Stump grinding is quoted on two things: the diameter of the stump and whether the machine can physically get to it. In Ludlow the second frequently matters more than the first.
Access is the local constraint
Grinders come in a range of sizes. The narrow machines will pass a standard side gate; the larger ones work considerably faster but need a proper route in. On the older streets — narrow frontages, enclosed rear gardens, shared passages, steps — the larger machines are frequently ruled out before anyone has looked at the stump.
Where no machine can reach at all, the honest answer is that grinding is not available. Hand-digging a stump out is possible but slow and expensive, and on anything sizeable it is rarely worth it. That is better established at enquiry stage than on the day.
What sets the price
| Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
| Stump diameter | The main driver — measured across the cut face |
| Access | Which machine can be used, and how far material is barrowed |
| Depth required | Deeper for paving or a shed base than for lawn |
| Ground conditions | Stones and old rubble slow the machine and wear the teeth |
| Number of stumps | Several in one visit is far cheaper than several visits |
| Chip disposal | Leaving it on site costs less than carting it away |
So a wide, low stump at the end of a long enclosed garden can cost more than a taller one beside a driveway. Diameter and access, not how big the tree looked.
What grinding does and does not do
It takes the stump down below ground level — normally around six inches, deeper if something is being built over it — and turns it into chip. It deals with the stump and the main roots immediately around it.
It does not remove the wider root system. Those roots stay in the ground and break down over the following years. For lawn, paving or a fence line that is entirely fine. For planting a new tree in exactly the same spot, it matters.
When the stump can simply stay
- Nothing is planned for that spot.
- It is in a border or behind a shed, out of the way.
- It is low and flat and will rot down on its own over the years.
- The access makes grinding disproportionately expensive.
- The tree was healthy when felled, so there is no disease concern.
That last point is the qualifier. A stump from a sound tree that is in nobody's way is not a problem. A stump from a tree that was in decline can be a reservoir for honey fungus, which spreads through soil, and is worth taking out even if the spot is not needed.
Decide before the tree comes down
Ask for the stump to be priced alongside the felling even if the answer is probably no. The number costs nothing, and on an enclosed site the option can genuinely expire once fencing or planting goes back in.
What you are left with
A shallow crater of mixed chip and soil. Turfed or seeded over it disappears within a season, though the ground sinks as the chip settles and usually wants topping up once in the first year.
If you are planting into that spot, dig the grindings out and backfill with topsoil. Decomposing wood chip pulls nitrogen out of the surrounding soil, so anything set straight into it sits in ground working against it — it does not die dramatically, it just never gets going.
One check on a protected tree
A Tree Preservation Order can extend to the stump as well as the standing tree, and consent to fell is not automatically consent to grind out what is left. Where the tree was protected — by a TPO, or by standing in Ludlow's conservation area — confirm with Shropshire Council that the stump work sits inside the consent or notice you already hold.
Consent to fell a protected tree also frequently carries a replanting condition, and where the replacement goes is much easier to settle while the ground is still open.
Got a stump to deal with?
Tell us roughly how wide it is and how we'd reach it. We'll arrange a free quotation.
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