green treatment on stump

[SimonFisher]

Walking my dogs this morning in local woods I came across a number of stumps of recently felled small trees which have had some green stuff applied.

Can anyone tell me what it is and what's it for?

[ballibeg]

It's urea.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sourc ... R-37xyu1pA

Dave

[oldclaypaws]

I believe its been used on tree stumps since ancient times.

Shakespeare recorded a speech by a woodsman in the 1st Century BC appealing for fresh supplies of it.

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me Ureas".

Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

[SimonFisher]

They only seemed to be applying it to the stumps nearest the paths. Lots of others had been cut and left untreated. I wondered if it could be something to stop the stump producing shoots.

[The Barrowers]

Hello
based on nothing more than "I believe"

I believed it was a stump killer paint/liquid

[SimonFisher]

I queried it with the countryside officer at the local authority. Yes, it's a herbicide treatment applied to inhibit regrowth. The pattern I'd failed to spot was that all the treated stumps were under the route of a power line, the treatment being applied by contractrors working for National Grid. So now I know