How to remove small to shrub trunks with only a shovel and elbow greas

Diana Davis
by Diana Davis
  7 answers
  • Offaly Offaly on Jun 07, 2018

    Try drilling holes into the trunk then pour in Blackberry killer or some other strong tree killer. You will have to wait a while until it works. It rots the inside and makes removal easier. Make sure you don't drip any on your garden .

  • Kim Kim on Jun 07, 2018

    I am lazy so I usually wrap a chain around the stump, hook it to my truck and slowly work it out. (No one should be anywhere near the chain when it is pulled tight in case it snaps)

    but my cousin swears by soaking the area with a garden house and digging a wide circle around the root ball until you get it worked out.

  • Mogie Mogie on Jun 07, 2018

    Use a chainsaw and grind the stump down.

  • Deborah Luchak Nester Deborah Luchak Nester on Jun 07, 2018

    dad taught me to dig a moat around the plant and either use water to work the root out or using a shovel, dig around it till you expose a root, use a machete to hack into two, then go to the next root.

  • Vimarhonor Vimarhonor on Jun 07, 2018


    In the past we’ve tried drilling out the stumps, attempting to burn them, and using a Stump out root disintegrating chemical on a large willow tree and found it not to be very helpful. On subsequent sizeable trunks we’ve been calling a professional stump grinder and having the issue over and done with in less than an hour.


    On smaller cedar stumps we leave them for a matter of time and hack away with sledge hammer -maul -wedges till it breaks up. I did recently see they do rent out two different sized hp -stump grinders at my local Home Depot Tool rental


  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Jun 07, 2018

    drill holes inside and use stump remover

  • Nancy Turner Nancy Turner on Jun 07, 2018

    We dug, wetted the soil, dug again, etc. until we had most of it exposed, then hooked a come along to the trunk and a tree and winched it out.