Stump grinding
Stump grinding in Caboolture
Stump grinding across Caboolture and Moreton Bay, ground out below the surface rather than levelled off.
A stump left in the ground is a mower hazard, a trip hazard, and on a fair few species it is a nursery for suckers that keep coming back.
We grind them out below ground level, backfill the hole with what came out of it, and leave you a patch you can turf, plant or run a mower straight over.
- 250 to 300mm
- below ground level
- Fixed price
- before anything starts
- 7 days
- including storm work
The finish
Ground out below the surface, not shaved off at the top
The difference between a stump grind and a haircut is depth. Taken level with the lawn, a stump is still there the first time you catch it with the mower.
Turf over it
There is enough depth for topsoil and a strip of turf, so the patch knits back into the rest of the lawn instead of staying a scar.
Plant near it
The crown and collar are gone, which is what was in the way. A new tree goes in beside the old spot rather than fighting it.
Mow over it
No lip left proud of the ground, so nothing to jar the mower deck or trip somebody crossing the yard in the dark.
What grinding does not do is take the roots out. The main plate and the runners stay where they are and rot down over the following years, which is fine under a lawn or a garden bed and is not fine under a new slab. If something is being built on the spot, say so and we will talk about digging it out instead.
Cost
What stump grinding costs, and what moves it
Nobody can price a stump off a description alone, and a number quoted before anyone has seen it is a number that changes on the day. Six things move the price. You can work out roughly where yours sits before we get there.
- Width across the top
- Measured across the cut face, not around the base. The wheel has to work across that whole face, so width drives the job far more than how tall the tree once was.
- How hard the timber is
- A gum or a camphor laurel takes a lot longer than a palm trunk of the same width. After size, timber is the biggest single swing.
- What the machine can reach
- A grinder that walks down the side of the house is a cheaper hour than one that needs a fence panel out or a lift over an obstacle.
- Grit in the wood
- Stumps in fill, up against a retaining wall or beside a driveway pick up sand and gravel in the bark. Grit blunts teeth, and blunt teeth take longer.
- How many you have
- Six stumps in a row is nothing like six times one stump. Most of the cost of a single stump is getting the machine on site and off again.
- Where the grindings end up
- Left in the hole as backfill, which is what most people want, that is part of the job. Carted off site is a trailer load and is priced as one.
What you will get is a fixed price before anything starts, with the clean-up in it.
Two answers and we can get close on the phone
How wide across the top of the stump, and can a machine get from the street to it. That is most of the quote.
Access
Will the machine actually get to it?
This is the question that decides half the jobs on this corridor. Plenty of stumps in Narangba and Burpengary are in a back yard behind a gate that was hung before anyone owned a stump grinder.
It is usually fine. It is worth knowing before the day rather than on it, so we ask up front rather than turning up and finding out.
Worth measuring before you call
- The narrowest gap between the house and the fence, at its tightest point.
- The width of the side gate opening, with the gate swung right back.
- Any step, retaining wall or air conditioning unit in the run.
Send us those three numbers and we can tell you what fits.
Which one do you need
Grinding and removal are two different jobs
People use the words as if they mean the same thing. They do not, and the wrong one is either money wasted or a job that has to be done twice.
Stump grinding
The stump is chewed out below ground with a machine.
- The root system stays in the ground and breaks down on its own.
- No excavator, no hole to fill, far less mess on the lawn.
- Right for a lawn, a garden bed or a new tree going in nearby.
Stump removal
The stump and the main root plate are dug out of the ground.
- You are left with a hole that needs filling and compacting.
- Bigger machine, bigger mess, bigger bill.
- Right when something is going in that exact spot: a slab, a pool, a footing.
If you are not building on the spot, grinding is almost always the one you want.
Not sure which one you need?
Send a photo of the stump with something next to it for scale. That is usually enough to say whether it is a grind or a dig, and what it costs.
The grindings
What happens to what comes out
A stump grind produces a surprising pile. It comes out as a coarse mix of pale timber chip and the soil that was in among the roots.
By default it goes straight back in the hole, tamped down and left a touch proud so it settles level. If you would rather it went on the garden beds, say so and it is spread instead.
One thing worth knowing if you are planting on top: fresh grindings pull nitrogen out of the ground while they break down. Give the spot a season, or dig through some soil and a handful of fertiliser first.
The grinder goes wherever the truck goes, so most weeks that is Caboolture and Morayfield, out to the acreage blocks around Burpengary, and down the highway as far as North Lakes.
The ones that come back
Three species where the grind is not the end of it
Most stumps are finished once they are ground. A few species shoot again from root material left behind, and it is worth knowing before you turf over the spot.
- Camphor laurel
- The most common one around here. Roots run well past the stump and will send up shoots along their length, sometimes metres away, for a season or two after the grind.
- Privet
- Small-leaved privet suckers readily from anything left in the ground, and a hedge that was cut and ground will often reappear along the old line.
- Chinese elm
- Celtis. Suckers from the roots and seeds heavily besides, so new ones come up from the seed bank in the soil whether or not the old stump regrows.
Grinding deeper does not fix any of the three, because the shoots come from roots running out sideways rather than from the stump itself. Pulling the shoots as they appear, for the first season, is what actually stops it.
Stump grinding questions
How deep do you grind the stump?
250 to 300mm below ground level. That is deep enough to put topsoil and turf over the top, or to plant into, and deep enough that a mower will never find it.
Will the stump grow back after grinding?
Grinding takes out the crown and the collar, which is where most regrowth comes from, so for the great majority of trees that is the end of it. A few suckering species, camphor laurel and privet among them, can still throw shoots off roots left in the ground. Mow them off as they appear and they run out of stored energy within a season or two.
Can I plant a new tree in the same hole?
Beside it, yes, straight away. Directly on top, give it a season or dig soil and fertiliser through the grindings first, because fresh timber chip ties up nitrogen while it breaks down.
Do you take the grindings away?
They go back in the hole as backfill unless you want otherwise, and that is part of the job. Spreading them on your garden beds is no trouble either. Carting them off site is a trailer load, so it is priced separately.
Do you grind stumps you did not cut down?
Yes, including ones that have been sitting there for years. An old dry stump is often quicker than a fresh one, although a stump that has been in the ground a long time tends to have picked up more grit in the bark.
How many stumps can you do in a visit?
More than one, and the second is a lot cheaper than the first because the machine is already there. If you have a row of them, send a photo and the widths and we will price the lot together.
Got a tree that needs sorting?
Send a photo or give us a ring. Quotes are free and there is no obligation to book anything.