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🔗 Save $6,000 A Year with My Complete Amish Home-Saving Method I teach:
https://eliasyoder.com
There is a stump in your back corner that a removal service wants three to five hundred dollars to grind out. And that same stump is one your great-grandfather would have cleared with an afternoon of work or a five-dollar bag of Epsom salt and a little patience. The whole of this country was cleared of trees by hand, long before there was a grinding machine to rent, and every one of those old methods still works on the stump in your yard.
So before you write that check, let me walk you through ten ways to take out a stump with what you already own and a little time.
In this video:
✓ The patient hand-dig, the way it was done for two hundred years
✓ Cutting low and treating the stump so it dies and rots
✓ The come-along pull, and the safety rule that can save your life
✓ The Epsom salt drill-and-soak that rots a stump from the inside
✓ The controlled burn, done right and legally
✓ The tarp-and-moisture rot for the truly patient
✓ Letting livestock do the work for you
✓ The plunge-cut wedge method for a dry stump
✓ The hand-cranked stump puller the old farms swore by
✓ And patience itself,
https://eliasyoder.com
There is a stump in your back corner that a removal service wants three to five hundred dollars to grind out. And that same stump is one your great-grandfather would have cleared with an afternoon of work or a five-dollar bag of Epsom salt and a little patience. The whole of this country was cleared of trees by hand, long before there was a grinding machine to rent, and every one of those old methods still works on the stump in your yard.
So before you write that check, let me walk you through ten ways to take out a stump with what you already own and a little time.
In this video:
✓ The patient hand-dig, the way it was done for two hundred years
✓ Cutting low and treating the stump so it dies and rots
✓ The come-along pull, and the safety rule that can save your life
✓ The Epsom salt drill-and-soak that rots a stump from the inside
✓ The controlled burn, done right and legally
✓ The tarp-and-moisture rot for the truly patient
✓ Letting livestock do the work for you
✓ The plunge-cut wedge method for a dry stump
✓ The hand-cranked stump puller the old farms swore by
✓ And patience itself,
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You walk out to the back corner of the property where the old maple came down in the spring storm.
00:05The tree itself has long since cut up, split, and stacked for firewood.
00:10But the stump is still there, 20 inches across, the gray weathered top sitting just above the soil,
00:17the roots running out into the lawn in every direction like the spokes of a wagon wheel.
00:23You have walked past it for six months now.
00:26Every time you mow, you have to go around it.
00:29Every time you walk that part of the yard, your eye lands on it.
00:33And every time you have considered hiring someone to remove it, the answer has been the same.
00:39Between $200 and $500 per stump.
00:43For one stump.
00:45In the back corner.
00:48So you call the local stump grinding service for a quote.
00:52The man comes out, looks at the stump, and gives you a number.
00:56Remember, $375 plus tax plus the trip charge.
01:02Two hours of his time.
01:04One stump.
01:05Your yard restored.
01:07And you stand there in your own back corner, and you realize that the average American homeowner
01:14has been quietly trained to think the only way to deal with a tree stump
01:18is to write a check to somebody else with a $4,000 piece of equipment.
01:25Now I want you to sit with this.
01:27Folks who own land have been removing tree stumps for as long as folks have owned land.
01:33The first American settlers cleared millions of acres of forest.
01:37Every single stump pulled out by hand, by oxen, by patient methods that cost nothing but time and effort.
01:46The Amish families that settled Lancaster County in the 1700s cleared their farms the same way.
01:53The whole of Pennsylvania, the whole of Ohio, the whole of every farmstead in this country
02:00was carved out of forest by folks who never wrote a check to a stump grinding service.
02:06They had ten honest methods, every one of which costs almost nothing,
02:12and most of which still work today exactly the same as they did then.
02:18My name is Elias Yoder.
02:20I am Amish, and I farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
02:24I have personally cleared stumps from fence lines, from new garden patches,
02:30from the edges of fields, and from the corners of pasture.
02:33Never with a backhoe, never with a stump grinder, never paying a service.
02:40Today I am going to walk you through ten honest methods for removing a tree stump without renting heavy equipment.
02:48Some are fast and hard.
02:51Some are slow and easy.
02:53Every one of them works.
02:55Pick the method that fits your stump and your patience, and the stump comes out.
03:02Quick word before we go further.
03:05The old methods my family uses, there is more of it than fits in any one video.
03:11I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
03:15The book is the long version.
03:18If you want it, it is there.
03:20I will not bring it up again.
03:22Now, ten ways.
03:24Number one.
03:26The patient hand dig and root cut method.
03:30This is the foundational method.
03:32Every other method on this list is either a variation of this one, or a way to make the digging
03:38easier.
03:39The patient hand dig is what every settler in this country used to clear his first acre,
03:46and it still works today exactly as it did then.
03:50The method.
03:52Take a spade, a pickaxe, and an old axe.
03:56Not your good splitting axe, since cutting roots dulls the blade hard.
04:01Start by digging a trench around the stump, about two to three feet out from the trunk,
04:06and about a foot to a foot and a half deep.
04:09As you uncover the main roots running outward, expose them as much as you can.
04:14Then, with the old axe or a heavy hatchet, chop through each root close to the stump.
04:21The main roots usually number four to eight on a mature tree.
04:25Cut every one of them.
04:27Once the major roots are cut, the stump will start to wobble.
04:32Lever it back and forth with a long pry bar or a sturdy fence post used as a lever.
04:38Most stumps come free with a few minutes of leverage once the roots are cut.
04:43The tap root, if there is one, will be the last to give.
04:48Dig further down to expose it and cut it through.
04:51This method works on any stump of any size, given enough time and effort.
04:56A small stump comes out in an hour or two.
04:59A large mature oak stump might take a full day of work for two strong folks.
05:05But it requires no rental equipment, no chemicals, no fire, no waiting.
05:11The Honest Scope
05:13This is hard, physical work.
05:15If your back is not up to a long day of digging and chopping,
05:19one of the other methods on this list will be a better fit.
05:22But for folks who can handle the work,
05:24this is the cleanest, fastest method that does not depend on outside resources.
05:30Number 2, the Leverage the Trunk Method, used before felling.
05:36This one requires planning ahead.
05:38If you have not cut the tree down yet, you have a tool that the next nine methods do not
05:44have.
05:44The trunk itself, which becomes a giant lever for popping the root ball out of the ground.
05:50The Method
05:51Before felling, dig out around the base of the tree and expose the main roots as in Method 1.
05:58Cut the major roots while the tree is still standing.
06:01Then climb the tree, carefully with help on the ground,
06:05and tie a strong rope or chain as high up the trunk as you can safely reach, 20 to 30
06:11feet up.
06:12The higher the rope, the more leverage you get.
06:15Have a helper pull on the rope from a safe distance,
06:18or use a come-along anchored to another tree or a sturdy fence post.
06:23With the roots cut and the trunk acting as a long cheater bar,
06:27the tree often topples over root ball and all with surprisingly little force.
06:32The whole stump comes out as the tree falls.
06:35This is the method old farm folks used most often when clearing land.
06:40The standing tree is your free lever.
06:42Once it is felled, you have lost that advantage and have to work harder.
06:48Number 3.
06:49The Come Along with Chains Method
06:51For stumps where the tree is already down,
06:54mechanical advantage replaces leverage from height.
06:57A come-along is a hand-operated cable winch
07:00that gives you several thousand pounds of pulling force from a strong anchor point.
07:06The Method
07:06First, do the basic digging from Method 1.
07:10Expose and cut the main roots.
07:13This is the critical step.
07:15Brute force without root cutting does not work on a healthy stump.
07:19Then run a heavy chain or nylon strap, never rope, around the stump, low to the ground.
07:25Anchor a come-along to a sturdy tree, a buried truck axle, or a large boulder at least 30 feet
07:31away.
07:32Run a second chain or strap from the come-along to the stump.
07:36Crank the come-along slowly.
07:38Pull at a slight upward angle if possible.
07:42One effective trick is to run the cable over a tire or a rolled-up jacket placed against the stump,
07:47which creates an upward lift component instead of just a horizontal pull.
07:53Critical Safety Word
07:54Use chains or heavy-duty nylon straps.
07:57Never rope.
07:59Rope stretches under load and can snap back like a giant rubber band with enough force to seriously injure or
08:05kill.
08:06Multiple folks have lost eyes, teeth, and lives to snapping ropes.
08:12Chains do not stretch.
08:14Nylon straps stretch a little but do not store enough energy to snap dangerously.
08:19Chains or heavy straps every time.
08:21Also, do not try this with a pickup truck instead of a come-along.
08:26The most common failure is that the chain breaks or comes loose and slingshots through your rear window or strikes
08:33someone standing nearby.
08:35The come-along is anchored, controlled, and slow.
08:38The truck is none of those things.
08:41Number 4.
08:42The Epsom Salt Slow Decompose Method
08:45This is the method I recommend for folks who do not have the strength or the time for hard digging
08:50and who can wait several months for the stump to break down on its own.
08:55The Chemistry
08:55Plain
08:56Epsom Salt
08:58Epsom Salt is magnesium sulfate.
08:59It is hygroscopic.
09:01It draws water out of whatever it touches.
09:04When forced into the cells of a tree stump, it dehydrates the wood, kills any remaining living tissue,
09:11and creates an environment where decomposition organisms can thrive faster than they would in the live wood.
09:17The stump dies within 2-3 months and becomes soft, spongy, and easy to break apart within 6-12 months.
09:25The honest advantage of Epsom Salt over Rock Salt
09:28Epsom Salt is soil-friendly.
09:31The magnesium and sulfur left behind are actually plant nutrients.
09:37Rock Salt, by contrast, leaves sodium chloride in the soil that can sterilize the area around the stump for years.
09:44For garden corners, lawn areas, or anywhere you want healthy soil afterward, Epsom Salt is the right choice.
09:54The Method
09:54Cut the stump as close to the ground as you safely can with a chainsaw or handsaw.
10:01Watch for dirt and rocks. They dull or destroy a chainsaw blade fast.
10:08Drill holes into the top of the stump.
10:10Use the largest drill bit you have. One inch in diameter is ideal.
10:16Drill the holes 8 to 10 inches deep, 3 to 4 inches apart, across the entire top surface of the
10:23stump.
10:24Fill each hole with Epsom Salt crystals. Pack them in firmly.
10:29Pour warm water into each hole to dissolve the salt and carry it down into the wood.
10:35Cover the stump with a tarp or heavy plastic sheet, weighted down with stones at the edges.
10:42This keeps rainwater from washing the salt out.
10:46Reapply every 3 to 4 weeks. Refill the holes with salt. Add water. Replace the cover.
10:54Within 2 to 3 months, the stump is dead.
10:57Within 6 to 12 months, the wood is soft enough to break apart with a shovel and pick.
11:04Total cost? 5 to 10 dollars of Epsom salt for a medium stump.
11:09Total physical labor? About an hour of work spread across a year.
11:14This is the patient method and it is the one I recommend for most folks who do not need the
11:20stump gone immediately.
11:22Before I go on to the next 6 methods, let me pause for a moment.
11:28Every home has leaks. Food, heat, water, electricity, laundry, repairs, pantry waste, cleaning, monthly home routines.
11:39Esther and I are inside answering questions and members share what is working in their own homes.
11:46The link is in the description.
11:54This is the oldest land clearing method in American history.
11:59Burning out a stump takes far less physical labor than digging it out, but it takes hours of attentive fire
12:06watching and uses a large amount of fuel.
12:09The method.
12:10The stump must be dry.
12:13Old, dead wood, ideally cured for at least a year after the tree was felled.
12:19Green wood will not burn well enough for this method.
12:23Dig a small pit underneath the stump so the fire base is below the wood.
12:28The flame heat needs to rise up into the stump, not down off it.
12:33Build a small fire of dry kindling and small branches in the pit.
12:39As it catches, add larger pieces of wood.
12:42Keep feeding the fire as it burns up into the stump from below.
12:47A full stump burn typically takes 8 to 12 hours of attentive feeding and uses most or all of the
12:55original tree's wood as fuel.
12:57The critical safety word and legal scope.
13:01Most American jurisdictions regulate open burning.
13:05Many counties require a burn permit.
13:08Many seasonal burn bans prohibit any open fire from late spring through fall.
13:14Many neighborhoods and HOAs prohibit open burning entirely.
13:19Before lighting a single match, check your local laws and call your county fire marshal.
13:26Fines for illegal burning range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand.
13:32A stump fire that escapes to the surrounding brush can cause property damage, injure people, and result in serious criminal
13:41liability.
13:42Also, have a water source ready.
13:45Hose, buckets, fire extinguisher.
13:48Stay with the fire the entire time it is burning.
13:52Do not leave it overnight.
13:54Do not start it on a windy day.
13:57Do not start it in dry conditions.
14:00For folks in rural areas with permits and proper conditions, fire is a real, traditional, effective method.
14:07For folks in suburbs, towns, or fire-prone regions, fire is not the method for you.
14:15Pick another from this list.
14:17Number six, the tarp and moisture rot method.
14:21This is the slow, gentle, no chemicals method.
14:25It takes one to three years, but it requires almost no work, almost no money, and leaves clean, healthy soil
14:33behind.
14:33The method.
14:35Cut the stump as close to the ground as you can.
14:39Soak it thoroughly with water.
14:41Cover it completely with a heavy black tarp or plastic sheet, weighted down at the edges with stones, bricks, or
14:49buried into a shallow trench around the perimeter.
14:52Pile some compost, leaves, or grass clippings on top of the stump under the tarp.
14:58The decomposing organic matter adds nitrogen and beneficial fungi that accelerate the breakdown.
15:05Check it every few months.
15:07Add water if it gets dry under the tarp.
15:10Moisture is what allows the natural decomposition organisms, fungi, bacteria, beetles, ants, to do their work.
15:19Within 12 to 36 months, the stump becomes soft, dark, and crumbly.
15:25You can break it apart with a shovel and integrate the decomposed wood into your garden soil as a natural
15:32amendment.
15:33No chemicals.
15:34No fire.
15:36No mechanical advantage.
15:38Just patience and a tarp.
15:40This method is what nature does on its own to every fallen tree in every forest in the world.
15:47We are just speeding it up modestly by adding moisture and warmth.
15:52Number seven.
15:53The livestock method.
15:55Goats, pigs, and chickens.
15:58This one most modern gardening sources never mention because it requires keeping livestock.
16:04But for folks with a homestead, a farm, or even a backyard with one or two animals, livestock can remove
16:12small stumps and tree roots completely free of charge, and the animals enjoy the work.
16:17Pigs are the most effective.
16:19A pig's natural rooting instinct will tear apart a small to medium stump in a matter of days to weeks.
16:26They dig down to expose the roots, chew the bark off the surface, and over time turn the stump into
16:33mulch and bare soil.
16:36Penning a pig in an enclosure around the stump for one to three weeks accomplishes what hours of human digging
16:42would.
16:43Goats are slower but effective on smaller stumps and root systems.
16:48They strip the bark, eat the new shoots that try to grow back from the stump, and prevent the stump
16:54from re-sprouting.
16:54Over a season, a stump worked on by goats becomes dry, dead, and easier to remove.
17:02Chickens are the least powerful, but useful for the smallest stumps.
17:06Their constant scratching around the base of a stump exposes the roots and accelerates decomposition.
17:13This is real Pennsylvania Dutch farm tradition.
17:17Old farms used livestock as land-clearing tools for centuries before any mechanical equipment existed.
17:23The pig pen that moves around the property was traditionally placed wherever the next acre needed clearing.
17:30The pigs did the work, the farmer fed and watered them, and after one or two months, the stumps were
17:37gone.
17:38For folks with livestock, this method costs nothing extra.
17:42For folks without livestock, this is a reason to consider getting some.
17:46Number eight, the hand-cranked stump puller.
17:51Before chainsaws and backhoes existed, American farms used a tool called the stump puller.
17:57A hand-cranked lever and screw mechanism that delivered enormous mechanical advantage to lift a stump out of the ground.
18:05Hand-cranked stump pullers were common farm equipment from the 1850s through the early 1900s.
18:12The modern equivalent is a hand-leveraged stump pulling tool, a long lever bar with grip jaws at the bottom
18:18that clamp onto a stump or small tree trunk.
18:22Lean the bar back, the jaws bite into the wood, and the leverage of the bar pops the stump or
18:28small tree out of the ground.
18:29These tools work well on stumps up to about three inches in diameter, small saplings, fence line brush, and young
18:38trees that need to come out.
18:40For larger stumps, the principle still applies, but you need more mechanical advantage.
18:45A come-along, method three, provides far more force than a hand lever.
18:51The honest scope.
18:53Hand-leveraged tools are not magic on large mature stumps.
18:57They are excellent for small stumps and saplings.
19:00For a mature tree stump, you still need the digging and root cutting from methods one through three.
19:06Number nine, the plunge cut and wedge method for dry old stumps.
19:11For stumps that have been sitting in the ground for several years, dry, brittle, partially decomposed, you can break them
19:18apart with hand tools.
19:19The method.
19:21Use a chainsaw or a sharp axe to make a series of plunge cuts across the top of the stump
19:27in a checkerboard pattern.
19:29Each cut goes down four to six inches into the wood.
19:33Then drive iron or wood splitting wedges into the cuts with a sledgehammer.
19:38The dry, brittle wood splits along the cut lines.
19:41Continue working downward, breaking the stump into chunks small enough to lever out by hand.
19:47The critical chainsaw note.
19:50Cutting into the dirt or rocks at the base of the stump destroys chainsaw blades.
19:55If you use a chainsaw, stay above the soil line.
19:59Many folks keep an old chainsaw specifically for stump work that they are willing to dull.
20:05This method works only on dry, dead, partially decomposed stumps.
20:10Green stumps will not split apart this way.
20:13The wet wood absorbs the wedges without cracking.
20:16For green stumps, use one of the other methods first and come back to this one in a year or
20:22two once the stump has dried.
20:24Number ten.
20:26Patience.
20:27Letting nature take its course.
20:28The final method, and the one most modern folks have forgotten, exists.
20:33Doing nothing.
20:34A tree stump left alone, in average climate and soil conditions, fully decomposes within five to ten years.
20:42In humid climates with active soil microbiology, it might be faster, three to five years.
20:49In dry climates, longer, ten to fifteen.
20:52This method costs nothing.
20:55It requires nothing.
20:56It takes time.
20:57If the stump is in a back corner of a wooded lot, a fence line, a pasture edge, or anywhere
21:04it does not visually or functionally interfere with what you are doing on the property,
21:08patience is a perfectly honest answer.
21:11The stump becomes habitat for beneficial insects, native fungi, and small wildlife.
21:17It enriches the surrounding soil as it slowly decomposes.
21:21In ten years, the soil where the stump was is often the richest patch in your yard.
21:28Many Amish farms simply allow stumps along the edges of fields to decompose naturally.
21:34We work around them.
21:35We do not always demand they be removed immediately.
21:38That patience is itself an inherited piece of homestead wisdom.
21:43Not every problem requires immediate intervention.
21:46Some problems solve themselves given time.
21:49Now I want to take a moment because here is where it all comes together.
21:53Look at what we have walked through.
21:55Ten honest methods for removing a tree stump.
21:58The patient hand dig.
22:00The leverage the trunk method before felling.
22:03The come along with chains.
22:05The Epsom salt slow decompose.
22:07The controlled fire.
22:09The tarp and moisture rot.
22:11The livestock method.
22:13The hand cranked stump puller.
22:15The plunge cut wedge method for dry stumps.
22:18And patience itself.
22:20Not one of those methods cost more than $50 in materials.
22:24Most cost less than $15.
22:26Several cost nothing at all beyond your own time.
22:29And every one of them was used by careful farm folks across this country for 200 years before the stump
22:36grinding industry existed and started charging $200 to $500 per stump.
22:40The math is plain.
22:42A stump removal service charges $300 to $500 per stump.
22:47Hiring out the removal of 10 stumps would cost $300 to $5,000.
22:52Removing the same 10 stumps with the methods above costs $50 in Epsom salt, an old axe and spade you
23:00already own, a come along and some chains from the farm supply store, and your patient labor across a few
23:06weekends or several months.
23:08The total cost for 10 stumps with the homemade methods run somewhere between $30 and $150.
23:15There is no money in the stump removal industry in teaching homeowners that the same patient methods that cleared a
23:21million acres of American forest still work today on the stump in their back corner.
23:26There is a great deal of money in charging $400 per stump and driving the $4,000 grinder back and
23:33forth across the county.
23:34So the simple old methods sit quiet on the homesteads of careful folks who never forgot.
23:41And most American homeowners write checks every spring for what an afternoon and a bottle of Epsom salt would handle
23:50for almost nothing.
23:52You can be the one who remembers.
23:56So here is what I want you to do.
23:58This week, walk out to that stump in your yard and look at it honestly.
24:04How big is it?
24:05How dry?
24:06How long has it been there?
24:08Match it to one of the 10 methods above.
24:11If you can spare an afternoon of hard work, method one, the patient hand dig.
24:17If you have a come along and a strong anchor, method three.
24:22If you can wait 6 to 12 months for the stump to die and break down, method four, the Epsom
24:30salt drill and soak.
24:32If you can wait 2 to 3 years and just want the cheapest option, method six, the tarp and moisture
24:40rot.
24:41If you have a pig, method seven, let the livestock work.
24:46If you are in a fire allowed area with a permit and a dry stump, method five, the controlled burn.
24:55Pick the method that fits your stump and your patients.
24:59Then get it started.
25:01Do not write the $400 check.
25:05Use the ten old methods.
25:07Your great grandfather did.
25:10Your great great grandfather did.
25:12The whole of this country was cleared this way.
25:17Tell me in the comments below, what kind of tree is your stump and which of the ten methods are
25:23you going to try?
25:24And if your grandfather or great uncle had his own stump pulling method we did not cover, the dynamite method
25:33we do not recommend, the team of horses method, the buried tire and gasoline method we absolutely do not recommend,
25:42share the family story anyway.
25:44The old land clearing traditions of this country are exactly the kind of inherited knowledge that gets lost when nobody
25:53writes them down.
25:54I read every single one.
25:58Next time, since we have been speaking of patient land clearing work, I am going to walk you through
26:05The old way our family sharpens an axe, a knife, and a scythe.
26:10The stone, the file, the strop, and the small habits that mean a single hand tool lasts a lifetime and
26:19stays sharp the whole way through.
26:21It is the natural next step after today.
26:25Until then, match the stump to the method, do not write the check, and remember that the cheapest stump removal
26:34in the world is the one your great grandfather already knew how to do.
26:40That is how the old folks did it.
26:42That is how it is still done on any homestead that remembers.
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