From what I understand about grinding is the ground up stump mulch is not very hospitable to seed. So when I had my tree removed I took out alll the stump mulch and added topsoil, I could be wrong though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

you can have them grind it and you will take the first 4 inches or so and add topsoil. Be sure to let it settle for a few weeks and water it or if you have a heavy rain that should help. After that you can seed. For a small space I like to start the seeds indoor in pots and just transfer it outside.

 

I've always dug out the stumps. Taking out a large cottonwood next week... I think I'll just cut the stump off low to the ground (the tree is not in a lawn area, but its roots are making a mess).

 

How big?

 

How big?

This!!!

The secret is to dig around and cut the roots with a sawzaw/Axe... once most roots are gone you can remove with a truck and rope.

I removed a big one over summer and it was a PIA multi week process.
There was a bunch of clay caked into the roots which made hacking it up very slow to burn and cut. Chainsaw blades would go dull almost instantly.

Once I got it out, I made a fire bed started it up and loaded it back in.
The clay would heat up dry out and fall off, I had to burn 3x times to get the sucker to finally go... very satisfying but took far longer then the time left you have in your seeding window.

Of course if you have some friends, you can lift the stump up into the back of a truck and take to dump, I did mine right during the virus first happening and decided this wasn't an option.

There's some videos about burning them and unless it's completely dead, don't even bother. The only reason my burn was successful was the fact that I removed from ground, let it dry out and rolled back in on top of a burning fire.

Also, took quite a bit of dirt to back fill the hole, more than I estimated.

The tree was probably 15-25 years old and not that big but 20' -25' high... depending on the size of the tree kind of determines the route.... If big I'd leave it for next season and get your overseed in.... after all the trampling, stomping, cutting down the tree itself and fire stress, the KBG has sprouted from rhizomes in the past couple months. Incredible grass it is.

If huge, I'd probably have a professional do it...

One caveat is that Pine tress have certain compounds that make them burn well, the roots will burn underground.

 

Got a friend with an excavator? Its the only way to fly.

Ive pulled too many stumps with a skid steer and even that sucks. Excavator? few scoops around it through the roots and tear it out.

 

Bumping this thread rather than creating a new one(mods, feel free to move this if this should be it's own thread)

I also have a stump I'm looking at getting rid of prior to overseeding in a few weeks. It was a large tree cut down 3-5+ years ago before we bought the house. The stump above the ground was mostly rotten and I've removed what I can with a shovel. Last weekend I started digging around the stump and discovered at least two of the roots are 18"+ and still pretty solid. Tree companies are all super backed up due to damage from Isaias and getting a stump grinder myself isn't an option. I started chopping away with an axe today and there is a good amount that's fairly rotten but there's a lot that I definitely won't be able to tackle myself.

Long story short... how far below ground level should I try to get the stump and roots before filling it in with soil and seeding?