Anyone have any experience planting next to an old stump?
I have a large stump, probably three feet across, from the Norwegian Maple Tree I had chopped down two years ago to make room for the orchard. I never had the stump removed because we like to play on it (it serves as our space ship, normally Millennium Falcon for epic space adventures, also tea parties). How close to the stump can I get a tree? If I can make a hole, is that enough or will the old roots prohibit growth?
This is a matter of getting the Harrow Sweet Pear or not!
I’ve planted next to stumps before and the trees have grown fine. One thing to keep in mind though is that, if it was a big tree, that area might sink a bit over time as the roots decompose. So maybe try to hill up some dirt before planting.
I planted an apple tree back in November next to a huge stump of an oak we had cut down 3 years ago. Guess you really couldn’t call it a stump since it was flush with the ground…anyway, the tree is doing great. I think the slow decomposition of the oaks roots is adding nutrients to the soil…but that could also be my imagination…
The only stumps you need to worry about are Black Walnut. Those are magnificent trees, but they put out alleopathic compounds that inhibit the growth of other plants around them.
Your run-of-the-mill hardwood, like a Norway maple, will just decompose and add beneficials to the soil.
I’m glad you cut it down. Norway maple would otherwise make a nice shade tree, but it is non-native and crowding out the native Sugar maples.
I had two of them where my orchard now is. They were huge. They shaded out my pool to the point where there was no sun on the pool or garden all of August. They were so big they looked like they didn’t belong.
I felt bad about it for awhile, but now I grow fruit.
I have no experience with fruit tree, but red currant planted 3’ away and 1’ bellow (on a slop) from old stump was almost killed by some kind of mushroom that started to grow on the stump first(not amarilla, a different one… ) The mushroom started to grow right in the middle of the bush, and was killing branches one by one. I had to use very highly concentrated copper to kill the mushroom on the bush. And only one stem on 1/8 of the roots survived.
The only problem I’ve had with a big oak stump I’ve planted fruit trees around is that it’s in the way of mowing and as it rots and becomes full of places for wisteria to grow, it becomes a constant source of Wisteria that I have to cut back with loppers. It’s a perpetually weedy spot and good habitat for snakes. Down here where poisonous snakes like rattle snakes and copperheads are common, that can be a problem if its close to where children play. (launch pad reference). God bless.
I’m glad I’m not the only one with stump issues. It is starting to rot but I don’t want to pay to have it ground up. I like what I’m hearing and will see if I can get a proper sized hole without hitting too many roots. If I can, I will proceed.
It must be wild to have to worry about poisonous snakes. The worst I’ve had lurking in the grass are Lyme ticks giving me two bouts of Lyme disease.
My kitchen garden was built around a stump. I do no dig, so the roots weren’t a problem. Everything grows just fine. I did plant yarrow and portulaca on the stump, but that would interfere with space flight.
Was the tree healthy? Planted a fig near an old maple stump from a tree that had fallen and the fig died the first year, thought maybe the ph was out of whack until honey mushrooms popped up from some roots.
Yes. The Norwegian Maples were healthy trees. I had to dig around their roots when I started the orchard, which has caused an unsymmetrical look but things are going well thus far.
I’m no expert but I had Black Walnut in my backyard when I first moved in. The tree died and I was able to plant under what would have been the canopy the next year without problem.
That’s interesting! I’ve always heard Black Walnut=Kiss of Death.
Would you mind sharing with us what you planted? I’m wondering if you planted something vigorous and hardy, with maybe a tolerance to smaller amounts of jugulone? Whereas something more tender and sensitive might not have made it?
Of course, if you planted tomatoes there, there goes that reasoning.
This was a few years ago so I could be wrong, but I grew butternut and spaghetti squash, arugula and various lettuces. I seem to remember looking it up and seeing what plants were susceptible to jugulone and growing those plants. I know I stayed away from tomatoes, eggplant and peppers in that area.
In another thread somewhere, I posted two lists of plants. One category of plants tolerant to walnut juglone… the other a list of plants susceptible to its affects.
I found those lists in my notes. This is a compilation of my non-exhaustive research. Some of this information might be wrong. It’s what I could find on the interwebs when I was interested in the subject some years back.
Tolerant of Black Walnut
-black raspberry
-American chestnut
-witchhazel
-red/sugar maple
-yellow poplar
-red mulberry
-pawpaw
-American plum
-pin or black cherry
-white/red/black oak
-hickory
-persimmon
-sassafras
-white/black ash
-beech
-American/slippery elm
-hemlock
-jack-in-the-pulpit
-squash
-peach
-cherry
-plum
