1. Plant now without the lye, perhaps removing the stump remains and filling in with topsoil.
2. Put lye on the stump remains. Keep the hollies in their 25 gallon pots over the winter.

What would you do? We're stumped (pun intended). Thanks in advance!

Megan

tj

Maybe because not all landscape 'professionals' are truly professionals, have the necessary range of experience and know what they are talking about? First lye (or really potassium nitrate, the primary ingredient in most chemical stump removers) is pretty ineffective unless on dead wood - were the trees dead when cut down? Or have they been down for more than a year? Lye and other chemical compounds do speed up the decomposition process but not as fast as you would imagine. I think its pretty optimistic to think the stumps will be fully broken down and decomposed by April......it just doesn't happen that fast, especially through the winter months when the natural decomposition process is slowed because the fungal organisms are not active.

And I'd be pretty careful if using something like straight lye as opposed to a labeled stump removal product. Lye is extremely caustic, difficult to use and difficult to store.

In zone 7, 25G containered hollies are good to go over winter so you have two options: planting now as suggested by Dave or holding off, judging the amount of decomp that's taken place by spring and then dealing with that accordingly. Or, you can grub out the stumps manually, either now or in spring.

Dave, I'm curious: why would I not want to use the grindings as mulch? I was planning on using the mulch the guy left from chipping the smaller limbs.

Thanks again!

Megan

In 7A that pot (unplanted) is going to freeze solid. Can't imagine Nellies liking that much. Also, you'll have to keep it watered. It's a hassle. That's why I would plant now. Unless you can 'pot-plant' it in the shade temporarily.

A thick layer of new grindings will rob a lot of nitrogen from the soil as they decompose AND they pack tight and may cause the soil to sour because they don't let air down into the soil. Either use only a very thin layer, or haul away.

I tried it once. I won't do it again. Much better to haul them to a pile where they can decompose for a year or so -- or in our case we hauled them away (with our second tree down) because we didn't have room to pile them up.

dave

As to how 'solidly' a 25G container is liable to freeze is up for some speculation. Containerized plants are more vulnerable to winter cold than inground plantings and one does run the risk of potential root damage (roots, especially smaller feeder roots, are less cold hardy and are typically damaged if exposed to temps lower than 23F). But it takes time for that size container, with approx. 3.5 cubic feet soil, to freeze solid. Multiple days with temps in the 20's. And even if frozen solid, if the air temperature is not sufficiently cold to freeze inground soils solidly, it is unlikely the temps in that large of a container will drop below the fatal root damage level. And snows and adequate soil moisture also have an insulating effect.

It is always a bit of a gamble that one doesn't experience one of those killing winters that can wreak havoc on both inground and container plantings. But in general, I would not be concerned about overwintering a zone 6 hardy holly in a 25G container in a zone 7 climate.

I'd still rather see the plants in the ground but if left in containers, I think they'll be fine.

btw, the nitrogen depletion with any kind of wood mulches or sawdust or grindings left on the soil surface is restricted to the soil surface and is not really significant to any degree, except with very shallowly rooted plants (some perennials, annuals). It is when the mulch is incorporated into the soil that any sort of nutrient tie-up is involved and needs to be considered.