Stump Grinding in Wichita, KS

Stump grinding is the usual way to get rid of a stump without digging up half the yard. A grinder with a toothed cutting wheel chews the stump down to a few inches below the soil, turning the wood into a pile of chips and soil. The roots stay in the ground and rot away over the next several years. In Wichita, grinding also settles a practical problem: some of the most common yard trees here, Siberian elm and hackberry among them, keep sending up sprouts from a stump that is left in place.

Stumps that sprout back

K-State Research and Extension's guide to controlling unwanted trees notes that most trees resprout after cutting, though not all. It names Siberian elm and hackberry as trees that come back from the stump and says they need to be dug out or the fresh-cut stump treated with herbicide. Eastern redcedar is the opposite: K-State says it will not resprout after cutting. Grinding the stump well below grade takes away most of the wood that sprouts would grow from, and we can grind again any sucker clumps that appear near it.

How deep and how wide

Most stumps are ground several inches below the soil, deep enough for sod or a flower bed. If you plan to plant another tree in the same spot, set a fence post, or pour a slab, tell us, since those need deeper or wider grinding and the old roots will still be in the ground around it. Large surface roots running across the lawn, common on silver maples and cottonwoods, can be ground out along with the stump and are priced separately.

Before the grinder arrives

We need to know what is underground. Because the wheel goes into the soil, we have underground utility lines marked through Kansas811 before grinding near them. Irrigation lines, invisible dog fence wire and landscape lighting cables are not marked by the utility locate, so point them out if you have them. Gate width matters too: smaller grinders fit through a standard back-yard gate, larger ones need a wider opening.

What is left afterward

Grinding leaves a mound of wood chips and soil roughly where the stump was. You can rake it out and use it as mulch, have us backfill the hole with it, or have the grindings hauled away. Chips settle as the wood breaks down, so a spot you plan to sod usually needs topsoil added on top. Old pine stumps from pine wilt removals should be ground out as well; K-State advises removing infected pines to ground level with no stumps left.