The Importance of Stump Removal

Tree Service

A tree stump isn’t just an eyesore; it can pose serious safety and health risks. In addition, rotting stumps attract fungi, insects, and pests that can spread to other plants in your yard and even your home.

Stump grinding and stump removal are two of the most effective ways to get rid of an unsightly stump. These services are also much safer than attempting to remove a stump by yourself.

1. Increased Property Value

When you’re trying to sell your home, your property needs to make an impression. You want your house to attract potential buyers who can afford to pay top dollar for it.

Tree stumps are an eyesore that detract from the appearance of your yard and home. They can also reduce the value of your property when it comes time to sell.

Stump removal is the best way to improve your curb appeal and increase the value of your property. It also helps you maintain your yard properly and protect your family from injury.

Pests and Disease:

Leaving tree stumps in your yard can attract a wide range of unwanted pests. These critters can spread to neighboring plants and trees, or even your house.

Getting rid of the stumps is the best way to prevent these critters from spreading to your yard. You’ll also avoid the cost of removing and planting new trees to replace them.

2. Aesthetics

Having a tree stump smack dab in your front yard is not for the faint of heart. Not only is it a hazard to your health and safety, but it can also be a pain in the kevlar to maintain and an eyesore when it comes to landscaping a new or restored lawn. The good news is that there are many solutions to the stumpy challenge, including the best of the breed, professional tree services. To get the job done right, you’ll need the assistance of a reputable company like the pros at Arboretum. The best part is that you’ll be able to get back to doing what you do best, your home or business. Stump removal is a surefire way to make your home or business a safer place for you and your loved ones.

3. Safety

Having a tree stump in your yard can be an eyesore and a safety hazard. Not only do they obstruct your view, but they can also trip and injure you, especially when working around them with a lawnmower.

Stumps are also home to fungi, insects and other organisms that can affect the health of other plants in your landscape. This is why it is important to remove a tree stump and its roots as soon as possible.

Stump removal can be done by digging it out, pulling it out by a chain, shredding it with a stump grinder or burning it. This is the best way to get rid of it for good without hurting the environment or damaging the roots of any other trees that may still be present in your yard.

4. Health

A tree stump that is left behind can pose serious threats to your health. It may be a habitat for unwanted pests and disease-causing insects like termites, ants, beetles, and wood borers.

Stump removal can keep you and your family healthy by preventing these problems from occurring. It can also help to reduce the risk of a tree falling on your home and damaging it.

If you do have to remove a stump, you should make sure to dispose of it properly. The best way to do this is to use potassium nitrate, or just plain saltpeter.

Using saltpeter is not only effective, but it can be done safely and without harming the surrounding plants or soil. It is a natural, organic method for eliminating a dead tree stump.

5. Health

A dead tree stump can harbor pests and diseases. When these pests and diseases are left untreated, they can wreak havoc on your property’s plants and trees. They can also spread to your home, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

Stump removal is essential for your family’s safety and security. If a child accidentally steps on one, they could hurt themselves or get seriously injured. Moreover, stumps can damage your mower and other landscaping equipment.

In addition, a tree stump that is not removed can sprout new growth. This is because of the extensive roots that remain behind, even after the tree has been cut down.

The roots can grow around the stump and damage your yard, patio, sidewalk or driveway. They can also crack your foundation or wrap around and break pipes, putting you at risk for expensive property damage.

Sell Courses and Create Interactive Content on WordPress.com

Sell Courses and Create Interactive Content on WordPress.com


Unleash your inner educator and boost your blog’s impact with these interactive blocks and course-building LMS features.

One of the biggest benefits of our Business and Commerce plans is that you can add additional WordPress plugins to enhance the functionality of your website.

Below, we’re highlighting two of the newest additions to our plugin marketplace, now available at a hefty exclusive discount for WordPress.com users.

Create courses with Sensei Pro

Automattic, the same company behind WordPress.com, creates Sensei LMS. We’ve collaborated to bring our Learning Management System and course creation tools to WordPress.com sites in one seamless experience.

With Sensei Pro, you can create online courses with quizzes, certificates, cohorts, and detailed student reports. Lessons are edited just like WordPress posts or pages, so you will already know how it works.

You can enable the distraction-free Learning Mode to provide students with an optimized mobile-friendly learning environment that keeps your course content front and center.

Learn more about Sensei Pro.

Sell courses with WooCommerce integration

Selling courses can be a lucrative way to generate revenue for your blog or business. Sensei LMS integrates deeply with our WooCommerce suite of tools to make selling access to a course a breeze. 

You can also take advantage of WooCommerce extensions to handle coupons, memberships, subscriptions, and more. 

Learn more about WooCommerce and Sensei integration.

Publish interactive and private videos

Videos are often a big part of online courses. WordPress.com sites also come with our VideoPress service, which lets you upload videos directly to your site without dealing with a third-party tool or embed codes. Especially important for video courses, you can mark a video as “private” to ensure it won’t be downloaded or linked to, and will only be available to course students.

Even better, with Sensei’s Interactive Videos block, you can create pause points with additional content to any video. For example: 

  • Add a quiz question in the middle of a course video. 
  • Add a contact form to the end of a sales video.
  • Show links to additional resources to a blog post video.

Add Interactive Videos to any WordPress page or post. They are not limited to courses or lessons.

Learn more about Interactive Videos.

Engage with interactive blocks

In addition to the Interactive Videos, Sensei also comes with interactive and educational content blocks, including:

  • Quiz questions
  • Accordions
  • Image hotspots
  • Flashcards
  • Task lists

Using these blocks, you can craft compelling content that captivates and keeps your readers engaged. Whether writing an educational blog post or creating a sales landing page, you can add these blocks to any WordPress page or post. 

Learn more about Interactive Blocks.

Getting Sensei Pro and Sensei Blocks

For existing sites on WordPress.com, you’ll find Sensei’s plugins in the plugin marketplace. WordPress.com users receive a 30% discount on Sensei Pro automatically.

  • Sensei Pro — all course creation tools and interactive blocks included. Get Sensei Pro here.
  • Sensei Interactive Blocks — interactive videos, accordions, image hotspots, flashcards, and task lists. Creating courses is not needed to be able to use these blocks. Get Sensei Interactive Blocks here.

Or, create a brand new site with Sensei Pro bundled here.


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Making the Social Web a Better Place: ActivityPub for WordPress Joins the Automattic Family 

Making the Social Web a Better Place: ActivityPub for WordPress Joins the Automattic Family 


If you’re a blogger or content creator who wants to reach a wider audience, the ActivityPub plugin is perfect for you.

We’re excited to announce that Automattic, the parent company of WordPress.com, has acquired the popular WordPress plugin ActivityPub

This innovative plugin brings a whole new level of social networking to your website by integrating it with the wider federated social web. When installed, the plugin allows you to easily share your content and interact with users on Mastodon and other platforms that also support the ActivityPub protocol

Just as Automattic aims to do with all of our products, this plugin helps to decentralize the web, break down silos, and foster a more connected online ecosystem. 

Why you should use the ActivityPub plugin

If you’re a blogger or content creator who wants to reach a wider audience, the ActivityPub plugin is perfect for you. Just as Jetpack Social — another one of our great plugins! — automatically shares content to large social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, ActivityPub automatically allows anyone on a federated network to follow your blog’s posts, which will show up in their Home feed. The federated networks include:

Responses on those platforms show up in your WordPress post’s comments, allowing you to interact directly with readers across the fediverse, streamlining engagement and creating a more cohesive online presence. 

Moreover, in using ActivityPub for WordPress, you’re supporting the open source movement, promoting transparency and collaboration, and empowering users to take control of their online experience and contribute to a more diverse and inclusive internet landscape.

How to install ActivityPub for WordPress

Installing the ActivityPub plugin is a breeze, even if you’ve never added a plugin before. 

1. From your dashboard’s left-side menu, navigate to the plugin marketplace and search “ActivityPub” (all one word). Alternatively, you can click here and go directly to the plugin page. 

2. Click “Install and activate.” 

3. Once activated, you can click “Manage plugin,” which allows you to choose the type of content that will show up in fediverse feeds — if you’re not quite ready for that, you can always access it later under “Settings” → “ActivityPub.” 

At Automattic, our philosophy has always been to democratize publishing and make the web a better place. In our acquisition of ActivityPub for WordPress, we’re doing that for the social web.  


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The Environmental Benefits of Regular Tree Maintenance and Removal

Tree Service

Trees help clean our air, water, and soil by reducing pollution. They absorb carbon dioxide, and remove and store it while releasing oxygen back into the air.

Ultimately, trees contribute to urban stormwater management through direct control of runoff intensity and amplification of soil infiltration. However, achieving reliable modeling of stormwater benefits requires a better understanding of interactions between soils, trees, and the atmosphere that occur during rainfall events.

Reduced Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Planting and maintaining trees and vegetation reduces carbon dioxide emissions because they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, store it in soil and undergrowth, and sequester it in the forest for a long time.

Trees also lower surface and air temperatures, lowering energy demand for heating and cooling buildings. This is particularly important for cities.

A study published by University College London, the University of Oxford, and ETH Zurich found that if all the world’s forests were planted and maintained, two-thirds of the carbon emissions put into the atmosphere can be removed. To reach this goal, 11% of the earth would need to be covered in trees (the size of the United States and China combined).

Reduced Noise Pollution

Planting trees and shrubs is a great way to reduce noise pollution. Trees and shrubs block sound through several mechanisms, including absorption, deflection, refraction, and masking.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, planting evergreens can reduce noise by 3 -5 dB. It also adds aesthetic value to your home and neighborhood.

Choosing the right trees to reduce noise requires knowledge of what will thrive in your area. Use online tools to help identify the best choices for your specific landscape.

For year-round noise reduction, choose a variety of broadleaf evergreens like Spruce and Oakleaf Holly. These species are fast-growing and have dense growth patterns, making them ideal for reducing noise.

Reduced Water Evaporation

Trees and other vegetation reduce water evaporation by reducing the amount of direct solar radiation absorbed. This can help regulate the local water cycle, especially in arid regions.

The evaporation of water from bare soil is another important process in the soil water balance. The rate of evaporation depends on the amount of energy transferred to the soil from climatic factors, such as solar radiation, air temperature, and wind speed.

One way to reduce evaporation is to cover water surfaces with a chemical layer or other covering material. These can be applied by hand for small ponds and may require a form of a mechanized delivery system for large storages.

Reduced Soil Erosion

Soil erosion is a serious issue worldwide. It affects lands, water, and food security. Degraded soils are more prone to flooding and mudslides, and they tend to be less fertile.

Trees are among the most effective natural protection against erosion, but human activities like farming and land clearing can have negative impacts as well. These include tilling, overgrazing, and deforestation, all of which remove ground-covering vegetation that would hold the soil in place.

In addition, many of the agricultural crops that replace trees, including coffee, cotton, palm oil, soybean, and wheat, aren’t strong enough to hold onto the soil, resulting in even more erosion as they grow up. This cycle continues as farmers move to clear more forests, removing even more of the earth’s soil and causing further erosion.

Increased Property Value

In addition to the environmental benefits, regular tree maintenance and removal can increase the value of your property. This is due to a number of factors, including a community’s popularity, a decrease in crime, and the entrance of younger homebuyers into the market.

While some people may not like the idea of paying higher property taxes, the small uptick in your home’s equity can be a great asset to help you pay off bills, take on renovations or fund a vacation. It also can help you avoid mortgage insurance, which can be an expensive monthly expense for many homeowners. With a little planning, the extra equity in your home can be an asset for years to come. Call Townsend Residential today to discuss tree pruning and removal services.

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