Dealing with a stump without having it ground out.

[onewhippedpuppy]

That’s pretty interesting, but tannerite is way more fun.

[stevej37]

I tore the label off the Stump Out after applying it. I see now that there is just one ingredient listed...Sodium Metabisulfite.

I wonder if that is the chem name for Epsom Salts?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

I tore the label off the Stump Out after applying it. I see now that there is just one ingredient listed...Sodium Metabisulfite.

I wonder if that is the chem name for Epsom Salts?

Epsom salts are a magnesium salt, magnesium sulfate.

[dad911]

If I use stump-out, think I'll be able to break it up with a mini excavator instead of fire? I have a very large stump that is cut flush next to the driveway that just laughs at me when I try to dig it.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

If I use stump-out, think I'll be able to break it up with a mini excavator instead of fire? I have a very large stump that is cut flush next to the driveway that just laughs at me when I try to dig it.

I would think that it could take a long time for the stump to become rotten enough for you to break it up, but maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by dad911

If I use stump-out, think I'll be able to break it up with a mini excavator instead of fire? I have a very large stump that is cut flush next to the driveway that just laughs at me when I try to dig it.

During the 6 weeks after I applied the Stump Out, I checked it every few days to see if it had changed at all.
I could not see any difference at all other than the cuts I had made looked a little more dried out. I'm thinking thats all the Stump Out does....pulls the moisture out of the wood so that the fire will take a good hold and burn the rest out.

If a fire gets a good enough start...it'll burn just about anything.

[fastfredracing]

I have nothing of value to add here, except for a bit of comedy ...
When I last rented commercial garage space for my business 25 years ago. I rented from an independent trucking company . It was called Harmony trucking, but was owned by two brothers, Charlie Stump, and Dave Stump .
The adjacent property was owned by a tree service , and they had a large sign right next to the highway, advertising " Stump Removal "
More than once, I threatened to call the neighbors

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

During the 6 weeks after I applied the Stump Out, I checked it every few days to see if it had changed at all.
I could not see any difference at all other than the cuts I had made looked a little more dried out. I'm thinking thats all the Stump Out does....pulls the moisture out of the wood so that the fire will take a good hold and burn the rest out.

If a fire gets a good enough start...it'll burn just about anything.

Salt kills most plants. Often after floods and storm surge lots of plants end up dying. The Stump killer is just a salt to ensure that the stump is dead.

If you don't use the stump killer, the stump may still be alive and trying to put up new stems and leaves. If the stump is still alive, the wood won't rot.

The stump killer kills the stump and roots so that wood can start rotting (not a fast process).

[masraum]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I have nothing of value to add here, except for a bit of comedy ...
When I last rented commercial garage space for my business 25 years ago. I rented from an independent trucking company . It was called Harmony trucking, but was owned by two brothers, Charlie Stump, and Dave Stump .
The adjacent property was owned by a tree service , and they had a large sign right next to the highway, advertising " Stump Removal "
More than once, I threatened to call the neighbors

LMAO! Nice.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by masraum

Salt kills most plants. Often after floods and storm surge lots of plants end up dying. The Stump killer is just a salt to ensure that the stump is dead.

If you don't use the stump killer, the stump may still be alive and trying to put up new stems and leaves. If the stump is still alive, the wood won't rot.

The stump killer kills the stump and roots so that wood can start rotting (not a fast process).

I checked every couple days for the 6 weeks and the granules had formed a white layer in the grooves that I had cut. There was no rotting being shown...the wood hadn't changed color.
I think if I hadn't used it....the briquettes would have not burned down into the trunk.
If it was rotting...fire wouldn't have caught on.

edit: I should add that the instructions for the SO say to use kerosene after 6 weeks to start the fire or briquettes. I chose the briqs because they seem to last longer.
Neither one would have burned the wood if it was rotting...imo

.

[pmax]

[stevej37]

^^^ I wondered why all my neighbors are moving out.

All because of one tree stump.

I actually only have two neighbors....a 91 year old lady on one side and a 40 year old lady on the other. The closest after those two are over a half mile away.

.

[masraum]

Steve's area will be the next Centralia, and we'll know the super infamous guy that started the fire that burned the pinky off of Michigan. Once Steve's stump stops burning, Michigan will be a thumb and 3 fingers. All because Steve burned his stump, and the roots for his stump were enormous and run under michigan for hundres of miles.

https://www.history.com/articles/mine-fire-burning-more-50-years-ghost-town

A century ago, Centralia, Pennsylvania was a busy small town filled with shops, residents and a brisk mining business. Coal from local mines fueled its homes and its economy, and its 1,200 residents worked, played and lived as tight-knit neighbors.

Today couldn’t be more different. Centralia’s streets are abandoned. Most of its buildings are gone, and smoke wafts down graffiti-strewn highways where a prosperous town once stood. The formerly busy burg has turned into a ghost town. The cause was something that’s still happening beneath Centralia’s empty streets: a mine fire that’s been burning for over 50 years, resulting in the devastation of a community and the eviction and impoverishment of many of its residents.

Coal seam fires are nothing new, but Centralia’s is the United States’ worst and one of history’s most devastating. Before the 1962 fire, Centralia had been a mining center for over a century. Home to a rich deposit of anthracite coal, the town was incorporated after mining began in the 1850s.

It took a tragedy to do that, but it’s not entirely clear how the tragedy began. It seems to have started with the Centralia landfill, an abandoned mine pit that had been converted into a garbage dump in 1962. Trash was a thorny issue in Centralia, which was full of unregulated dumps, and the city council wanted to solve the problem with unwanted odors and rats.

In May 1962, the city council proposed cleaning up the local landfill in time for Centralia’s Memorial Day festivities. “This might seem like irrelevant, small-town history except for one thing,” wrote David Dekok in Fire Underground, his history of the fire: “Centralia Council’s method for cleaning up a dump was to set it on fire.” Though competing theories exist about how the fire was sparked, it’s thought that the Centralia dump fire sparked a much larger mine fire beneath the town.

Soon, a fire was raging in a coal seam beneath Centralia. It spread to mine tunnels beneath town streets, and the local mines closed due to unsafe carbon monoxide levels. Multiple attempts were made to excavate and put out the fire, but all of them failed. The reason, ironically, is the aftermath of the mining that defined Centralia for all of those years. There are so many abandoned mine tunnels in the area that one, many or all could be fueling the fire—and it would be prohibitively expensive and likely impossible to figure out which ones stoke the fire and to close off every single one of them.


As the years went on, the ground beneath the city itself became hotter and hotter, reaching over 900 degrees Fahrenheit in some locations. Smoke poured from sinkholes and gas-filled basements. Residents started to report health problems and homes began to tilt. “Even the dead cannot rest in peace,” wrote Greg Walter for People in 1981. “Graves in the town’s two cemeteries are believed to have dropped into the abyss of fire that rages below them.” Earlier that year, a 12-year-old boy fell into a sudden sinkhole created by the fire, barely escaping death.

By then, it was too late for Centralia. Rather than put out the fire, Congress decided to buy out its residents, paying them to move. Then, in 1992, Pennsylvania moved to kick the holdouts out for good. All of Centralia’s buildings were condemned; its ZIP code was eliminated. Seven residents remained via court order; they are forbidden from passing down their property or selling it.

Today, Centralia still burns as one of 38 known active mining fires in Pennsylvania. According to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, the fire could burn for another century if left uncontrolled. Modern-day Centralia is known as much for the blaze—and the graffiti that covers its abandoned highway—as for the mining that once sustained it. And forget extinguishing the fire that has turned the town from a small mining center to a place infamous for its hidden blaze: As geologist Steve Jones told Smithsonian’s Kevin Krajick, “Putting it out is the impossible dream.”

[stevej37]

I live right in the southern part of the Manistee National Forest.
If I get a few trees started...it might burn all the way to Traverse Bay!

Right now it's a downpour of rain....the turtle pond is over-flowing.

https://video.nest.com/live/LRn4HNvRmz

.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

I live right in the southern part of the Manistee National Forest.
If I get a few trees started...it might burn all the way to Traverse Bay!

Right now it's a downpour of rain....the turtle pond is over-flowing.

https://video.nest.com/live/LRn4HNvRmz

.

They're probably thinking, "this is our chance to escape. Let's go! We'll float right over the wall."

Either there's a drop of water on the camera lens or Steve has part of the video blurred out because 2 of the turtles are gettin' it on!

[stevej37]

Water on the cam....which will stay until it stops. (it should play after clicking on the arrow)
Yes, they can walk right out now if they try...its a 3 ft fall, but it doesn't faze them.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Water on the cam....which will stay until it stops. (it should play after clicking on the arrow)
Yes, they can walk right out now if they try...its a 3 ft fall, but it doesn't faze them.

Yeah, I saw leaves blowing around and heard the water running.

I'm assuming that when it's raining, they usually stay down in the water because that's probably warmer than being out and getting rained on.

I'll bet you just think it doesn't phase them because when they hit the ground, you don't know the turtle word for "sheit!"

[stevej37]

I just checked the rain gauge....2.75" in about a half hour.
We don't normally get downpours like that....but we really needed the rain.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by masraum

I'll bet you just think it doesn't phase them because when they hit the ground, you don't know the turtle word for "sheit!"

Except it's not the ground...it's the plank boards of the outdoor deck. Their shells protect them and they are very hardy. (still has to be a jolt)
The pond is entirely on my deck....lots of weight. So far...so good.

[KFC911]

They don't call 'em "Turtle Falls" for no reason! That's a lotta rain in a short period... a gulley washer here.