Stump grinding in Miami

Ficus roots are notorious in Miami: they invade sewer and water lines, lift slabs and walls, and can resprout from stumps and root sections. When a ficus is removed, grind the stump and main roots well, and watch for sprouts afterward. If roots have entered a pipe, plan the plumbing repair alongside the stump work.

Palms don't have a woody root system like oaks; their stumps are fibrous and rot more quickly. They can still be ground flush or removed, and the root ball is relatively compact, which makes removal by excavation more practical than for a big hardwood.

Florida requires contacting Sunshine 811 before digging, and stump grinding counts. On small Miami lots, irrigation, pool plumbing and lighting often run right past old trees, so flag private lines too. Fill the ground-out hole with soil rather than leaving chips, which settle and attract termites near structures.

Planting a new tree in the same spot on limestone is harder than it sounds: after grinding, there may be only a few inches of soil over rock, plus decaying roots. Many Miami landscapers either break up the rock to make a proper planting hole or shift the new tree several feet away from the old stump. If your tree was removed under a permit that requires replacement planting, check where and what size the replacement must be before you grind and backfill.

Choose wind-firm species for the replacement, like live oak, gumbo limbo or sabal palm, rather than another ficus or black olive near the house.

Trees that blow over in a hurricane leave a flat root plate lifted out of the thin soil, often with chunks of limestone attached. Those are usually cut from the trunk and either flipped back into the hole and ground, or hauled away whole with a loader. Ask how the company prices root plates, since they take more work than a standing stump.