Best acid to remove tree stumps?
Chris Jones
I was told I could get rid of old trees stumps in my yard by boring holes
vertically through the stump and filling them with acid. I tried conc. HCl
and it didn't do much to the stump. Any suggestions on what would work?
Chris
Uncle Al
Pack high nitrogen fertilizer into the holes and wait a year for
fungal degradation. Nitric acid is much faster, but more hazardous.
White rot fungus will do nicely, as will termites.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!
Repeating Decimal
Uncl...@hate.spam.net wrote on 6/6/02 8:08 AM:
> Chris Jones wrote:
>>
>> I was told I could get rid of old trees stumps in my yard by boring holes
>> vertically through the stump and filling them with acid. I tried conc. HCl
>> and it didn't do much to the stump. Any suggestions on what would work?
>
> Pack high nitrogen fertilizer into the holes and wait a year for
> fungal degradation. Nitric acid is much faster, but more hazardous.
> White rot fungus will do nicely, as will termites.
A commercial product for this uses sodium nitrate. After waiting the year or
so, the stump can be burned. I suppose it can be done in a way that does not
burn down anything important.
Bill
Killinchy
"Chris Jones" <c_e_...@excite.com> wrote in message
news:01c20d62$7e8b2700$0602a8c0@chris...
I think the answer to your problem lies, not in Chemistry, but in Physics.
Hire a stump grinder.
Cheers
John Owen, Victoria BC
Keith Michaels
I have seen saltpeter used this way. The stump degrades at a faster rate
when nitrate is present as it provides a more balanced diet for compost
microorganisms (Carbon/Nitrogen ratio). As a side effect adding the
oxygen makes it burn well without air so a fire started on a treated
stump will burn down into the ground and eliminate the roots.
Frank Logullo
>
> Hire a stump grinder.
>
> Cheers
>
> John Owen, Victoria BC
>
Frank
Chris Cooksey
<k...@sdc.cs.boeing.com> writes
In the UK there is a commercial product for this purpose - it is
sulfamic acid. And it works !
--
Chris Cooksey
Jeremy
news:HPQL8.53$kW1....@newshog.newsread.com...
> Real chemists don't use stump grinders ;)
If it's powered by a chemical reaction...
Bernhard Kuemel
The other replies included waiting a year or so. If you fill your
stump with picric acid your stump can be gone in fractions of a
second. It is an explosive :). Other explosives may be more suitable
but you asked for an acid ...
Bernhard
Chris Jones
<01c20d62$7e8b2700$0602a8c0@chris>...
Thank you for the recommendations. I have many more stumps to remove so I
will try using high nitrate fertilizer, as well as nitric, sulfamic and
lactic acids. Explosives will not be considered.
The most effective method so far has been to bore holes vertically through
the stump and fill the holes with diesel fuel. The diesel fuel is then lit
using a bit of gasoline and a lighter to get it to ignite. It took 5 such
treatments to burn out the stump.
Chris
Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D., P.A.
Chop holes and plant with bergamot, aka bee balm. Let the plant's roots
chew through the stump while making your local hummingbird population
insanely happy.
Aaron Hicks
follows:
>The most effective method so far has been to bore holes vertically
>through the stump and fill the holes with diesel fuel. The diesel fuel
>is then lit using a bit of gasoline and a lighter to get it to ignite.
>It took 5 such treatments to burn out the stump.
A similar treatment of the problem consists of placing a steel
drum, open on both ends, over said stump. Pour in charcoal. Make your own
BBQ while toasting your problems.
-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ
John Decker
The following U.K. article may be of some help in removing tree stumps.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/q1093e/q1093e05.htm
John Decker
SteelawayNOSPAM
"Andrew Tweddle" <sar...@alphalink.com.au> wrote in message
news:3D02CEB3...@alphalink.com.au...
>
> 1/ D9 Caterpillar or 400 HP Steiger tracker or other high horsepower
> implements like a Coal Loader (pick these up cheap at mine closing down
> auctions).
>
> 2/ Less horse power solutions like a Nuffield 460 (60 HP) or old Fordson
> Kero Major (40HP). Just push with the stump over with the front of the
> tractor. Using a chain can tip it or worse, pull out the back end
> (ALWAYS have a rollbar).
>
> 3/ Saltpeter was an old recipe that the pioneers used in heavy forested
> conditions with very big trees. It works very well but it does burn out
> the roots and roots that connect to a neighbors or your house or other
> living (and still required) trees can be burnt down in the process,
> apparently the root burning process can take a few weeks so don't walk
> away if you do this, you may find your house burnt down (this has
> happened on occasion).
>
> 4/ An axe (cut it out).
>
> 5/ Stump grinder
>
> 6/ Use your saltpeter to rot the stump and then axe it out when it is
> rotten never burn it in an urban environment (per A.3)
a syrup of sodium chlorate and icing sugar dissolved in a small amount water
and fed into the stump for a week or so, can then be ignited when dry. It
burns slowly but will eventually remove any evidence of the tree stump and -
to the extent that the solution gets into the root system - they will burn
too.
SteelawayNOSPAM
Julian Grodzicky
My two cents worth: try hydrogen peroxide
I used to use it, as a mineral exploration field technician to remove
organics from sand and soil samples.
Cheers,
Julian Grodzicky
VK1YKP
__________________
On Thu, 13 Jun 2002, SteelawayNOSPAM wrote:
}Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2002 21:47:10 +0930
}From: SteelawayNOSPAM <steelawayIH...@bigpond.com>
}Newsgroups: sci.chem
}Subject: Re: Best acid to remove tree stumps?
}
}
}"Andrew Tweddle" <sar...@alphalink.com.au> wrote in message
}news:3D02CEB3...@alphalink.com.au...
}> "Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D., P.A." wrote:
}>>
}>> Chris Jones wrote:
}>>>
}>>>I was told I could get rid of old trees stumps in my yard by boring
}holes vertically through the stump and filling them with acid. I
}tried conc. HCl and it didn't do much to the stump. Any suggestions
}on what would work?
}>>>Chris
[snip]
tomho...@yahoo.com
liberi...@gmail.com
> Chemistry is much cheaper than hiring a stump grinder or remover ;)
If nitrate can accelerate the action of decomposing fungi, why not use urine as a natural source of nitrogen?
Urine contains urea that decomposes in ammonia.
And the ammonia can be converted into nitrate by nitrifying (aerobic) bacteria.
The nitrate will then be used by the fungi, decomposing the wood pulp and forming an important fertilizer.
Info Libera
Frank
Oumati Asami
Martin Brown
> On 27-Nov-17 11:55 PM, liberi...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Em sexta-feira, 24 de novembro de 2017 20:49:06 UTC,
>> tomho...@yahoo.com escreveu:
>>> Chemistry is much cheaper than hiring a stump grinder or remover ;)
the chemicals than you would have done on the stump grinder.
>> If nitrate can accelerate the action of decomposing fungi, why not use
>> urine as a natural source of nitrogen?
>>
>> Urine contains urea that decomposes in ammonia.
>>
>> And the ammonia can be converted into nitrate by nitrifying (aerobic)
>> bacteria.
>>
>> The nitrate will then be used by the fungi, decomposing the wood pulp
>> and forming an important fertilizer.
>>
>> Info Libera
>>
>
> And how long would that take? Years or decades?
and a trace of copper to inhibit the woods antifungal enzymes about a
decade got one of my dead apple tree roots to a point where it could be
snapped out of the ground with a scaffold pole and fulcrum. It had some
spectacular chicken-in-the-woods fruiting bodies along the way.
Saturating it with potassium nitrate and the setting light one very dry
summer was my plan so that it would smoulder away underground but in the
UK the summers are never dry enough and the ground is always very damp.
I doubt it would have lasted long against a 45 drum of brown fuming
nitric acid but that would have been serious overkill.
--
Regards,
Martin Brown
liberi...@gmail.com
And also the contact area. If the material is fragmented into smaller pieces the contact area for fungus growth will be larger.