removing tree stumps ...

[motdaugrnds]

We have an area we have not been able to tend to for quite a few years. It is full of blackberry vines that we want to cultivate. David cut down all the trees, some being 1-1/2' in diameter. Now we need to remove the stumps. We cannot afford to hire anyone to do this with a machine; so we will be doing this ourselves.

We have considered digging them up; yet discarded this idea because we suspect some have large tap roots. We have considered burning them; yet, not quite sure how to do this or even if it would work. We have considered dynamiting them out of the ground, at least enough so as to sow some ground covering over that we can mow every so often. Not sure if making dynamite and blowing up stumps is even legal.

Any and all ideas as to how to get these stumps out of the ground would be appreciated.

[Forerunner]

If you're in the US, skip the explosives.

An inch and a half diameter is minimal. I'd round up an old ax and chop them out.
Dig a little around each if you like, but that ax will handle a good bit of dirt between sharpenings.

[geo in mi]

Here's a possibility:

YouTube

Or a china jack might do it.

Whatever you do, don't be tempted to use a chain attached to a tractor--we want you around for a long, long time...

geo

[goatlady]

Don't know if it would work on those small "stumps" but my friend sets his open at both ends 55 gal barrel on larger stumps and burns his trash limbs in the barrel on the stumps - burns the stumps out nicely. I have found for my stumps if I dump the hot coals from the wood stove on the stump it's burned away by the next day including the roots. Nice and easy and I don't have to stand out there to watch as with a flame fire.

[mrpink]

the op states a foot and a half diameter. you could dig around the stump and cut it off below ground level. or you could cut it off at ground level to allow you to mow over them. burning stumps in place fro my experience is an iffy proposition. some burn good and others not so well. my land was clear cut just before I bought it ten years ago I have just a few stumps left and I haven't really worked that hard at clearing them

[Cabin Fever]

I've rototilled 1-1/2" stumps with a heavy-duty, PTO-driven rototiller on a tractor. The rototilled didn't chop up the stump, of course, but it made it easy for me to hand pick them out of the ground when I finished the rototilling.

Make sure you rent a tractor-mounted rototiller for this.

[The Paw]

Yeah, the critical question is whether you mean 1.5 inches or 1.5 feet in diameter.

For the former, spade and axe.

For the latter, I would leave them a foot above grade so I didn't hit them with my mower and I would drill holes in the top to let water run in and start rotting them. Eventually i might try burning them out.

[Forerunner]

Ooh... that was a '....instead of a ".

One and a half feet will be a chore or a lesson in patience without heavy equipment.

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Ooh... that was a '....instead of a ".

One and a half feet will be a chore or a lesson in patience without heavy equipment.

Don't use a rototilled on 1.5-foot stumps!

I't too bad be cut them down. I would have recommended pulling the trees down while they were still standing. By pulling the trees down, you are using the entire trunk as a lever which - due to physics - pulls the stump out of the ground at the same time that the tree comes down.

[fishhead]

If you have a mower that can go over short stumps I'd cut them as short as possible, drill them full of holes to collect rain water and cover them with chicken manure. You could also innoculate them with edible mushrooms from your area. They really do a number on stumps.

They should rot out in a couple of years.

Or fence in some hogs and using a post hole digger dig holes next to the stump and add some corn. I've heard that works.

[Molly Mckee]

If you are in the west or any area that has forest or grass fires do not burn them! The roots will burn for months underground and a good wind will start a fire. In WA and I would guess in other western states it would also be illegal without a permit. If you can't afford to have them removed, you sure can't afford a forest fire. We have cut them low and used a good brush hog on them by lowering it on the stump. Just make sure it's heavy duty, and it does take 45 or more hp on the tractor. You can also buy a chemical compound that speeds up rotting.

[TnAndy]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Don't use a rototilled on 1.5-foot stumps!

I't too bad be cut them down. I would have recommended pulling the trees down while they were still standing. By pulling the trees down, you are using the entire trunk as a lever which - due to physics - pulls the stump out of the ground at the same time that the tree comes down.

And even using the tree as leverage, it takes a dozer/backhoe/etc to dig around the roots to cut and loosen on an 18" diameter tree.

For existing stumps, time is gonna be your best friend. I can't imagine digging one out by hand, much less a bunch of them.

To help out your friend, drill with a large diameter electrician/plumber type auger bit to help rot along.

While you're waiting, seek out extra income to hire a machine. Guy with a track hoe at 80-100/hr can do more in an hour than you can in a week by hand.

[agmantoo]

If you want them up anytime soon it will require machinery. The cheapest machine for the task is a 30,000 lb or larger track hoe with the hoe just rolling the stumps out, this is amazingly fast, and you then handling the stumps and holes afterward. I had large 30 inch oak stumps on a heavily wooded 22 plus acres done this way for $3500. I would hire out digging ditches or flipping burgers and use the money to hire a track hoe before I tried by hand to uproot them!

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by TnAndy

And even using the tree as leverage, it takes a dozer/backhoe/etc to dig around the roots to cut and loosen on an 18" diameter tree.....

I suppose it depends on the type of tree and soil type. Just beforethe turn of the century, my great-grandfather and grandfather cleared dozens of acres of popple, pine, birch, and maple this way using a couple of oxen and later a Fordson tractor.

[Danaus29]

Have you checked into renting a stump grinder? If you can't afford that I would just cover the stumps with mulch and compostable material and let them rot in place. We've got a good size stump in ds's yard that I don't feel like digging out so I plan on setting a flower pot full of shade loving flowers (in a real shady spot) on it this year.

Even at 18 inches they can be dug by hand with the proper tools. A good shovel and a sharp mattock help tremendously. Dh prefers to hand dig stumps rather than burn them. Burning a stump is not something I would recommend, we did it once. The fire burned for days underground and followed the roots for probably 50 feet or so and would pop up on top of the ground when you least expected it.

[Harry Chickpea]

Stump removal used to be a serious business. One method that I found humorous was reported in the early Popular Mechanics. A farm in Louisiana had a field full of stumps, and the owner had a dozen men or more planting dynamite under each them and shooting it off with great satisfaction. The photo that accompanied the article showed a forest of stumps sitting on the ground. I think they reported that they did 200 a day.

In most cases, a backhoe can be a good tool. Once you have the stump out of the ground, you likely want to move it to a trash area or a pile where it can be burned. FWIW, some stump wood is what driftwood art is made from, so you might want to be on the lookout for interesting sections.

There are a couple types of stump pullers. You can see one here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2957475...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2957475...n/photostream/

An old one with an impressive catch: http://kittykurtis.homestead.com/index.html

I really like this idea though:
http://www.history.rochester.edu/app.../stump-pu.html

Elegant, in that it cuts the surface feeder roots, then uses leverage to twist the stump loose, unscrewing it from the ground.


More interesting comments on the subject:
http://board.hobbyfarms.com/Topic12574-6-1.aspx

[oregon woodsmok]

We had to have some stumps removed for a new orchard. A guy with a self loading log truck came in, grabbed the stumps with his grapple and pulled them out, with about 15 ft of the roots still attached about as easily as I'd pull a carrot out of sandy soil.

With loggers out of work, that might be cheap. It was sure easy.

I don't know the cost because it was a buddy of my son's and it was a labor swap, but he wasn't here but an hour and did one area 150 X150 and another that was 35 X 80, plus whatever was going to be close to the outside of the fence. The only thing that took any time was moving the rig from place to place. Each stump took just seconds to pull.

[motdaugrnds]

I greatly appreciate the information you have all given me. If it were just me, I would leave the stumps in the ground as I doubt they would ever sprout again. However, mowing around so many would be a terrible chore; so I certainly understand David's desire to remove them.

Digging around the small "inches" ones is certainly feasible; however, digging around the foot & half diameter ones is not something these old bones should be doing; and David isn't able to do it.

At the time he is creating tiny sticks of dynamite, experimenting with fuses, etc. All that is frightening to me; but David has always done things that frightened me. I'm just a scardy cat! (Right now he has only been able to get smoke; and I am secretly hoping that is all he gets. However, he is as stubborn as I am; so I have no doubt he will succeed and wind up blowing them all up. I don't believe using dynamite on your own land is illegal.)

[Believe me, I have studied very hard trying to figure a way to pay a dozer or someone to pull the stumps out; but with the high price of oil (an oil furnace in our trailer) and all the insurance (home owners/autos), there is just noway we can dig up anything extra for removing stumps. ]

[silverbackMP]

Originally Posted by fishhead

If you have a mower that can go over short stumps I'd cut them as short as possible, drill them full of holes to collect rain water and cover them with chicken manure. You could also innoculate them with edible mushrooms from your area. They really do a number on stumps.

They should rot out in a couple of years.

Or fence in some hogs and using a post hole digger dig holes next to the stump and add some corn. I've heard that works.

I was going to suggest the same thing except nitrogen fertilizer. Speed up the bacteria and fungi.

[Cash]

Can people even buy dynamite for stump blowing and boulder blasting anymore? When I was a kid my father (WWII combat vet) thought nothing of buying a case of Dupont dynamite and blasting stumps to clear more pasture land.