How deep do you grind the stump?

TN Tree Preservation, a Nashville operator, publishes 6 to 8 inches below the surrounding ground level as its standard. That is normally achievable on ordinary Central Basin ground, but the local caveat is real: the Talbott series that dominates Davidson County uplands runs only 20 to 40 inches to limestone bedrock per USDA-NRCS, and the county also has mapped Talbott-Rock Outcrop complexes where exposed rock is part of the map unit. On those parcels the wheel can reach stone before the root plate is fully gone. If you intend to plant a replacement tree in the same hole rather than lay sod, raise it when you request a quote, because a deeper grind is a different job and in some Nashville yards it is not deliverable at all.

Will the roots keep growing after the stump is ground?

The roots stop growing, but on several common Nashville species the root system sends up new shoots, and which species you have decides the answer. Eastern redcedar does not reproduce naturally by sprouting or suckering, so a ground redcedar is finished. Sweetgum is the opposite: USDA Forest Service data records it sprouting from the stump or root crown after top-kill and keeping that ability until roughly 50 years old, with sprouts reaching 4.5 feet in one growing season. Silver maple sprouts prolifically from the root collar, especially at 12 inches diameter or less. Callery pear, which Metro Urban Forestry bans outright, resprouts from root fragments and needs cut-surface herbicide rather than grinding alone. White oak follows diameter: about 80 percent of stumps at 2 to 5 inches DBH sprout, and none above 16 inches.

What happens to the wood chips after grinding?

In this market it depends on the contractor, which is why it belongs in the written quote. TN Tree Preservation states it uses the chips to backfill the hole and will spread the excess as mulch or haul it away, whichever the customer prefers. Rooted in Grace advertises chip cleanup as included in standard pricing, and Stump Eater in Murfreesboro says it hauls the grindings. National estimators, by contrast, all treat removal as an add-on at 2 to 4 US dollars per diameter inch. What is not an option in Davidson County is the trash cart: Metro bans yard waste from curbside carts and dumpsters entirely. Metro brush collection runs four times a year across 12 routes, and free chip drop-off for county residents is at the two Living Earth sites, 1511 Elm Hill Pike and 6401 Centennial Boulevard, where trailers are charged a fee.

Should I get the stump ground or fully removed?

Grinding is the cheaper of the two, and in Nashville it is also the one that copes better with rock. Full removal, which takes out the stump and the root plate together, is priced by LawnStarter at 175 to 516 US dollars against a 272 US dollar national average for grinding, and TN Tree Preservation confirms full removal costs more here. On Central Basin ground the case for grinding gets stronger: pulling a redcedar or hackberry root plate out of fissured limestone is a much larger excavation than shaving the stump down. Full removal earns its price when you are building on the spot, regrading, or planting a tree that needs undisturbed soil volume in the same location.

Do I need a permit to remove a tree?

For a typical detached single-family lot in Davidson County, Metro's tree removal permit is not the operative rule. The substitute text of BL2022-1409 exempts activities on R/RS-zoned property of less than one acre and AG/AR2A property of less than two acres, and the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps describes the permit requirement as applying to commercial and multi-family developers rather than single-family or duplex residences. The exceptions are a parcel of an acre or more, a conservation overlay, and any heritage or specimen designation. Outside Davidson County the answer changes with the jurisdiction, because Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner Counties are not part of Metro. Belle Meade, though inside Davidson County, requires a permit before removing any tree, homeowners included.

What is the Nashville tree ordinance?

It is two chapters of Title 17 of the Metropolitan Code: Chapter 17.24 on landscaping, buffering and tree requirements, and Chapter 17.40 Article X on tree protection and replacement procedures, which holds the tree removal permit machinery. Its substance is aimed at development. The BL2022-1409 substitute posted by Metro sets at least 22 tree density units per acre for non-residential property and residential subdivision common areas, and for a new individual single- or two-family lot one new two-inch caliper canopy tree per twenty feet of frontage, capped at eight trees. Those are development-time standards attached to land disturbance, building permits and plats, and none of them is triggered by an existing homeowner removing a stump. Metro's enacted code text on Municode could not be read during research and section numbering has been reassigned between the 2021 explainer and the 2022 substitute, so verify a section number with Metro Codes before relying on it.

Stump grinding in Nashville, priced in seconds

Most Nashville stumps run $110–$190. Pick the size that matches yours to see your own number.

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Estimated Nashville price

$110–$190

Includes grinding 6–12 inches below grade, deep enough to lay sod.

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Local pricing

What it costs in Nashville

A minimum charge of $100–$160 covers getting the machine to your property and a stump up to roughly 12 inches across. Wider than that is charged on top at $2–$5 per extra inch of diameter.

Each additional stump on the same visit costs about 25% less, because the crew and machine are already on site. These are researched ranges, not a quote — the pro confirms the number on site.

Estimate my stump

Local surcharges to know about

Hauling the grindings off site rather than leaving them: $2–$4/in
Restricted or hard-to-reach sites: $50/hr
Chasing surface roots beyond the stump face, routine on silver maple and mature oak: $75–$150/hr
Additional stumps ground on the same visit: $30–$60/stump
Full removal of the stump and root plate instead of grinding: $175–$516
Follow-up treatment where the species resprouts, relevant on Callery pear, sweetgum and small-diameter silver maple: not published

Only in Nashville

The ground and the trees you actually have here

Soil underfoot: Central Basin limestone residuum
Commonest removals: Eastern redcedar · Sweetgum · Silver maple
Standard grind depth: 6–12″ below grade

In the Central Basin, the rock decides how deep the wheel goes

Nashville sits in a limestone lowland eroded out of the surrounding Highland Rim, and on much of Davidson County's residential ground the soil runs out before a grinder does. The dominant upland series is Talbott, whose USDA-NRCS Official Series Description is blunt: thickness of solum and depth to bedrock ranges from 20 to 40 inches, over residuum weathered from limestone, sometimes in karst topography. Davidson County also has mapped Talbott–Rock Outcrop complexes, where exposed bedrock is a named map component.

TN Tree Preservation, a Nashville operator, publishes 6 to 8 inches below grade as standard, and on ordinary Talbott ground that sits well inside the profile. On a rock-outcrop phase it may not: the wheel can reach stone while root wood is still in the hole. That matters most when the grind is making room for a replacement planting, because twelve inches is not promised county-wide here.

Two more things follow from the same rock: Talbott and Mimosa are fine-textured and slowly permeable, so a wet week packs clay into the wheel, and in karst terrain — which Tennessee's permanent stormwater manual gives its own design appendix — a chip-backfilled cavity can settle.

Choosing a method

Grinding or full removal?

Right for almost every yard

Grinding

The stump is cut 6–12 inches below grade and turned into mulch. Roots stay put and decay on their own, which is harmless under a lawn or a bed. Cheaper, faster, and you can sod or seed within days.

Only when you build over it

Full removal

The whole root plate is excavated, leaving a large hole to backfill. It costs meaningfully more and makes a bigger mess — but it is the right call under a driveway, patio, pool or footing, because decaying roots settle and crack what sits above them.

Tennessee rules

Utilities are located before anything starts

Who is notified: Tennessee 811
Advance notice: 3 business days
Marks stay valid: 15 days

Service area

Around Nashville

Murfreesboro
Mount Juliet
Hendersonville
Gallatin
Springfield
Dickson
White Bluff
Belle Meade
Berry Hill
Forest Hills

Counties: Davidson · Rutherford · Williamson · Sumner · Wilson · Robertson · Trousdale · Macon · Smith · Maury · Cheatham · Dickson · Marshall · Hickman

Common questions

Stump questions Nashville homeowners ask

The answers below are Nashville's, not generic — Central Basin limestone residuum underfoot, Eastern redcedar and Sweetgum stumps, Tennessee 811 rules.

Can't find yours? The price is the answer to most of them.

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How deep do you grind the stump?: TN Tree Preservation, a Nashville operator, publishes 6 to 8 inches below the surrounding ground level as its standard. That is normally achievable on ordinary Central Basin ground, but the local caveat is real: the Talbott series that dominates Davidson County uplands runs only 20 to 40 inches to limestone bedrock per USDA-NRCS, and the county also has mapped Talbott-Rock Outcrop complexes where exposed rock is part of the map unit. On those parcels the wheel can reach stone before the root plate is fully gone. If you intend to plant a replacement tree in the same hole rather than lay sod, raise it when you request a quote, because a deeper grind is a different job and in some Nashville yards it is not deliverable at all.
Will the roots keep growing after the stump is ground?: The roots stop growing, but on several common Nashville species the root system sends up new shoots, and which species you have decides the answer. Eastern redcedar does not reproduce naturally by sprouting or suckering, so a ground redcedar is finished. Sweetgum is the opposite: USDA Forest Service data records it sprouting from the stump or root crown after top-kill and keeping that ability until roughly 50 years old, with sprouts reaching 4.5 feet in one growing season. Silver maple sprouts prolifically from the root collar, especially at 12 inches diameter or less. Callery pear, which Metro Urban Forestry bans outright, resprouts from root fragments and needs cut-surface herbicide rather than grinding alone. White oak follows diameter: about 80 percent of stumps at 2 to 5 inches DBH sprout, and none above 16 inches.
What happens to the wood chips after grinding?: In this market it depends on the contractor, which is why it belongs in the written quote. TN Tree Preservation states it uses the chips to backfill the hole and will spread the excess as mulch or haul it away, whichever the customer prefers. Rooted in Grace advertises chip cleanup as included in standard pricing, and Stump Eater in Murfreesboro says it hauls the grindings. National estimators, by contrast, all treat removal as an add-on at 2 to 4 US dollars per diameter inch. What is not an option in Davidson County is the trash cart: Metro bans yard waste from curbside carts and dumpsters entirely. Metro brush collection runs four times a year across 12 routes, and free chip drop-off for county residents is at the two Living Earth sites, 1511 Elm Hill Pike and 6401 Centennial Boulevard, where trailers are charged a fee.
Should I get the stump ground or fully removed?: Grinding is the cheaper of the two, and in Nashville it is also the one that copes better with rock. Full removal, which takes out the stump and the root plate together, is priced by LawnStarter at 175 to 516 US dollars against a 272 US dollar national average for grinding, and TN Tree Preservation confirms full removal costs more here. On Central Basin ground the case for grinding gets stronger: pulling a redcedar or hackberry root plate out of fissured limestone is a much larger excavation than shaving the stump down. Full removal earns its price when you are building on the spot, regrading, or planting a tree that needs undisturbed soil volume in the same location.
Do I need a permit to remove a tree?: For a typical detached single-family lot in Davidson County, Metro's tree removal permit is not the operative rule. The substitute text of BL2022-1409 exempts activities on R/RS-zoned property of less than one acre and AG/AR2A property of less than two acres, and the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps describes the permit requirement as applying to commercial and multi-family developers rather than single-family or duplex residences. The exceptions are a parcel of an acre or more, a conservation overlay, and any heritage or specimen designation. Outside Davidson County the answer changes with the jurisdiction, because Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner Counties are not part of Metro. Belle Meade, though inside Davidson County, requires a permit before removing any tree, homeowners included.
The Nashville detail
The ash die-off is a stump supply with a schedule
Emerald ash borer has been in Davidson County since 2014, and its timing works like a queue. The Tennessee Department of Agriculture reports EAB in 66 Tennessee counties and states that both the state and federal quarantines were lifted in 2021 after federal deregulation of the pest. The Metro Tree Advisory Committee estimates ash at roughly 6 percent of Davidson County's canopy, and Tennessee's state entomologist warned in 2022 of ash decline and death on a massive scale within two to three years. Standing dead ash is brittle, which makes it a hazard removal, and grinding demand trails removal by months.
Metro's tree rules were written for building sites, not back yards
Development versus maintenance decides whether Metro's ordinance touches you at all. Title 17 of the Metropolitan Code carries Chapter 17.24 on landscaping and tree requirements and Chapter 17.40 Article X, which holds the removal permit machinery. Both are written for building sites: the BL2022-1409 substitute posted by Metro sets 22 tree density units per acre on non-residential property and subdivision common areas, and one two-inch caliper canopy tree per twenty feet of frontage on a new single- or two-family lot, capped at eight. Those attach to land disturbance, a building permit or a plat, not to an existing house.

Felling a living tree and grinding out an existing stump are separate questions, and only the first carries a permit. The same substitute exempts R/RS-zoned property under one acre and AG/AR2A property under two acres, while the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps describes the permit as reaching commercial and multi-family developers, not single-family or duplex residences. An acre-plus parcel, a conservation overlay or a heritage designation still belongs with Metro Codes, and the enacted Municode text could not be read for this page. For grinding, no Metro provision was found at all: the word stump appears once in BL2022-1409, punitively, as the measurement used to compute replacement for a tree already taken down.

Cross the county line and the structure changes, not merely the wording. Nashville and Davidson County share one consolidated Metropolitan Government, while Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson and Sumner Counties keep their own, so Murfreesboro, Mount Juliet, Hendersonville and Franklin answer to their own codes. Inside Davidson County the contrast is sharper: Belle Meade, an independent satellite city surrounded by Nashville, requires a permit before removing any tree under Ordinance 2019-11, homeowners included, with replacement at 2:1 for trees of 4 to 15 inches and 4:1 for 16 to 30 inches.

Two things move a quote here more than diameter: what the wheel meets at depth, and whose rules cover your address. Both are questions on the form.
What is the Nashville tree ordinance?: It is two chapters of Title 17 of the Metropolitan Code: Chapter 17.24 on landscaping, buffering and tree requirements, and Chapter 17.40 Article X on tree protection and replacement procedures, which holds the tree removal permit machinery. Its substance is aimed at development. The BL2022-1409 substitute posted by Metro sets at least 22 tree density units per acre for non-residential property and residential subdivision common areas, and for a new individual single- or two-family lot one new two-inch caliper canopy tree per twenty feet of frontage, capped at eight trees. Those are development-time standards attached to land disturbance, building permits and plats, and none of them is triggered by an existing homeowner removing a stump. Metro's enacted code text on Municode could not be read during research and section numbering has been reassigned between the 2021 explainer and the 2022 substitute, so verify a section number with Metro Codes before relying on it.
Tennessee 811 stops at your meter: Tennessee 811 wants at least three working days' notice and not more than ten full working days before excavation, and its locate stays valid for 15 calendar days after the ticket's legal start date, per the center's own FAQ and state-law page. The Tennessee Public Utility Commission confirms that window independently and can impose a civil penalty of up to 15,000 US dollars per incident under Tenn. Code Ann. Title 65, Chapter 31.

Everything past the meter is the gap. Tennessee 811 states that it does not locate customer-owned utilities and names them — water service lines, sewer laterals, sprinkler systems, propane lines, and electric and gas lines beyond the meter — because private facilities need not be members and are never notified. That is the ground a backyard stump occupies. One more line from that FAQ is worth putting to whoever you hire: a ticket issued to the property owner does not cover hired excavators.
Cedar glades, and which of these stumps come back: Eastern redcedar is the Central Basin's signature tree and the hardest one here on carbide. USDA Forest Service Silvics records that its roots grow extensively in soils in which limestone rocks make up more than 52 percent of total soil volume, following fissures in the rock. Cedar glades over flat limestone are a Basin signature; at the stump that means root wood wedged into stone. Redcedar does not reproduce naturally by sprouting or suckering, so once ground it is finished.

Other common stumps behave nothing like that. Sweetgum, which Metro Urban Forestry lists as non-recommended, sprouts from the stump or root crown after top-kill and can throw a shoot 4.5 feet tall in one season, per USDA Forest Service Fire Effects data. Silver maple, also non-recommended, sprouts prolifically from the root collar at 12 inches diameter and under. And Metro bans Pyrus calleryana in all varieties outright, while Penn State Extension notes that its root fragments often resprout, so grinding alone will not end a Callery pear.
December and March tornadoes, and the ice of January 2026: The largest recent surge of work here was ice. Winter Storm Fern, on 25 and 26 January 2026, laid down accretion upwards of half an inch, and Nashville Electric Service outages peaked at 230,000 customers, roughly half the city, per WPLN. Metro NDOT collected more than 2 million cubic yards of vegetation debris by 23 April 2026, against roughly 87,000 cubic yards in all of 2025.

Tornadoes are the other signature, and the geography needs care: most damage in a Middle Tennessee outbreak lands outside Davidson County. NWS Nashville surveyed seven tornadoes on 9 December 2023. The one that crossed Davidson was the Madison–Hendersonville–Gallatin EF-2, 130 mph on a 35.23-mile path through Davidson, Sumner and Trousdale Counties, with hundreds of trees blown down near Old Hickory Dam. The outbreak's deadliest tornado, an EF-3 at 150 mph that uprooted numerous cedar trees, tracked 47.75 miles around Clarksville in Montgomery County — outside this metro. March carries the same risk: NWS Nashville holds a damage survey for the tornadoes of 3 March 2020 and confirmed an EF-1 at 95 mph near Christiana, on the Bedford–Rutherford line, on 14 March 2025.
Why are there so many stumps in Nashville?: Winter Storm Fern ice storm (25 January 2026) — Ice accretion upwards of half an inch across the area, described in local reporting as historic accumulation. Nashville Electric Service outages peaked at 230,000 customers per WPLN, roughly half the city. Trees were the operational bottleneck: NDOT cleared trees without powerlines from the right of way while debris containing lines had to wait for NES. Metro NDOT collected more than 1.6 million cubic yards of vegetation debris by its April 19, 2026 curbside deadline and more than 2 million cubic yards as of April 23, 2026, against roughly 87,000 cubic yards collected in all of 2025 under the regular brush program, about eighteen times a normal year.
December 9, 2023 Middle Tennessee tornado outbreak (9 December 2023) — NWS Nashville surveyed seven tornadoes with seven deaths and 91 injuries. The tornado that crossed Davidson County was the Madison-Hendersonville-Gallatin EF-2, rated at 130 mph on a 35.23-mile path through Davidson, Sumner and Trousdale Counties, with 3 deaths and 22 injuries and hundreds of trees blown down near Old Hickory Dam. The White Bluff EF-2 (125 mph, 19.31 miles) also crossed Dickson, Cheatham and Davidson Counties. The deadliest tornado of the night, the Clarksville EF-3 at 150 mph on a 47.75-mile path with 4 deaths and 62 injuries, which uprooted numerous cedar trees, was in Montgomery County and adjacent Kentucky, outside Davidson County.
March 14-15, 2025 severe weather and flooding (14 March 2025) — NWS Nashville confirmed one EF-1 near Christiana on the Bedford and Rutherford county line, 95 mph with a 4.49-mile path and a maximum width of 300 yards, damaging or destroying six outbuildings and barns. A separate 95 mph straight-line microburst at Palmer in Grundy County uprooted and snapped many trees. Multiple flash flood reports included two left lanes of I-65 northbound underwater near exit 95. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
What the Middle Tennessee price ladder actually says: No Nashville contractor publishes a per-inch rate, so the honest picture is a local ladder set beside national estimator ranges. Rooted in Grace Stump Co. posts a Middle Tennessee ladder from 100 to 150 dollars under 12 inches up to above 400 dollars past 36 inches, calling typical single jobs 175 to 250. Nationally, Angi and LawnStarter both put grinding at 2 to 5 dollars per diameter inch with a 100 dollar minimum, HomeGuide at 2 to 6 dollars with an 80 to 160 dollar minimum, against averages of 250 dollars (Angi, 2026 data) and 272 dollars (LawnStarter, December 2025). Researched ranges, not a quote.

Middle Tennessee therefore lands at or slightly below those averages; no source computed a percentage gap, so none is claimed. Growth pushes down — the metro reached 2.20 million people as of 1 July 2025 — while rock pushes up through carbide replacement. Settle the chips in writing, because this market splits: national estimators price haul-away at 2 to 4 dollars per diameter inch, while Rooted in Grace advertises cleanup as included and TN Tree Preservation leaves it to the customer.

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We do not perform tree work. This page summarizes information published by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, the City of Belle Meade, NWS Nashville, USDA-NRCS and the USDA Forest Service, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Tennessee 811 and the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, alongside contractor price sheets. Current as of August 2026.

Written by Max Baumgarten. Last updated 12 August 2026. Based on 41 published sources.

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