Question
I have a huge tree stump from a tree I had to have cut down last year. I'm getting lot's of growth from the stump. I'd like to kill it back since it's really in a bad spot between my house & the neighbor's. I also have the same problem from a tree that the electric company cut last year at the corner of my lot. Now I have a tree growing from that stump & it's forcing the corner of my chain link fence to come apart. AND I have a sappling growing right next to the foundation. What can I do myself to get rid of these. I need something cheap & not a lot of labor. (I'm a widow, so I have no male help.)

Answer
Hi Rita;
The organic way, place a black plastic bag around it tightly when the temp is hot, and leave it a few days. It will literally cook the sapling.
the chemical way.
this is the ONLY chemical product I would use, because it CAN be used without indangering my lizards etc.
Green Light puts out a product called WipeOut.
It kills ANY broadleafed plant.
so if you get a few drops on a rose bush etc, kiss it goodby.
This will absorb through the leaves, stems or trunks or through the soil.
On little saplings from the pecans the squirrels bury in my clmbing roses. I put plastic loosly over my rosebush, and mix 1 part WipeOut and 2 parts water, and paint a few leaves on the sapling with a small paint brush. when it dries, I take the plastic off my rose bush. It dries in 15 minutes or so. I also put a plastic bag over that sapling and tie it shut on the bottom so my lizards won't climb on that sapling.
Wipeout kills a sapling in a day or two, and in about 2 weks, all the tiny feeder roots are dead, and the tap root is dead and has let go, and I can just pull up the little black stick that is left.
You can strip some of the bark off a fairly good sizes tree and paint the trunk with a strong mix of the WipeOut.
If you have no concerns about staying organic, and there are no other trees or shrubs that can be killed if there is overspray, You can put that in a garden sprayer and spray a good many of the leaves on each branch of the tree. It will absorb through the leaves, and should kill out the tree.
Larger trees will need more treatments, and more of the mixture. For larger trees, mix 1 part WipeOut and about 6 parts water.
For those new shoots coming from where a tree was cut down, paint those leaves with it, that will kil that shoot, and carry some of the WipeOut down to the tap root.
Good luck.
Charlotte