It means the stump is decaying, which is what you want
Fungus on a stump looks alarming and usually is not. What it tells you about the wood, when it matters for nearby trees, and when it is worth acting on.
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Mushrooms on a stump are a sign the wood is breaking down. That is the process you are waiting for if you left the stump, and it is not, by itself, a problem. Georgia humidity and the run of warm wet weather from May through September makes it near universal here.
The fungus is not attacking your lawn and it is not attacking your house. It is eating dead wood, which is its job. A stump with heavy fungal growth is further through decay than a clean one, which means it is closer to being gone.
There are two situations where it does matter.
The first is if the mushrooms are appearing on living trees nearby, not just the stump. Some wood decay fungi, armillaria in particular, can move through root contact between trees. If you are seeing honey-colored clusters at the base of a healthy oak twenty feet away, that is worth an arborist looking at rather than a stump grinder.
The second is simply children and dogs. Plenty of the fungi that colonise stumps are unpleasant to eat and a few are genuinely dangerous. If the stump is in a yard where either spends time unsupervised, that is a practical reason to remove it that has nothing to do with the health of anything.
Grinding removes the fruiting body and most of the food source above grade, which usually stops the flushes. It does not sterilise the soil, and you may still see the odd mushroom over the buried roots for a year or two afterwards. That is normal and it stops.
What does not work: bleach, salt, or fungicide poured on the stump. It kills the visible mushrooms for two weeks and does nothing to the mycelium doing the actual work, while the salt does real damage to whatever you want to grow there afterwards.
When you would rather have the stump gone than keep managing it, our stump grinding in Woodstock, GA page covers how a job is quoted and what happens on the day.
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Common questions
Are the mushrooms dangerous to my dog?
Some Georgia species genuinely are, and nobody should identify a mushroom from a photo. The practical answer is that a rotting stump keeps fruiting every wet spell, so knocking them down is temporary and taking the stump out is what ends it.
Do the roots keep growing after grinding?
For most species no, the roots simply decompose underground over a few years. Sweetgum and water oak are the Georgia exceptions, since both can keep sending up suckers from surviving surface roots. If your tree was either, ask about root chasing in the same visit.
Do I need a permit to grind a stump in Woodstock?
Grinding an existing stump on your own property does not require a permit. Removing a living tree can, depending on size, location and whether it is in a protected buffer, so check with the City of Woodstock before taking down a standing tree.
Can I plant grass or a new tree where the stump was?
Grass, yes. Fill the void with topsoil rather than the chips, since decomposing wood robs nitrogen from new grass. Planting a new tree in the same hole needs full removal rather than grinding, because the old root mass is still in the way.
Free quotes, usually the same day. Tell us what you are looking at and we pass it straight to a local crew.