Before glyphosate

Hey pretty why don't you tell us how you feel about GMO's. Wink. You could try olive oil, grapeseed oil,sesame oil, fish oil, coconut oil, or motor oil, or whale oil.

Whale oil.

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Cows may not be smarter than People, but some cows are smarter than some people.

Seriously, if you want it out of there. dig deep enough to get a log chain wrapped around the offending roots. water the dickens out of the area to where the dripline of the tree was, hook the chain to a four wheel drive or better yet a tractor and jerk that sucker out. It is actually easier if you had left 4-5 ft of trunk to use as leverage.

Elbow grease?

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Please take the time to watch this video about Cerebral Palsy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0mrs4fpRv8

Round Up is pretty safe to use - drill holes in the stump and pore some undeluted Round Up into the holes - it will kill the stump and roots - the Round Up breaks down into harmless chemicals - that's what they say anyway -

"before the chemicals companies had us wrapped around their little fingers?" I've never seen a jug of Roundup jump off the shelf and hop into your shopping cart.
Well, it was either some much more toxic substance, like kerosene or lots of hours in back breaking labor. Safe and effective herbicides didn't grab us, we grabbed them. Don't see anyone longing for the good old days before Roundup, 'cause Roundup is so much safer and easier than what was done before.
Sort of like saying, " before the car companies had us wrapped around their fingers?"

how about answering the question and not trying to turn this into a bashing thread.

Please.

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"Live your life, and forget your age." Norman Vincent Peale

That works for me. I have a theory that weeds will only grow in soils that are suffering from an iron deficiency. I apply trace amounts of iron to areas where weeds are a problem. I have a small piece of flat iron plate (about a 4 x 5 inch rectangle) attached to a wooden handle that I wave around just barely under the surface, and tiny bits of iron end up wearing off of the edge..... repeat as needed, usually every couple of weeks and the weed problem is solved.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

What's wrong with plum trees? I would kill to have some here. Love 'em plums!

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

Fire works good to burn out or kill and remove tree stumps if you don't have too many.

Build a brush pile on top and cover till winter when its wet or snow covered. This gives the stump some time to dry out.

A natural way to get rid of tree stumps.

Did some 2' pasture pine stumps this way last winter, they smoldered for days and not much left of the stumps.

Salt the stumps... Make a few holes down into them first, if possible. Rock or kosher salt so it doesn't all wash off right away...

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Home is the hunter, home from the hill, and the sailor home from the sea...

Well they aren't really plum trees. Maybe they are but they do not produce edible plums. Trust me, I was *thrilled* when we bought the house and they told us they were cherry trees. I was also ignorant enough to not know better! But after one season of getting these little plum things that are about the size of a crab apple with no flavor - we were all wildly disappointed. Since Nov '11 I have fought and fought and fought to keep the shoots out of my flower beds and tripped over the bigger shoots that popped up all around the trees. I trimmed them this spring and they looked good but after talking to a lady who sells plants in town she told me that they were ornamental plums and used to be very popular. That is until people started to realize the trouble they have with the all the rhizomes.

I thought I could keep them under control but she told me that if I wanted them down I needed to take them down ASAP. So I went out with my chainsaw after a particularly trying day this past week and did a number on them. (The whole time thinking I was acting much like Faye Dunaway in Mommy Dearest when she called, "Christina! Bring me the axe!!!) I should have left more of the trunk - and while the entire area looks so much better (no shaggy trees obstructing my view) - I am left with a mess.

I'll try a few of the tips y'all mentioned and see what happens. Knowing my mom and dad I am sure elbow grease was their weapon of choice so I will start there.

Any of those type plants that shoot from the roots are a mess to get rid of. They typically build up strong root reserves and just keep coming back.

Canadian thistle was a real bad one around here, whole different class of weed, but the concept is the same. I feel your pain. Most of my youth was spent hoeing the thistles, or stripping the seed buds off them. All of which one knew was in vain, as it did nothing to kill the root mass, so it would all be ther next year....

It's why I cringe so when folks ask about introducing bamboo or other aggressive, non native plants onto their land. Seems to be a fad that is very hard to undo!


Paul

So I guess I'm in good company - and maybe not the only
one who has tripped and fallen over a thick root shoot. I've spent more time tripping over trees, goats, steps in the barn, sliding on cow patties .... In the past year than ever before in my life. At some point you just gotta start chopping !!!

There are many chemicals that would be a better choice than Roundup. They can be contained better when applied correctly. Do you not use any chemicals? Hard not to today.....but, yes there are other ways to deal with the problem and many have given good advice.

The question could have been asked without bringing the OPs bias into play, knowing there are people ready to pounce, to stir the pot. The question could have been asked as "What do other people do when they have had this problem" or what can be done other than chemicals. It is tiring to hear the same biases all the time instead of answers to the problem....James