Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

The Junk Drawer is for those Off Topical discussions where we can ask questions of the community that we feel might have the ability to help out.

Moderator: Harold_V

User avatar
SteveHGraham
Posts: 7788
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:55 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by SteveHGraham »

Saltpeter worked on the big stump by my house in under 2 months. The only work involved is breaking up the softened stump and hauling it off.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
User avatar
liveaboard
Posts: 1971
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 1:40 pm
Location: southern Portugal
Contact:

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by liveaboard »

Professional solutions to these things are often touted as better; but professionals are expected to do a job in less than 2 months.

We home owners often have the option of more time.

I just plowed through a 6' wide 200' cane hedge with my FEL bucket. A year ago I cut away the outer edge along a back road, planted new hedge plants, and fenced it.
Now that the new plants are semi-mature, I can take out the fast spreading cane that's trying to take over my fruit orchard.

That was the fun part, now I have to clean up the mess.
User avatar
SteveHGraham
Posts: 7788
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 7:55 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by SteveHGraham »

One nice thing about saltpeter is that it doesn't leave a huge stump just below ground level, the way grinding does.
Every hard-fried egg began life sunny-side up.
John Hasler
Posts: 1852
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 4:05 pm
Location: Elmwood, Wisconsin

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by John Hasler »

SteveHGraham wrote: Sat Nov 10, 2018 9:48 am One nice thing about saltpeter is that it doesn't leave a huge stump just below ground level, the way grinding does.
One could combine the two: grind the stump down, haggle a cavity into it, fill the cavity with potassium nitrate, and cover with dirt. Deals with the immediate unsightliness problem and the below-ground part will be gone more quickly than it would have been with either method alone.
hoppercar
Posts: 616
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:09 pm

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by hoppercar »

A bonfire on that stump, will solve all your problems
User avatar
ChipsAhoy
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2015 12:23 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by ChipsAhoy »

stump.jpg
stump.jpg (7.13 KiB) Viewed 5558 times
IMHO
armscor 1
Posts: 311
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 3:12 am
Location: Philippines

Re: Cheap Saltpeter for Stumps

Post by armscor 1 »

Forty years ago I could have helped, worked in a chemical plant making 150 tons per day of Ammonia nitrate, interesting process.
Post Reply