Service · Cokato, Minnesota
Stump Grinding in Cokato and Central Minnesota
Stump grinding around Cokato and the surrounding towns is usually the last step of a removal, though we do plenty of stumps left behind by somebody else years ago. The machine takes the stump down below grade so you can run a mower over it, put sod back, or plant something new in roughly the same area.
How far down it goes
Standard practice is four to six inches below grade, which is enough to get soil and grass over it and mow without hitting anything. If you are planting a new tree in the same spot or laying a patio, it needs to go deeper, closer to a foot or more, and the surface roots radiating out from the stump need grinding too. Tell us what the spot is going to become and we will grind it to suit rather than to a default.
Utilities get located first
Stumps sit right where irrigation lines, invisible fence, low-voltage lighting and sometimes gas and electric services run. A grinder wheel does not care what it finds. Minnesota's Gopher State One Call handles public utility locates and it is free, and we allow the required notice before grinding. Private lines are the ones that catch people out, because the locate service does not mark them. If you have irrigation, dog fence or landscape lighting anywhere near the stump, tell us where before we start.
What you are left with
Grinding produces a surprising volume of chips, considerably more than the stump appeared to contain, because the material fluffs up as it is cut. By default we rake the chips back into the hole and mound them slightly, because they will settle over the following months. If you want the chips gone, we can haul them and bring in soil instead, which is the right approach if you are laying sod or planting straight away. Chips are fine as mulch elsewhere on the property but they are not good soil for planting into.
Roots and the ones we leave
Grinding takes the stump and the surface roots near it. It does not take the entire root system, and it does not need to: the remaining roots decay in the ground over several years without causing problems. The exception is where roots are actively lifting a walkway or pushing into a foundation, which is a separate job and worth pointing out during the estimate.
What you get
- Ground four to six inches below grade as standard, deeper on request
- Deeper grinding and root work where you are replanting or paving
- Utility locates arranged before the wheel touches anything
- Chips raked back or hauled off, whichever you want
- Done at the same visit as a removal so the machine only travels once
- Old stumps left behind by somebody else are welcome work
How the job runs
What does stump grinding cost?
Stump grinding is usually priced on the diameter of the stump measured at ground level, plus the number of stumps and how easy they are to reach. Doing it at the same visit as the removal is cheaper than bringing the machine back, and doing several at once costs less per stump than doing one.
What moves the price:
- Diameter of the stump measured across at ground level
- How many stumps and how close together they are
- Access, since a back yard with a narrow gate limits which machine can get in
- How deep it needs to go, which depends on what is going in afterwards
- Whether the chips stay or get hauled and replaced with soil
- Rocks, gravel or old concrete in and around the stump
Where we do this work
Stump Grinding is something we do right across our area, out of the shop in Cokato. The towns we are in most often:
- Stump Grinding in Cokato
- Stump Grinding in Dassel (5 miles from the shop)
- Stump Grinding in Litchfield (17 miles from the shop)
- Stump Grinding in Hutchinson (22 miles from the shop)
- Stump Grinding in Annandale (14 miles from the shop)
- Stump Grinding in Maple Lake (18 miles from the shop)
- Stump Grinding in Howard Lake (7 miles from the shop)
- Stump Grinding in Waverly (12 miles from the shop)