After the grind

What Happens After a Stump Is Ground

A ground stump leaves a mound of chips and soil, a hole under it and roots that rot out of sight. Here is how that spot turns back into lawn or a garden bed.

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What's left

The chip pile and the hole

A stump grinder leaves a mound of wood chips mixed with soil where the stump stood, heaped over the hole it cut below the lawn.

Those chips stay on site unless hauling them away is written into the quote. Across the trade, moving or removing the grindings is never part of the job unless the contract says so, and the debris is kept to the work area around the stump. Left in place, the chips do a job of their own as mulch or as fill for the hole.

Whether the pile stays or goes changes the price, so we settle it at the estimate. The number we give you covers the grind and the cleanup you chose, and nothing gets added once the grinder starts.

What the grinder leaves

The chip-and-soil mix: Shredded stump wood and the dirt around it, pale and fibrous. Raked back into the hole and leveled, it is called "chip-and-soil backfill".
The hole below the mound: The space the stump and its root flare took up below grade, hidden under the chips until they are raked in or carried off.
The work area: Chips and debris stay in the circle around the stump, not across the rest of the yard.

Former stump hole filled level with fresh topsoil, grass seed scattered over it and a rake across the patch

Keep or haul

Hauling chips and backfilling with topsoil

Yes: the chips can stay as mulch, or they can be hauled off and the hole filled with topsoil, graded and seeded, and that finish usually costs extra.

A grinding job tends to end at one of these levels, and the one you pick decides what the spot looks like the week after.

Grind and leave the chips The stump goes 6 to 8 inches below grade, and the mound stays for you to spread as mulch or rake back in as fill.
Grind and rake level Most of the chips are taken away and the rest are raked level with the lawn around them.
Best for new grass
The full finish Every chip is hauled off, the hole is filled with fresh topsoil, graded and reseeded, so grass grows back where the stump was instead of a chip pile.

Tell us on the call which finish you want, and it goes into the quote before we start.

Regrowth

Sprouts and regrowth after grinding

Rarely, once it is ground below its root collar.

The "root collar" is the flare where the trunk meets the roots, and it is the growth center that sends up new shoots. Grinding through it takes that center out, which is why the grind goes 6 to 8 inches below the lawn instead of knocking the top off flush. A stump left standing, or cut flush, keeps the collar in the ground and keeps putting up shoots that catch the mower.

Replanting

Replanting where the stump was

It can, as long as the new tree goes a little to one side of the old spot, or the stump is deep ground and the chips are cleared so the new roots start in soil.

The old roots rot below grade for years, and fungi that colonize a stump, such as Armillaria root rot, also called honey fungus, can spread through the soil and attack the roots of a healthy young tree. "Deep grinding" goes well below standard depth for exactly this reason: to make room for a replant.

Planting is digging, so contact 811 Before You Dig a few business days ahead. Once the tree is in, it needs proper long-term care before it gives what trees are planted for, and TreesAreGood.org from the International Society of Arboriculture explains that care.

deep stump grinding

Below the grade

Roots left to decay

The deep roots stay where they are and rot in place over a few years, and the ground above them can settle a little as they go.

Grinding takes out the stump and its root flare. The structural roots that run deeper are left to break down on their own, with no chemicals and no burning. Where a shallow dip shows up later, a little topsoil and seed bring it level again.

Roots running across the top of the lawn are another matter. "Surface root grinding" takes those down with the same machine, so the mower runs flat and grass grows over them.

surface roots in lawn

Google reviews

Neighbors on the Yard Afterward

Their words, as they left them on Google.

We had trees removed by Elias who than used Garcia to remove stumps. Great work. Curtious, polite and got it done in no time. Thank you.

alexandra B · Google review

Garcia stump grinding is awesome! He took care of a lot of stumps we had in an efficient way. Our yard looks so much better! Highly recommend.

Lori Geer · Google review

The Garcia Stump Grinding team gets it done every time rain or shine. We still have more work to do and we will call them again being that we only work with these guys. Highly recommend. Easy to get along with and they work extremely quick and clean. Really, these guys will steam roll a tree/ stump job.

Clay Moseley · Google review

Common questions

After the Grind, Answered

Is it okay to plant a new tree over an old stump?

Yes, with care: plant a little to one side, or have the stump deep ground and the chips cleared first so the young roots start in soil.

The old roots rot underground for years, and fungi such as honey fungus can move from them into a new tree's roots.

Will a tree grow back after stump grinding?

Not usually. Grinding 6 to 8 inches below the ground takes out the root collar, the growth center that sends up new shoots.

A sprout that does come up from a live root can be cut back at the ground until the root gives out.

Ready to Get the Yard Back?

One call gets you a free, no-obligation estimate covering the grind and the cleanup you choose. We answer Monday to Saturday, 7 am to 6 pm, and return any other call the next working morning.

Call for a Free Estimate (804) 429-8770

We quote the whole job before we start, with no surprise charges after, and we clean up when the work is done.