Stump grinding in the Dandenong Ranges
Once a tree is down, its stump can be ground out, dug out or left to rot. On a steep hills block, what the roots are holding up is part of the choice.
We connect you with a local arborist who works in the hills.
Ask for a quoteSherbrooke Forest. Photo: Haworthia Ihlathi, CC BY-SA 4.0
Grind it, dig it out, or leave it
- Grinding
- A grinder chips the stump away to below the surface, so the spot can be turfed, planted or built over. The roots stay in the ground and rot slowly.
- Digging out
- An excavator pulls the stump and its main roots. It leaves a bigger hole to fill, and it needs a machine that can reach the stump.
- Leaving it
- It costs nothing, but many trees shoot again from a cut stump, eucalypts among them, and the shoots keep coming back until the stump dies.
A grinder still has to get to the stump. If it sits behind a gate, down steps or on a steep bank, say so when you ask for a quote, with a photo if you can.
On steep ground
Yarra Ranges' Erosion Management Overlay marks land at risk of landslip. We found it around Kalorama, Sassafras, The Patch, Selby and Macclesfield, and at about half the points we sampled around Belgrave. It needs a permit to remove vegetation, except a tree 50 cm or less around the trunk, anything within 2 m of a building, and dead vegetation where the ground surface is reinstated afterwards.
The overlay also needs a permit to carry out works. Grinding leaves the roots where they are, while digging a stump out disturbs the ground the overlay is there to protect. If your property report lists an erosion overlay, ask the council before a machine digs a stump out.
Get a free property report from VicPlan to see whether your block is under it.
Checked 8 October 2026 against Victoria Planning Provisions, Clause 44.01 (Erosion Management Overlay) and Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme, Schedule to Clause 44.01 (EMO).
Before the grinder goes in
A grinder cuts below the surface, where the water pipe, the gas, the power or the phone line may run. Before You Dig Australia gives free plans of the pipes and cables its members own. Lodge an enquiry before the work starts.
Private pipes aren't on those plans. Many hills homes have no sewer and drain to a septic tank, and the pipes and trenches from it are yours. If you know where they run, show whoever does the grinding.
Checked 8 October 2026 against Before You Dig Australia: FAQs.
What's left afterwards
Grinding leaves a mound of wood chip mixed with soil. It can be spread as mulch or taken away, so say which you want. Yarra Ranges' bundled branch collection doesn't take stumps or roots.
Checked 8 October 2026 against Yarra Ranges Council: bundled branch collection.
If the tree is still standing
The permit question is about the tree, and it comes first. Whether a tree needs a permit to come down depends on your overlay and its size, and dead trees are treated differently from one overlay to the next. Your suburb's page has the rule for that area, and the permit guide has them all.
When you ask a local arborist for a quote, say whether the tree is already down and how many stumps there are.
Ask for a quote
Tell us where you are and what needs doing. We pass it to a local arborist who works in the hills. They ring you back to talk about the job.