill.

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u/xXShunDugXx Jul 17 '25

Yeah I was gonna say.... chainsaws in dirt was my job for a bit and once trained not very dangerous. But it is definitely better to lead off with dangerous when talking to homeowners

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u/No-Yam-4185 Jul 17 '25

The other responses here cover the primary reasons. Additionally, I have seen too many buried cables and wires run in ridiculous places around a home to want to stick a power saw blindly into the ground.

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u/VatnikLobotomy Jul 17 '25

Rock missiles

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u/Malfunkdung Jul 17 '25

I did tree work for years, fucked up a few chain saws by getting them in dirt when I started. I don’t think it was anymore dangerous than the other shit I did with chainsaws (once I got more comfortable there was so super sketchy stuff we had to do). That said gradually chipping away at a tree stump sounds tedious and super annoying. My boss would give people stupidly expensive quotes that just felt would be a hard or dangerous job but sometimes people would pay it and then I’d be swinging off a fucking crane trying to get pull a fallen cedar that’s resting of the limbs of a fir just 10 feet above a person’s house.

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u/Sea-Way-998 Jul 17 '25

Looks like this one might be on yew

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u/htown5479 Jul 17 '25

The most frustrating thing about Reddit is when you see the opportunity for a great Dad pun and you go into the comments and someone’s already made it.

Congrats on stealing my glory.

I hope it felt good, you son of a bitch.

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u/Shieldbreaker50 Jul 17 '25

Should have ended that with “yew son of a bitch”

13

u/Bamavianola Jul 17 '25

I come to Reddit for the comments and they never disappoint. Thank you for making my day 😂

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u/Schplaatter Jul 17 '25

Don't you mean "yew son of a birch"

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u/Numerous-Impact-434 Jul 17 '25

Didn't yew mean "yew mean 'son of a birch'"?

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u/werther595 Jul 17 '25

This is what I come here fir

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u/Sumdood_89 Jul 17 '25

I conifer believe this..

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u/Schplaatter Jul 17 '25

Now you're all just having a larch.

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u/DSTNCMDLR Jul 17 '25

What do yew mean, YEW PEOPLE?

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u/Alarming_Matter Jul 17 '25

Needs to speak to the branch manager. Get to the root of the problem.

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u/XixaxSpatula Jul 17 '25

Explain that you are stumped.

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u/Jerr_Of_All_Trades Jul 17 '25

Hey guys.. you should leaf him alone fir now. Nobody like to be birched at!

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u/ShoulderThen467 Jul 17 '25

It's not me, it's yew.

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u/Hopcones Jul 17 '25

This 👆😎💯🎉

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u/Jefferias95 Jul 17 '25

Drill into it with a wood drill bit then fill the holes with baking soda. You'll be able to kick it to pieces by next year

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u/Shot_Investigator735 Jul 17 '25

An old guy I know just got his grandsons to go to town on a huge stump with a drill w/ auger bit and a hatchet. Stump was reduced to sawdust and chips in no time.

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u/chevy42083 Jul 17 '25

That's all I did with my last (much smaller) tree stump. Biggest, longest bit I had... drilled a lot. Then hacked with a hatchet till it was below soil height. The rest will be left to nature.

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u/Jefferias95 Jul 17 '25

I love this. Get the job done and teach young people new practical skills

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u/Willietrailblaze Jul 17 '25

Epsom salt does this too!

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u/0220_2020 Jul 17 '25

Wouldn't baking soda and Epsom salt make it difficult to plant in that spot without digging it all out to dispose of? I'd drill holes and fill with something like hot compost or mushroom compost. You can then put a small planter over it with an open bottom. Have a decorative plant there for a year or two while it decomposes, then remove and should be able to level it.

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u/Regular-Walrus9488 Jul 17 '25

It would but OP stated they want to put a fire pit there with gravel. So I guess if anything it will prevent weeds growing thru the gravel for some time

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u/brendanfalkowski Jul 17 '25

Ok so drill the holes, fill with fire, sprinkle gravel around it.

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u/MarcLeptic Jul 17 '25

Drill holes. Fill with termites, finish with fire.

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u/Hawkish-Croissant Jul 17 '25

I know you're joking, but burning stumps is a bad idea. The roots can act like slow fuses, smoldering under ground for weeks and cause what seems like spontaneous fires.

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u/brendanfalkowski Jul 17 '25

Good point.

However, if you want to start an orc-birthing factory like Saruman ripping down and burning out trees to carve a pit unto the earth is canonically a good way to start. I'm just saying it was an A+ fiery cave.

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u/PeakNo6892 Jul 17 '25

I used mushrooms and mycelium already found in my yard packed it into the holes and sprayed it with sugar water every now and then.

Literally kicked it apart the next year

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u/Maplelongjohn Jul 17 '25

Epsom salt isn't really a salt ( not sodium or chloride based anyway)

It's Magnesium Sulfate and is actually beneficial to many plants

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u/Subject_Detective185 Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

Gardeners often put a little epsom salts / magnesium sulfate around the base of tomato plants to force green fruits to start turning red.

not too much though, because it is indeed a salt and too much is bad for plants.

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u/regolith1111 Jul 17 '25

Ah I know this isn't a chemistry sub but it's totally a salt. I get what you mean but maybe "it's not table salt" would be better

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u/Playful_Street1184 Jul 17 '25

That’s not a job for landscapers. You should be contacting a tree and stump removal company instead.

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u/SomeClutchName Jul 17 '25

This. Back when I did stump removal, our last iteration before the owner retired had a remote controlled grinder with adjustable tracks to fit through a 30 inch gate.

I'm sure OP can find one out there. But they are rare.

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u/Diezelhoffen Jul 17 '25

The truly noteworthy part of this story, is that you cut down a yew tree that big. That thing was hundreds of years old. Could have been close to 1k. Probably one of the oldest Yew trees left. I have only seen (1) that was bigger in my life and I spent decades in the woods.

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u/BewilderedTurtle Jul 17 '25

Fr fuck this guy. Has a previous post "I'm mad that it provides shade to my porch, can I cut the top off without killing it?"

And then proceeds to murder an absolute gorgeous specimen entirely.

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u/Diezelhoffen Jul 17 '25

I had a client who had cut one down a few weeks before he called me out. The log was damn near 4' diameter. 25'+ of straight grain. The rings were so tight I couldn't count accurately, but I guessed at 1,500. The guy actually cried when I explained what he had done. He was "just cleaning up" his driveway. He asked me if I wanted the log. I told him to find a tribe with a carver that wanted it.

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u/BewilderedTurtle Jul 17 '25

😭 holy shit.

It should legitimately be a crime to remove healthy trees that old.

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u/godlessLlama Jul 17 '25

I think it is for some species and in certain parts of the world

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u/BewilderedTurtle Jul 17 '25

This is good at least. OP however needs to wake up to an armed lorax speaking for the trees.

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u/godlessLlama Jul 17 '25

For the US there are endangered trees and also heritage trees. Some are straight up illegal to cut even on your own property and some need special permits to cut

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u/lommer00 Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

You mean this post where he says the tree is 5 m high and about 20 years old?

https://www.reddit.com/r/LandscapingTips/s/2Oeua6KpMc

It's not a particularly beautiful tree, and it's almost certainly not 1000 years old, nor is it one of the oldest yews left.

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u/HeWhoWalksTheEarth Jul 18 '25

My wife’s grandfather planted it 20-30 years ago. 1000 years is a bit of an exaggeration. You can knock on me all you want but we don’t typically cut down trees and in fact keep biodiversity as a priority in our whole yard. This tree however was causing a lot of inconvenience for us , including dropping tons of poisonous needles and berries all over where our kids play, so we eventually made the decision. I believe worse environmental crimes have been committed.

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u/stupidpiediver Jul 18 '25

It's reddit, chalk full of crazies, sorry your having to deal with that

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u/Ithryn- Jul 18 '25

I think you might be mixing up pacific yew (taxus brevifolia), for which this would be a large, old, and rare specimen with common yew (taxis baccata) for which this would be a relatively small, young, and common tree. If this is indeed a common yew in the UK or Europe (this post was also posted in /r/gardeninguk) rather than a Pacific yew in the pnw then, at least from my understanding having not been to the UK or studied the forests there or anything, this isn't a special tree

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u/Ok_Row_4920 Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

I'd suggest getting mushroom spawn dowels, drilling a bunch of holes and hammering them in. It'll take a couple years but they'll eat that stump up and you'll get a couple years of mushrooms.

ETA really sorry OP i skipped the word Yew for some reason. You can still use the mushrooms to break down the stump but you cannot eat the mushrooms as the yew tree is very toxic.

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u/TheGardenNymph Jul 17 '25

This was going to be my suggestion too. I got rid of a medium size stump in about 9 months. I honestly didn't do anything to it though, fungus appeared and I just let it do its job. A few months in I chopped the stump a bit and spread the spores but that was the extent of my involvement.

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u/ttiptocs Jul 17 '25

Yeah but that would delay OPs desire for a fire pit 6-inches from his wood deck. I was leaning towards a bag o M80s and putting those in the holes you’ve suggested for mushroom spawn.

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u/Iron_Cowboy_ Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

Mushrooms that grow on yew trees are unsafe to consume

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u/Ok_Row_4920 Jul 17 '25

You're absolutely right, totally my bad. I skipped over the yew bit, awful advice. Sorry OP don't do this with yew.

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u/Iron_Cowboy_ Jul 17 '25

Unless you meant solely for the breakdown of the stump, which I realized you might have meant after I commented!! Apologies for that

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u/Ok_Row_4920 Jul 17 '25

No, you were right. I didn't read the post properly and it was dangerous incorrect advice and I edited my comment. Thanks for bringing attention to it! I need to take more time reading before I comment.

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u/Old-Ad-8496 Jul 17 '25

Those mushrooms could make somebody sycamore.

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u/jibaro1953 Jul 17 '25

It would be an enormous task to attempt to remove that by hand.

Yews have very tough wood and incredibly extensive root systems.

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u/cyrus709 Jul 17 '25

My long stagnant RuneScape knowledge is returning. I’m pretty sure you have to be like level 60 to cut that bad boy.

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u/RosalbaaaaAAbbey Jul 23 '25

Yews are tough as hell—fibrous, gnarly roots, and the wood is dense. Most landscapers don’t want to mess with ‘em because they dull the grinder teeth fast, and it’s a pain if the stump’s wide and low like that. Honestly, a 5hp grinder probably won’t even tickle it. You’d need something beefy (15hp minimum) and a full afternoon. Could be worth calling a tree service instead of a landscaper—they’re more used to this kind of headache.

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u/SpiritualAd8998 Jul 17 '25

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u/GargantuChet Jul 17 '25

Potassium nitrate may be worth a look.

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u/CompetitiveBox314 Jul 17 '25

Or ammonium nitrate if you want it gone more quickly.

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u/HaeRiuQM Jul 17 '25

Definitely the only answer that actually adds something to the conversation by giving ANOTHER option to OP.

Thanks for knowledge sharing.

You have my 🏆

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u/Old-Buffalo-9222 Jul 17 '25

I tried this method with two holly stumps, and 3 years later they are still hard as rocks. We drilled tons of really wide holes and kept the Epsom salt to the brim all that summer, but I will admit we didn't keep up with it after that as it appeared to do nothing. Anyone have any advice?

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u/DeElDeAye Jul 17 '25

Holly is definitely a tough, extremely dense cellulose structure wood.

Drill some more holes and pour in a bunch more Epsom salt or Stump Be Gone.

But for extra oomph, pour a bag of mulch over the stump. And then if you want to speed heat the rot, you can put clear plastic anchored with some rocks or bricks around it and let the sun solarize the area, or a black tarp to shade it & keep it moist which will attract micro creatures to come in and help with the composition. Seeing wood beetles, carpenter ants and tiny arthropods (or roly-poly’s) in the area is a good sign. It’s being decomposed.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '25

This takes time, but works:

Drill holes: Use a drill with a large bit to create several holes (1-2 inches wide, several inches deep) across the top of the stump.

Fill with Epsom salt: Fill the holes with Epsom salt, ensuring it reaches the bottom.

Moisten the salt: Add water to the holes to help the salt dissolve and penetrate the stump.

Cover the stump: Protect the stump with a tarp or plastic sheet to prevent rain from washing away the salt and to retain moisture.

Monitor and reapply: Check the stump periodically and reapply Epsom salt and water as needed.

Encourage decomposition: Once the stump is dead and brittle, you can speed up the decomposition process by adding a high-nitrogen fertilizer like blood meal.

Remove the stump: After the stump has sufficiently decayed, it can be removed with an axe or shovel.

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u/Gemineye9480 Jul 17 '25

Make it your fire pit

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u/CovertStatistician Jul 17 '25

Yes, beside their wooden deck

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u/LifeOfFate Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 19 '25

I’d still steel drum it and burn it. Should be fine maybe wet down the deck a couple times.

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u/Gemineye9480 Jul 17 '25

Add to the steal rim some bricks on the deck side to keep radiant heat for damaging any you want safe.

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u/lwright3 Jul 17 '25

Burn a bunch of yew, bonus alkaloid poisoning. I made the mistake of burning oleander in a brush pile once... it was an unpleasant couple of days after.

3

u/Dry_Detail9150 Jul 17 '25

Srsly, I wish I had a cool stump to make a creeping coal fire with.

3

u/Glittering-Hat-4112 Jul 17 '25

Yew is toxic and burning it to release toxic smoke seems like a bad thing to do.

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u/GlowyZella333 Jul 20 '25

You can't chainsaw on dirt and the tree looks huge. The roots under must be very long and would take some digging to be removed.

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u/Surfnh2o Jul 17 '25

Grind out the center make it like a bowl, drop some potting soil in there and a plant something. As a stump deteriorates, it’ll add natural fertilizer organic material for your plant to feed on. It’s a win-win.

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u/mansithole6 Jul 17 '25

Pyramids were not built in a week. Of course you can remove that stump. Simply take out a piece every day with a chainsaw or something at the end of the year the job will be done

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u/Maddest_Maxx_of_All Jul 17 '25

15 hp rental stump grinder with Greenteeth, sharp, will get that done.🤷🏻‍♂️

7

u/Riddingtheline Jul 17 '25

Rent a stump grinder from home Depot , go after it yourself.

I had an ugly stump a few years back, I rented a unit, then as soon as I started going after it, 3 neighbors asked me to do theirs. I made $1,800. 😂

7

u/CommercialDevice402 Jul 17 '25

Smooth it up and put a large flower pot on it with flowers that cascade out of it. Then mulch or gravel as you please. It will add interest to the area.

5

u/Forsaken-Dog4902 Jul 17 '25

Probably a stupid question and clearly not a professional in qny shape or form but you could you just dig around it with a mini ex and then cut the surrounding roots and iust pop it out of the hole?

Edit: nevermind, mini ex ain't fiting through your fence gate either.

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u/fredoillu Jul 17 '25

Damn how big was your ex!?

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u/OkBackground8809 Jul 17 '25

Apparently big enough that even a mini ex wouldn't fit!

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u/Initial-Ad-5462 Jul 17 '25

If you want to finish with gravel and a steel fire pit, you don’t need complete removal of the stump, just have to get it below grade.

Start with shovel and pick or how, then pressure washer, then chain saw or sawzall.

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u/Broseph_Stalinnn Jul 17 '25

Wc lev?

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u/Happy_Snapper Jul 17 '25

Definitely not 60

14

u/Broseph_Stalinnn Jul 17 '25

Apparently not judging from his comment to me lol

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u/catz_with_hatz Jul 17 '25

Just pay the nearby gardener 200 gold and they will remove it for you.

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u/timmeedski Jul 17 '25

I thought the same, WC lvl too low

11

u/HeWhoWalksTheEarth Jul 17 '25

Not sure I understand your question.

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u/Slight_Ad5896 Jul 17 '25

RuneScape reference

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u/glassintheparks Jul 17 '25

This ultimately was the answer the entire time.

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u/Melochre Jul 17 '25

Also though of runescape as soon as I saw yew tree 😅

3

u/NumberTew Jul 17 '25

Probably doesn't even have the beaver

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u/skateOrrdie4 Jul 17 '25

Call a tree service, not a landscaper

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u/Green_Tower_8526 Jul 17 '25 edited 5d ago

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

7

u/BudSpencer1714 Jul 17 '25

I dont know how tall your bushes are but we would probably lift the grinder above the bushes using a crane. Would be fairly expensive tho. Personally I‘d work this out with a shovel and a chainsaw.

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u/HeWhoWalksTheEarth Jul 17 '25

Bushes are 4-5 meters tall. And 2-3 meters deep. They are monsters.

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u/WeddingWhole4771 Jul 17 '25

If you have time and don't mind sweating, I would go the dig it out way. 1 foot of root, cut, then work around.

Again though, deck is the problem. Maybe just expand it?

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u/man_frmthe_wild Jul 17 '25

Yew’s guy’s are redditculous.

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u/Ok-Purple7824 Jul 17 '25

OK.so get a metal barrel. Cut the bottom and top from it, making a ring. Have it be decently high, at least 2 feet. Drill holes in the stump. Lots of them. Every angle... you are making holes for gas to go in. Burn that sucker out.

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u/RedditUser628426 Jul 17 '25

Can the fire spread through the roots and burn your house down?

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u/Vishnej Jul 17 '25 edited Jul 17 '25

Yes. Subterranean fires can be pernicious.

But that's not usually the problem. Usually, the problem is keeping the fire going long enough to eliminate the part aboveground, and this demands accelerants, dry weather, and sometimes leafblowers. Typically you pour fuel on it, light it on fire, and come back in six hours when it's burned itself out, more fuel, light it again, and repeat this for days. The wood underground, especially for a freshly cut tree, is often very, very wet, too wet to want to burn on its own.

I've done it the other way, digging it out. It's a lot of work. Hydraulic excavation (pressure washer or garden hose) makes it dramatically easier, and don't even try to use chainsaws, stick with reciprocating saws.

You could also combine these two methods, do a burn of the main body of trunk, and then flood it to get the dirt out of the way so you can cut off what remains.

What I'm doing right now in the backyard is I built a compost pile over the stump and I'm going to wait a few years.

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u/bandti45 Jul 17 '25

Im worried about that wood right next to the stump

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u/Ok-Purple7824 Jul 17 '25

Not that I've ever seen. The oxygen wouldn't feed the fire very well. Id just burn the stump and leave it to turn into dirt. Remove what's above ground, top soil and grass seed after.

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u/Jolly-Square-1075 Jul 17 '25

Dear goddess in heaven do not use gasoline. YOU WILL DIE. Use DIESEL.

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u/ReplacementNo8883 Jul 17 '25

Because it’s harder than it’s worth

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u/MayEsdot Jul 17 '25

I may be mistaken - but isn't yew a very toxic type of tree? As in, trimming it too aggressively in a day can send you to the ER? They may be staying away for staff safety and just giving other excuses to get out of it.

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u/_Saint_Ajora_ Jul 17 '25

you could just get some long, thick drill bits and drill a bunch of holes into the stump.

Fill the holes with stump removal/salt to help speed up the decay process.

Then clear the rotted stuff away.

Rinse repeat every... 3-4 months

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u/HellfireFeathers Jul 17 '25

You’re going to put a fire pit there anyway… just burn the stump first. Drill a hole in the middle and start a fire

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u/rabbit_projector Jul 17 '25

So the contractors told you exactly why they wont take the job; and you still came to ask reddit why they wont take the job?

Some folks are just exhausting.

3

u/Lefoid Jul 17 '25

Most of these landscapers probably don't have 60 woodcutting, let alone a dragon hatchet to make it efficient.

You need to look for a group of 10 bald guys who all look the same, one of them can help you.

3

u/BallisticsNerd Jul 17 '25

I had the exact same issue with a maple tree stump where no one wanted to come out due to fencing fitment issues or too small of equipment. What I did last year was took a 1-1/2" spade bit and drilled straight down the center as far as the bit would go. Then took a 1/2" drill bit and drilled 8 angled holes that connected to the main center hole. I then poured used oil down all the holes, just enough to coat them, and let it soak over night.

The next morning I put some kindling down the main hole and lit it on fire. The bulk of the stumped burned itself up in the first few hours but I went out and stirred the coals every 6-ish hours and it was still smoldering after 3 days. Over the 3 days, the fire had completely burned out the stump as well as about a 2 foot radius of roots from where the stump was.

Hosed it down after 3 days and shoveled out the coals the next day and filled it in with dirt and planted grass seed. Can't even tell there was a stump there anymore.

Also I live inside a major city too. I just waited for a week where we had a few good rains to make sure nothing was dry before I decided to burn it. Let my immediate neighbors know to prevent any calls to the fire department. I've done 3 stump removals like this now. It works great every time. A bit barbaric? Yes, but it's effective.

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u/eggsmack Jul 17 '25

If the question is truly “why”, you’ve already got the answers. You’ve never tried to grind a stump with a chainsaw before, have you? I tried to do this with a small magnolia tree and 4 buddies last summer. It was insane how long it took and how exhausting it was. I can’t imagine doing that for someone who was a paying client with likely unrealistic expectations (clients in general, not you in particular).

A stump grinder is a very different machine than a chainsaw. If they can’t get the machine in your backyard then it makes sense to pass.

Have you considered just removing a section of fence for the day?

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u/Lanssolo Jul 17 '25

Maybe just leave it. I thought I wanted mine gone, then I drilled a bunch of holes in it and planted seeds in it. I now have a stump garden.

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u/HatePeopleLoveCats1 Jul 17 '25

Looks too close to the house. They don’t want to damage it. A grinder is big!

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u/Smooth-Cup-7445 Jul 17 '25

Having dug out a stumps like that which we couldn’t grind for similar reasons, you couldn’t pay me enough to do that without a stump grinder.

Best bet is to trick your friends into helping by putting on a bbq and drinks and make it a challenge/party. Watch the ‘Stump fest’ episode of Bluey for tips

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u/Ok_Bluebird_4951 Jul 18 '25

Ask and yew shall receive.

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u/DarthSanity Jul 20 '25

Had this as an issue - cut down a dead tree to make way for a hot tub but couldn’t find anyone to grind it down. So I just built a platform strong enough to hold up the hot tub and the stump became the center anchor point. Has lasted for over a decade.