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Had a chat with a local logger that flipped my view on stump grinding
I've always been a 'just leave the stump, it'll rot' kind of person. But last week I was talking to a guy who does logging up in Washington state, and he pointed out something I never thought about. He said leaving big stumps near oak trees can actually spread root rot fungus for years. Apparently it can travel underground and infect healthy trees like 20 feet away. That stuck with me because I'd ripped out three oaks last spring and left two stumps in the ground. Now I'm wondering if I should grind those stumps out sooner than later. Has anyone else seen root rot jump from a stump to a nearby tree like that?
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seth_shah7d ago
Actually root rot doesn't travel underground like that, it spreads through direct root contact between trees.
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riley_wood846d ago
Yeah, that "direct root contact" thing is exactly what my local extension agent told me after I lost three oaks to it last year. Parker_palmer44, I'd definitely trust Seth on this one. The fungus basically needs the roots to touch or be really close together to jump from tree to tree. I spent hours digging up dead roots and found the spread pattern matched what Seth is saying here.
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