Are You Providing A Haven For The Enemy?

One of the biggest concerns in your yard should be stumps and dead trees. These items contain a large amount of wood with moist, sheltered conditions—ideal for termites to feed on and nest in. Termites can also attack dead branches and limbs of a tree. They can build shelter tubes up the side of a live tree in order to reach the dead wood. The unseen root systems of dead trees and stumps spread out far and wide underground, providing an ideal transport network for termites to travel along foraging and looking for additional food sources. A stump or dead tree's root system can reach across your property and contact your home or other structure, making it easy for termites to spread and you’re your home at risk of infestation.

Minimize Your Risk!

Look for ways to minimize the risk of getting termites established on your property. Once established in the yard they threaten invasion of your home and surrounding buildings. Remove all dead wood from contact with the soil, and you reduce the risk.

By removing as much of the stump and root system as possible you will be reducing the available food for termites in your property and therefore reduce the chances of foraging termites finding suitable feeding and nesting sites.

If termites are already active on your property the thorough removal of stumps and dead trees, along with other control measures, will reduce the chance of reinfestation of a property by taking away their nesting and reproductive resources .

Invaders Knocking at Your Door?

The chemical treatment of an area by soil injection is common for preventative termite treatments of buildings. Such treatments will kill termites within the treated area and prevent termites entering or exiting an area. But soil treatment is unlikely to kill all of the colony especially if they are nesting in a site in the yard. Termites can continue to thrive in close proximity to treated soil, especially if the yard has plenty of exposed wood for them to feed on and nest in. Stumps and large dead trees are the most important resource for termites and therefore the greatest liability. Don’t be misled by claims that termites don’t feed on cedar; it might not be their first choice of food but they will feed upon it if that is the only available wood! So all stumps should be removed, no matter what the species.

Stump and Dead Wood Removal

Remove as much of the stump and root system as possible, in order to reduce the available wood in soil contact and make it harder for foraging termites to find food or nesting sites on your property.

Small stumps can be dug out by hand taking care to remove as much of the root system as possible. For larger stumps a grinder may be the best option. With this method of removal, a motorized unit is used to chip away at the stump and central root mass, grinding it away below the soil surface, leaving a pile of wood chips where the stump had been. A grinding to 10 inches below the ground should remove the majority of the stump material, depending on the size of the stump.

Standing dead trees, or live trees with extensive rot, should also be cut down and their stumps removed. The removal of dead limbs on a tree may also be considered for safety reasons as well as termite prevention. All of these operations can be carried out by Autumn Acres Tree Service.

Discarding Infested Wood, Stumps and Grindings

It is important to remember that the stump grindings of an infested stump may also contain live termites. Although it involves more work, the best solution is to have the grindings removed.

Cost Considerations

 The cost of dead tree and stump removal depends upon many variables including the number of stumps to be removed in an operation, the size of the stumps or dead trees, and the amount of labour and time required for the operation. Obstacles that we have to work around to remove the stumps will add more cost to an estimate.

Call Joe at Autumn Acres (574) 322-1747 today for a free estimate of removing the dead and diseased trees, and stumps, from your yard. Protect your property; it’s your best investment.