Rather than leaving an unsightly stump where your once-beautiful tree once was, you’ve made a good decision and opted to have it ground away. This is a very affordable and permanent solution, and it’s a lot easier than a full “stump removal,” which requires extensive digging.
Once the stump has been eliminated though, you have another choice — what to do with all the wood chips. If you have a professional service grind your stump for you, you can generally ask them to take the grindings away for no extra cost.
BUT, once you know that these wood chips can be used as mulch, you may want to keep them.
Why turn down free mulch?
Most customers are surprised by just how much mulch is created by grinding a stump down. Trees are very densely packed, so when you grind them to pieces, there can be a lot of material.
Mulch can cost anywhere from a couple dollars to $50 a yard. Also, if you want to buy mulch, you have to take a trip to the lawn and garden store and then lug all the bags in and out of your vehicle. Why do that when this mulch is already on your property ready to go?
But is it the same as regular “mulch?”
It all depends. Mulch can be made of many different materials. A lot of it is organic materials: like bark, leaves, and yes, wood chips. In other inorganic varieties though, they actually use things like recycled rubber from tires. So, your mulch from the stump will likely be more natural and beneficial for your yard.
Not all stumps will be good for mulch. Some stumps are too decayed and will leave grindings that appear more like dirt than mulch. When in doubt, ask the professionals.
Things to watch out for
There are a couple issues you’ll want to keep an eye out for though before you just start throwing these wood chips around your yard.
First, if the tree had a disease, spreading chips from that tree could spread the disease. Ask your stump grinding professional for their opinion on if the stump looked free from anything that could be harmful to other plants.
Second, termites love to eat away at decomposing wood, and they may have made a home in the stump you’re grinding. You don’t want to spread wood chips with termites around, especially in parts of your yard anywhere near your home.
Ask the stump grinding professional to be on the lookout for evidence of termites too. If all is clear, and they give you the go-ahead, mulch away.
Looking for a stump grinder/mulch creator in the Bloomington, Indiana, area? Call Anthony’s Tree Removal!
If you live in the Bloomington, Indiana, area and have a stump you want removed, whether or not you want to keep the chips for mulch, Anthony’s Tree Removal is the local expert. Call us today at (812) 345-5694 to learn more.
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