# Planting a new tree where one was removed or a stump was ground

> Why a ground-out stump is poor footing for the next tree, how far away to dig, what to do with sawdust and old roots, and which diseases call for another kind.

Published 2026-11-06. Tags: Planting. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-where-a-tree-was-removed/

Plant the new tree beside the old spot rather than in it, at least 3 feet from where the trunk stood and 6 to 8 feet where there is room. Grinding usually takes the stump 8 to 12 inches down and leaves shavings over old roots that rot for years, sinking the ground and taking nitrogen from the soil around them. Where the tree must go in the same place, dig out the grindings and fill with topsoil, and wait a year or two if you can. If a disease killed the old tree, plant a kind that disease leaves alone.

![Yellow stump grinder on a mowed front lawn beside a low mound of dark wood shavings where a maple stump stood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/planting-where-a-tree-was-removed-1-1000.jpg?v=7529521b "A stump grinder at work on a red maple stump in Ewing Township, New Jersey, on May 12, 2023. Grinders typically cut 8 to 12 inches down and leave a mound of shavings and soil.")
*Photo: Famartin, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2023-05-12_08_37_56_A_stump_grinder_being_used_to_grind_up_a_Red_Maple_stump_along_Aquetong_Lane_in_the_Mountainview_section_of_Ewing_Township%2C_Mercer_County%2C_New_Jersey.jpg))*

## What grinding leaves in the ground

A stump grinder chews away the stump and the large roots beside it, typically 8 to 12 inches below the surface. It leaves a mound of wood shavings mixed with soil in the hole. Around and below the grinding, the old roots stay in the ground, some of them several inches thick.

A stump can take several years to rot away unless it was ground very deep or dug out by machine. The ground over it settles as it rots. A tree planted there sinks with the soil, which buries its [root flare](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/glossary/index.html.md#root-flare) and can tip it into a lean that is hard to stake upright again.

![A flush-cut stump weathered gray among fallen leaves, its rings split by cracks and its rim crumbling with decay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/planting-where-a-tree-was-removed-2-1000.jpg?v=ce310a6d "A cut stump weathering and cracking on October 13, 2024. A stump takes several years to rot away unless it is ground very deep, and the ground over it settles as it decays.")
*Photo: Blue Whale Trees*

The shavings change the soil too. They alter its structure and the water it holds, and the microbes rotting them take nitrogen from the soil they touch. Chips spread on top as mulch do not rob an established tree of nitrogen, as [leaf litter, not wood chips](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md) explains, but shavings mixed through the planting soil do. The old roots also fill the room a young tree's roots need.

The old roots may send up sprouts, since they store food for the tree. Cut each one where it leaves the root, as [suckers at the base of a tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/suckers-at-the-base-of-a-tree/index.html.md) are cut.

## Beside the old spot, or in it

A new tree at least 3 feet off, and better 6 to 8 feet, misses most of the old roots and the changed soil. The same spot is possible, but it is not the first choice:

> "While planting a new tree in the exact same spot as a tree that was removed is possible, it is not advised." (Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, *Can I replant a new tree in the same spot after an old tree is removed?*)

Where the yard leaves no choice, pick a kind that takes sinking soil and a shifting grade. [Flowering dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/flowering-dogwood/index.html.md) must have good drainage, while [black gum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-gum/index.html.md), which grows wild in swamps as well as on dry uplands, may not be bothered as easily.

Never set a tree into a stump left to rot. Seedlings sometimes root in one in the woods, but a planted tree fails there, since the rotting wood offers poor soil, too little rooting room and unreliable moisture.

![A tall stump hollowed by decay, its walls splitting into ragged slabs, moss and fallen leaves inside its rim](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/planting-where-a-tree-was-removed-3-1000.jpg?v=44fb44a0 "A stump hollowed by years of decay on October 6, 2024. A tree planted into a decaying stump does not succeed, for want of soil, rooting space and steady moisture.")
*Photo: Blue Whale Trees*

## When the old tree died of a disease

A tree removed for a disease or a pest can leave the trouble in the soil or the old roots, ready for the next tree. So plant a kind the cause does not attack, and have the stump ground before the new tree goes in. A dead stump feeds root-rotting fungi, and with that much food they can turn on living trees nearby.

If the cause is unknown, conks or mushrooms that grew at the old tree's base point to a root rot, as [mushrooms at the base of a tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/mushrooms-at-the-base-of-a-tree/index.html.md) sets out. What each common cause leaves behind, and what to plant in its place:

| Cause | What stays behind | What to plant |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Armillaria root rot | The fungus, for years in the old stump and roots, reaching roots up to 10 feet away | A vigorous tree, once the stump and as many roots as possible are out |
| Dutch elm disease | Root grafts to elms growing within 25 to 50 feet | Another kind, or a named elm bred to resist it |
| Emerald ash borer | The beetle, across much of the United States and Canada | Any kind but an ash, since every native ash is susceptible |
| Oak wilt | The fungus, moving through grafted roots to the oaks nearby | Another kind, since every oak can pass it on through its roots |
| Verticillium wilt | The fungus, in the soil for years with no host | A kind not known to take it, such as an oak, a hickory or a birch |

![Glossy black, branching fungal strands like bootlaces running across split, rotting wood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/planting-where-a-tree-was-removed-4-1000.jpg?v=13cf64ca "Black, shoestring-like strands of Armillaria on rotting wood on March 7, 2020. They spread up to 10 feet from an infected stump to healthy roots.")
*Photo: Garnhami, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMycelial_cord_Armillaria_%28rhizomorphs%29.jpg))*

The oak, the hickory and the birch are three of about two dozen kinds on the Morton Arboretum's list of trees not known to take Verticillium wilt. A [black walnut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-walnut/index.html.md) leaves its own trouble, since its roots release juglone for several years as they rot, so plant only what takes [juglone](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/juglone-what-to-plant-under-a-black-walnut/index.html.md) there. For any of these, the [tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md) lists the natives we grow by zone, size, sun and soil moisture.

## When to plant

Beside the old spot, plant in the next planting season, as [when to plant a tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-to-plant-a-tree/index.html.md) sets out by region. In the same spot, waiting at least a year or two lets the old roots rot far enough to make a difference.

Blue Whale Trees [ships live plants](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shipping/index.html.md) only while they are dormant, in February through May and in October and November, so a tree ordered for the spot arrives in a planting season.

## Clearing the grindings and planting

Before the grinding starts, tell the crew what the spot is for. Then:

1. **Ask for the shavings to be hauled away and the hole filled.** Most crews do neither unless asked, and each usually costs extra.
2. **Ask what went on the stump.** A stump killer with picloram leaches easily and stays active in the soil for a long time, harming plants nearby, as [herbicide damage on trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/herbicide-damage-on-trees/index.html.md) describes.
3. **Dig out the rest where the tree will stand.** Take the shavings out down to firm soil, and chop out as many old roots as you can.
4. **Fill with topsoil, a little high.** Topsoil is not regulated, so choose one that smells like healthy soil, and mound it a little above the ground around it for the settling still to come.
5. **Plant to the flare.** Set the tree by the planting order of [ten planting mistakes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md), with the flare at or a little above the finished grade.

The shavings are worth keeping for another use:

> "Tree roots thrive on decaying wood chips as mulch, and the grindings can be used as mulch." (University of Maryland Extension, *Tree Stumps*)

Let them age about a year, so that some of their tannin is lost, then spread them about 2 inches deep around trees, clear of the trunks. Shavings left over can go to a compost pile. Before you buy the replacement, try the kind you have in mind in the [planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md), which grades a species for your zone, sun, soil moisture and distance to a wall.

## Common questions

### Can you plant a tree where a stump was ground?

Yes, but it does better at least 3 feet from where the trunk stood, and 6 to 8 feet where there is room, clear of the old roots and shavings. In the same spot, dig out the grindings, fill with topsoil and set the tree a little high for the settling to come.

### How long after stump grinding can you plant a new tree?

Beside the old spot, in the next planting season. In the same spot, a year or two lets the old roots rot far enough to make a difference, though a tree can go in sooner once the grindings are out and topsoil is in.

### What do you do with stump grindings?

Take them out of any hole a tree or grass will grow in, since they change the soil's structure, its water and its nitrogen. Aged about a year, they make a mulch spread 2 inches deep around trees, and the rest can be composted.

### Can I plant the same kind of tree where one died?

Not where a disease or pest killed it, since the same trouble may be waiting in the soil or the roots. Verticillium wilt lives in the soil for years, and emerald ash borer attacks every native ash.

## Sources

- [Can I replant a new tree in the same spot after an old tree is removed?](https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/faq/can-i-replant-new-tree-same-spot-after-old-tree-removed): Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (Aaron Steil, April 21, 2025): the quotation, old roots that leave a young tree too little room, sawdust that changes the soil, disease left in the soil, a new spot at least 3 and ideally 6 to 8 feet away, a year or two for the roots to decompose, a species the old tree's disease spares, the sawdust and roots taken out, and no tree set in a decaying stump.
- [How to Remove Tree Stumps](https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/how-remove-tree-stumps): Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (Aaron Steil, April 2025): grinding of the stump and large roots 8 to 12 inches down, the shavings left in the hole and the hole left unfilled unless asked, at extra cost, shavings that change the soil's structure, water and nutrients, composting them, and picloram that leaches and stays active in the soil.
- [Question: Can I Plant Grass Over Newly Removed Stump?](https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/question-can-i-plant-grass-over-newly-removed-stump/): Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources Extension, Got Nature? (Lindsey Purcell, May 21, 2021): grindings that cut the nitrogen available, settling as the stump decays over several years unless ground very deep or dug out, soil mounded to allow for it, and sprouts from roots that store energy.
- [Planting new tree on the site of a ground stump](https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=928702): Ask Extension, answered by the University of Maryland Extension's Home and Garden Information Center (April 17, 2026): sinking soil that buries the root flare and leaves a lean hard to stake upright, nitrogen taken from the soil next to the wood, a spot a few feet away, and flowering dogwood's need for drainage against black gum's tolerance.
- [Tree Stumps](https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=564356): Ask Extension, answered by the University of Maryland Extension's Home and Garden Information Center (May 28, 2019): roots several inches wide left by grinding, the soil and chip mix, topsoil that is not regulated and should smell like healthy soil, and the quotation, with grindings aged a year and spread about 2 inches thick clear of the plants.
- [Plant Health Care (PHC) Concerns in the Landscape](https://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/plant-health-care-phc-concerns-in-the-landscape/): Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Plant & Pest Advisory (Steven K. Rettke, January 18, 2021): grinding a stump before new trees go near it, since root-rotting fungi fed by a dead stump can infect living plants nearby.
- [Armillaria root rot](https://extension.umn.edu/garden-and-home/yard-and-garden/gardening-in-minnesota/yard-and-garden-problems/armillaria-root-rot): University of Minnesota Extension (Michelle Grabowski and Cynthia Ash Kanner): the fungus surviving many years in an old stump or roots, its strands reaching healthy roots up to 10 feet away, vigorous trees that slow it, and the stumps and as many roots as possible removed.
- [Verticillium Wilt](https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/tree-plant-care/plant-care-resources/verticillium-wilt/): The Morton Arboretum, with its pages on Dutch elm disease and emerald ash borer: Verticillium lasting years in the soil with no host, the trees not known to take it, elm root grafts within 25 to 50 feet, resistant elms, every native ash susceptible, and the borer's spread across much of the United States and Canada.
- [Prevent the spread of oak wilt in Texas](https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/prevent-the-spread-of-oak-wilt-in-texas/): Texas A&M Forest Service (February 4, 2025): oak wilt moving underground through connected roots, every oak able to pass it on, and other kinds of trees planted for diversity.

## Related

- Next step: [Check a planting site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md)
- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [When to plant a tree: fall or spring, how late is too late, and what the frost dates decide](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-to-plant-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Suckers at the base of a tree: why natives sucker, and which to keep](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/suckers-at-the-base-of-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Mushrooms at the base of a tree: the few that mean root rot, and the many that do not](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/mushrooms-at-the-base-of-a-tree/index.html.md)