What to Do With Removed Trees and Stumps
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Removing trees or parts of them from your yard can be a relief and a pain. Overhanging branches and snags pose a safety concern — they can break and fall without warning, especially during a storm. Invasive root systems can damage your property. Infected woody plants are contagious and spread pathogens to nearby healthy vegetation.
However, you can’t leave discarded trunks, limbs and branches lying on the ground. They eat up yard space and are hazardous. Tree removal doesn’t include the stump and roots, so you must deal with the remains, too. Consider these eight tips if you don’t know what to do with such waste.
1. Burn Infected Woody Material
Open burning is the most efficient way to dispose of downed diseased trees. The practice gets the job done, but its disadvantages outnumber and outweigh the convenience it presents.
Eco-warriors despise open burning because it releases greenhouse gases. Although wood ash is a green substitute for cement when manufacturing ecological concrete products, the amount of material you can generate with your limited yard waste won’t move the needle in sustainability.
Health advocates warn that setting wood ablaze emits irritants, which can cause various problems, including breathing difficulties, headaches and coughing. Individuals sensitive to smoke are at higher risk.
Taking this route may also provoke the ire of your neighbors. Combustion emissions go where the wind takes them — they can get inside nearby homes and impact indoor air quality levels.
These downsides are why many jurisdictions ban open burning outright. However, some areas still permit it under certain conditions. Take North Carolina, for example. The Tar Heel State allows you to burn vegetative materials from your yard on-site between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. when clearing land, provided that your local ordinance has legalized it and public pickup is unavailable.
2. Turn Waste Into Compost
Wood is biodegradable. If you stack tree cuts in one place, leave them alone and let nature take its course, they’ll eventually become a soil amendment. These organic materials can also fertilize the ground as they decompose.
The speed of decay depends on the snag. Massive deciduous trees can take years to decompose completely. Alternatively, you can donate your yard debris to organizations with municipal composting programs. You can transport your logs to designated drop-off locations or arrange a pickup.
3. Convert Deadwood Into Mulch
Feeding cut-down limbs, branches and entire small trees into a brush chipper produces an abundant supply of organic mulch. If you have a garden and other yard trees, covering the ground with wood chips can suppress weed growth and help keep the soil moist, erosion-resistant and nutrient-rich. Wood is also more aesthetically pleasing than other organic mulches.
Mind tree diseases, though. Wood chips from infected plants do more harm than good and should not be part of your green waste.
4. Mill Logs for Lumber
If you love woodworking, don’t let your timber go to waste. Turn deadwood from healthy trees into lumber, stockpile materials for your projects and build new yard features.
For instance, walnut planks make stylish furniture due to their strength and dark chocolate appearance. Meanwhile, white oak pieces are perfect for fences and decks because of their grain patterns and predominantly light brown hue. If harvested properly, the carpentry potential of these trees can make them extremely valuable to the right buyer.
5. Use Debris as Firewood
If you use a fireplace, wood stove or outdoor fire pit for space heating, deadwood is manna from heaven. Using it as fuel will reduce your energy bills. A cord of firewood’s heating value is the same as a ton of coal or 200 gallons of fuel oil.
The heavier the wood, the greater its heat value. Your firewood’s moisture content must be less than 20% to use more energy to generate heat and less to vaporize the excess water. Plus, wet firewood emits more pollutants.
Yard tree waste is generally too damp to burn efficiently. Stack pieces alternately and season them for six months or more to reduce their moisture content to a desirable level. Put your woodpile on a pallet to keep it off the ground. Although sun-drying firewood can accelerate the process, protecting it from precipitation is more beneficial.
6. Make Stumps Into Landscape Assets
When touched up thoughtfully, the remains of snags can be practical yard features. Drill holes from the top to create deep cavities, turning them into nurseries for tree and shrub seedlings with space for organic mulch to inhibit weed growth or natural bird bath bowls. If they’re high and wide enough, tree stumps can be immovable seats or tables when finished.
If your outdoor space lacks a clear focal point, hire a sculptor to create artwork out of the stumps. Commissioning fixed wooden sculptures can be a significant expense without any guarantee of yielding a payoff when you sell your house. Other homeowners may not share your taste and find the carvings tacky. Still, this idea is worth considering to honor your trees’ relics.
7. Create Brush Piles
If you have extensive acreage, compile tree debris in one place to make woody sanctuaries and invite wildlife. This set-and-forget idea hits two birds with one stone — it manages your yard waste quickly and provides shelter to small critters.
Brush piles support local ecosystems, serving as habitats where prey can take cover and act as new hunting grounds for predators. The soil underneath these wildlife havens only becomes richer in nutrients as the wood breaks down.
8. Leave Disposal to an Arborist
Certified arborists can take green waste off your hands if you can’t think of anything useful for it. They are the authority on proper deadwood and infected vegetative material disposal. These professionals can grind down tree remains, sever the roots connected to the base of stumps and leave the ones underground to decay.
Arborists know which material is suitable for composting, mulching or biomass recycling. They only send debris to landfills as a last resort.
The hauling service may or may not merit additional payment. Either way, you can rest assured that your yard waste won’t negatively impact the environment.
Managing Green Waste Properly
Dealing with the aftermath of tree removal can be overwhelming. With these tips, you can give your dead vegetation a new lease on life.
Jack Shaw is a freelance writer specializing in home improvement, gardening, and caring for the outdoors. He’s the senior writer of Modded and has contributed his advice through sites like Green Living Journal, House 2 Home Organizing, Log Cabin Hub, and more. You can reach him via LinkedIn.
