I live in East-central Florida and I’m finally taking Step One of building my dressage arena: removing the 15 pine and oak trees standing in my way! We have a heavily-wooded property of mature (40+ years old) trees, and this would be a necessary evil anywhere. Trees aside, the plot is relatively flat and drains well.
What should I do with the remaining stumps and root balls? It would be an enormous cost for us to have the stumps actually pulled out, so the tree company is going to grind the stumps down as much as possible and leave us with the holes. The plan is to then create our sub-base by filling in the stump holes with dirt, and compact compact compact. I’m concerned that over the years any residual stumps will decompose and cause sinking in areas.
Has anyone else dealt with a similar situation? I have the book “Underfoot,” but nothing is there about stumps.