Lose the Stump.
Get Your Yard Back.

Four things carry most of it: how many stumps, the width across the base of each, the property ZIP code, and the narrowest gap a machine has to pass to reach them. A couple of photos taken from a few feet back tell the story faster than anything written down.

Yes. A stump grinder is driven to the stump, so it has to fit through whatever stands between the street and the work: a gate, a side yard, a slope, soft or wet ground. Measure the narrowest gate on that route before you call. It is the single most useful number you can have ready, and it decides which machine can come.

Width at ground level first, and the spread of the root flare with it — not how tall the tree was. Then how many stumps there are, how tight they sit against a fence, wall, slab or driveway, how far the machine has to travel across the property, how deep you want it taken, and whether the ground is full of sand, grit or old fill that wears teeth. Pricing is quoted for your job rather than read off a table.

Depth is a decision rather than a fixed number, and it should match your plan for the space. Grass needs less than a fence post or a new tree in the same spot. There is a slider further up this page that shows what each depth buys you. Say what is going in that spot and ask for the depth that suits it.

Ground wood takes up much more room than the solid stump did, so expect a bigger mound than you were picturing. Ask directly what will happen to it: raked level and left in place, spread as mulch, or hauled off. Ask the same about chips that spread past the work area. Settling that on the phone means the yard looks the way you expect when the machine leaves.

Not with much success. Fresh chips are almost all carbon, and the soil life breaking them down borrows nitrogen from the ground around them, which is why seed or sod laid into raw grindings often comes up thin and yellow. Take the chips off, backfill the hollow with soil, then plant. Expect the spot to settle further over the next year as what is left underground keeps breaking down.

Grinding takes out the stump and the root flare you can see. Roots running out under the yard stay where they are and break down over time. Some species also push up suckers from those roots afterwards — sweetgum, camphor, chinaberry and mimosa are the usual suspects around here — and that can carry on for a season or two whatever is done to the stump. Anyone who tells you every root is gone is overselling it.

It does. A live oak is dense and usually has a wide, high flare, so there is simply more material to cut. Water oak and laurel oak are often part-rotted in the middle, which grinds quickly but can hide a hollow. Pine tends to be softer going but sits in loose sand. Palms are not wood at all — the stump is a mass of fibre that shreds rather than chips, and it holds a lot of water. Knowing what it was helps set expectations before anybody arrives.

Sunshine 811 is Florida’s free call-before-you-dig service, and it marks public utility lines. It does not cover private ones, so mention anything you know of that runs on your side of the meter: irrigation, septic, invisible fence, low-voltage lighting, a line out to a shed or a well.

No. Stump grinding only. If the tree is still standing it has to be felled by someone else first. Once the stump is there, this is the number to call.