A tree removal ends with the trunk cut low to the ground. Some people are fine with that. If you want the spot back as lawn, a flower bed, or a place to plant a new tree, the stump has to be ground out. Ask about it when you book the removal and Corey will price the two together.
What stump grinding is
A stump grinder is a machine with a spinning cutting wheel that chews the stump into chips, pass by pass, until the top of the stump is below the level of the lawn. The wood that was the stump becomes a mound of grindings sitting in and around the hole. The roots that ran out from the stump stay in the ground and rot away over the years.
That is different from pulling a stump out whole, which means digging up the root ball and leaves a crater and a lot of torn lawn. Grinding is the normal way to get rid of a stump in a yard, because it is faster, it does less damage to everything around it, and it leaves a spot you can fix the same week.
What we do with the grindings
Grinding a stump makes more wood chips than you would guess, because the stump gets mixed with soil and fluffs up as it is cut. You have two choices.
- Leave them. The grindings get raked back into the hole and mounded a little, because they settle as they break down. Rake them out over a bed and they make a decent mulch. This is the simple option.
- Haul them and fill the hole. If you want grass there right away, the grindings come out, the hole gets topsoil, and you seed or lay sod. Say so when Corey looks at the job so it is in the price.
Either way the lawn around the stump gets raked, same as every job we do.
Before we grind: tell us what is near the stump
A grinder cuts anything in its path, so the one thing we need from you is what might be under the grass near the stump. Walk the spot before Corey comes out and think about:
- Irrigation lines and sprinkler heads. Common in Grand Strand yards and easy to hit.
- Buried dog fence wire, low-voltage lighting wire, and cable or phone drops. Usually shallow, often right where a tree used to be.
- Septic tanks and drain fields. Point out where yours is.
- Rocks, old concrete, and fence footings. Stumps near a fence line often have a post footing right beside them, like the one in the photo at the top of this page.
If you are not sure where something runs, say so. It is better to grind a little less than to cut a water line.
Old stumps from a tree that is already gone
Plenty of yards have a stump from a tree someone else took down, or that came down in a storm years ago. Those can be ground too. Call (843) 927-2499 and describe it: how wide it is across the top, roughly how tall, what kind of tree if you know, and what is near it. A photo from your phone helps. Corey will tell you whether it is a job for us and give you a price in person.
Will the tree grow back?
Most of the time, no. Grinding takes out the part of the stump that would send up new shoots. A few species, including some oaks and most crape myrtles, can sprout from roots left in the ground for a season or two. Those sprouts are small, soft, and easy to cut or mow off, and they stop once the roots run out of energy.
What it costs
A stump ground as part of a removal is quoted with the removal, so you see one price for the whole job. On its own, the price depends on how wide the stump is, what kind of wood, how many there are, and whether the grindings are staying or going. Corey looks at it in person and gives you the number before anything is scheduled. We grind stumps across Horry County, from Conway and Carolina Forest to Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach.
