Stump Grinding in Lawton, OK

Stump grinding is the fastest way to get rid of a stump in a Lawton yard without tearing up the lawn. A grinder chews the stump into chips with a spinning toothed wheel, working down below the soil line and out to the surface roots. What is left is a pile of wood chips and a shallow hole, ready to fill and seed or replant.

Why bother with a stump

• Mowing and tripping. Stumps and the roots around them catch mower blades and feet.
• Sprouts. Elms, hackberries and Bradford pears can push up a ring of sprouts around a cut stump for years. Grinding removes most of the tissue that sprouts.
• Pests and rot. Decaying stumps attract termites and wood-boring insects and grow fungus.
• Plans for the spot. A new tree, a garden bed, a shed or a patio cannot go where the stump is.

Eastern redcedar is the exception on sprouting. A cedar cut below its lowest green branch does not grow back, so a cedar stump is a mowing problem, not a regrowth problem. Many owners still grind cedar stumps to clear the ground.

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How deep we go

Standard grinding takes the stump about 4 to 6 inches below grade, which is enough to lay sod or seed and mow over. If you plan to plant a new tree in the same place, or set a slab or footing there, we can grind deeper and wider. Large surface roots running across the lawn can be chased out with the grinder too, priced separately. Deeper roots are left to decay in the soil, which is normal.

Before the grinder starts

The grinder works underground, so we ask that the property be checked for buried lines before the job. Call 811 before digging or grinding to have public utility lines marked. Private lines, like a sprinkler system, a line to an outbuilding or a dog fence, are not marked by 811, so let us know where those run. We also look at rocks: around Medicine Park and the edges of the Wichita Mountains, stumps sometimes sit on or around stone, which dulls teeth and slows the job.

Cleanup choices

Grinding a stump makes a surprising volume of chips mixed with soil. You can keep them as mulch, have us backfill the hole with them, or have them hauled and the hole filled with topsoil. Chips mixed into the soil tie up some nitrogen as they break down, so grass seeded directly into fresh grindings may grow slowly; topsoil on top solves that.

Access

Our grinders range from compact machines that fit through a standard backyard gate to larger units for big stumps. Tell us the gate width when you call. Narrow gates are common in older Lawton neighborhoods, and the right machine makes the job quicker.