Growing grass where a tree once stood

landofpi

We chopped down a maple tree, mulched the stump to the ground. Now, we need to treat the existing soil with the proper nutrients, etc., to grow grass. Any ideas on an effective plan of action?

Leah Frances

Dump some soil amendments right away and you may loose them, still, to the root system of the tree. Personally, I would wait a year; till and dig the entire area from old trunk to drip line; wait another year; remove additional large roots that have finally dried up and died; get soil tested; and add amendments and topsoil as needed; seed or sod as desired.

You can try this all at once, but it is not likely to succeed. I speak from personal experience trying to grow grass over stumps in five different locations in my yard. The only thing that really worked was time.

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If I could only remember to THINK about what I was doing before I did it.

sdsester

Yup! If you want, you can try to speed the decomposition by drilling holes in the stump with a long wood auger and filling with one of the commercial stump dissolving enzymes so forth. They work rather well but you still have to wait things out for a time. The decomposition process is going to need/steal nitrogen turf grasses need most.

If you want to try turf right away, you should bring someone out to at least try and grind the stump down 6-8 inches or more under the surface. Leah Frances is right though. Wait a bit and let nature do its thing.

DrHicks

What these two have pointed to is the fact that this is not going to be a one-time thing.

Because of continued decomposition and settling, you're going to be filling, smoothing, seeding and re-seeding for several years. Keep at it, be patient, and it will happen.

chrisn

At least several years depending on the size of the stump. I have one in my yard that is going on 20 years and is STILL settling!

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