Stump Grinding in Bentonville, AR

How deep is deep enough

It depends on what's going over the top. Grass needs six to eight inches of clean ground. A new tree in the same spot needs a foot or more, and the root flare chased back further than most people expect. Anything structural — a shed pad, a patio, a fence post — needs the wood out entirely, not just below sight.

Tell us the plan for that spot and we'll grind to suit it. Grinding shallow is how you end up with a soft, sinking patch two summers later as the buried wood decays and settles.

The part nobody warns you about: rock

Yards in Bentonville and Bella Vista sit on chert and limestone, sometimes only a few inches down. Grinder teeth do not care for rock. On some properties the wheel finds ledge before it finds the bottom of the stump, and we grind to the rock rather than through it.

We'd rather tell you that when we look at the job than after we've started. If we expect rock, it goes in the estimate, along with what we can realistically get done in that spot.

Surface roots count too

Silver maples, sweetgums, and old sycamores put out ropey surface roots that run fifteen or twenty feet across a lawn and wreck a mower deck long after the tree is gone. Grinding just the stump leaves all of that in place.

We chase the major flares out from the stump as far as the job calls for. It adds time, and it's the difference between a lawn you can mow and a lawn that fights you.

What happens to the grindings

A stump makes a surprising volume of chips — a big one can fill a pickup bed. Three options, and you pick:

• Backfill the hole. Free, fastest, and the mound settles over a season or two. Fine for a back corner, less good for a front lawn.
• Haul them off and backfill with topsoil. Costs more, gives you ground you can seed straight away. What most people want in a visible yard.
• Leave them on site. They compost down into decent mulch for beds and paths if you have somewhere to pile them.

One thing to know: stump grindings are mostly wood, and wood ties up nitrogen as it breaks down. Seed straight into a chip backfill and the grass comes in thin. Topsoil over the top solves it.

Getting the grinder to the stump

Access again. Our machine needs a gate opening of a bit over three feet, and it needs a route that isn't a retaining wall or a set of steps. Narrow side yards in the older downtown streets and the steep drives up in Bella Vista are where this gets interesting. Send a photo of the gate with the form and we can usually tell you before we drive out.

Most of our stump work happens right once the tree itself is gone, on the same visit, which is cheaper than mobilizing twice. We also get called out when wind tore a trunk off at head height and left a ragged stump, and for dozens of stumps across a parcel after a clearing job.