Paul James cuts roots in an area where some trees have been cut and others will be preserved. To avoid stressing the living trees, he cuts only those roots that are an inch or less in diameter.
If you don't want to go through the trouble of having a stump ground up, drill holes in its surface. The holes will allow more rainwater to enter, thus hastening decomposition.
Do you have an area that's full of tree roots and barren soil? Master gardener Paul James had such a spot: a bed that was surrounded by trees whose roots had slowly made their way into the bed, sucking out moisture faster than he could replace it and making digging in the dirt nearly impossible. Plus, there was a fresh stump of a messy mulberry and a few saplings that still needed to come down.
Here's what he did:
Cut the saplings off at ground level. Since they're small, he doesn't dig out the stumps; they'll rot soon enough.
Cut out as many of the exposed roots as possible. Most roots in James' problem area belong to trees that had already been cut down. But it's sometimes impossible to tell which roots belong to dead trees and which belong to live trees. To make sure he didn't stress any live trees, he didn't cut any roots that were larger than an inch in diameter.
Drilled holes in the cut surface of the stump. Moisture will more easily penetrate the stump and speed up the rotting process. Sure, James could have rented a stump grinder, but he didn't want to haul it 300 feet from the street.
The soil that's left is tough clay. James spread thick layers of leaves over the area, sprinkled blood meal on it and watered it in. Eventually, after several applications of leaves and straw, the soil will begin to loosen.
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