Question
We recently cut down two pine trees in our front yard.  First, we would like to know the best way to get rid of the stump & kill the root.  Also, we want to plant two new oak trees about the same area the pine trees were.  I know we can't plant them in the same spot, but how far from the pine tree root should we plant the new trees?

Answer
You can get the stump ground below the ground level and this will remove it from site. The roots will decay over time. Excavating them would be a large job. The roots will not sprout back so once the tree was cut the system is dead. You can plant anything near the stump area that you want without any problems. The closer you come to the stump the harder it will to dig a hole due to the wood under the ground surface. How close will depend on the stump and there will be no problem planting as close as you can.