Stump Grinding in Fort Myers, FL

Stump grinding turns a leftover stump into a pile of wood chips using a machine with a spinning, toothed wheel that chews down below ground level. After years of hurricanes, many Fort Myers yards still have stumps from oaks, pines and palms cut down during cleanup. Stumps trip people, catch mower blades, sprout again, and attract termites and other insects. Grinding is faster and far less disruptive than digging a stump out, and the hole fills with its own chips.

Palm stumps

Palm stumps are soft and fibrous, so they grind quickly, but they matter more than most people think. UF/IFAS says the Ganoderma butt rot fungus readily colonizes palm stumps and can produce new spore-bearing conks on them. If a palm died of Ganoderma, UF recommends removing the stump and roots as completely as possible, or grinding it if full removal is not practical, and keeping the conks and infected material out of mulch. Grinding helps the stump break down faster and limits new conks.

Hardwood stumps

Oak, mahogany and ficus stumps are dense and often have large surface roots running toward the house, driveway or seawall. Grinding takes out the stump and the root flare; long surface roots can be ground along their length if they are in the way, which costs extra. Brazilian pepper stumps resprout readily after cutting, so grinding is often the cleanest way to stop them coming back.

Before we grind

Irrigation lines and heads are almost everywhere in Fort Myers yards, and many lots also have buried electric, low-voltage lighting and cable runs. Florida's Sunshine 811 service marks public utility lines for free when called in advance; private lines, such as sprinkler pipes and landscape lighting, are not marked by 811, so we ask you to show us where they run. Stumps tight against foundations, pool decks or seawalls are ground carefully and sometimes left slightly higher to avoid damage.

Afterward

The chips can be raked back into the hole and mounded, since they settle as they break down, or hauled away and replaced with soil so sod or a new plant can go in. Planting directly into fresh grindings is not ideal; mixing in topsoil helps.