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I stopped flush cutting stumps 6 inches below grade and the difference after 3 seasons blew my mind
When I started doing removals in Charlotte back in 2019 I was flush cutting every stump 6 to 8 inches below grade because that was how the old crew taught me. Fast forward 3 seasons on a silver maple removal in a backyard off Selwyn Ave and the homeowner sent me photos of a sinkhole around the stump that swallowed a lawnmower wheel. I went back out and dug it up and the whole root crown had rotted out and collapsed. Now I cut stumps at grade or just above, then grind them, and I have not had a single call back in 2 years. The grass grows back over the grindings way faster too, usually by the next spring. Any of you still cutting low for the look of it, or did you switch after getting burned like I did?
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laura_black3114d ago
Oh wow, that sinkhole story is wild. I've always cut low too, mostly because the old timers said that's the right way, but now you've got me second guessing it. How deep was the rot when you dug that silver maple up, was it just the crown or did it travel down into the main roots too? And when you say at grade or just above, are you talking like an inch or two of stump showing before you grind? Curious because I wonder if the rot issue comes from cutting low or from something else like soil type or how wet that yard stays.
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