I'm planning on cutting down several small trees over the spring, probably around 15 trees, all hardwoods none bigger than 8-12" trunks at the base.

What would be my best option to get rid of these stumps? I've thought about burning them, or borrowing a tractor to dig/pull them out. I'm sure somebody here has had a lot of experience in this, and I'm all ears.

Check your local listings. You should find someone that has a stump grinder. In this economy you should be able to dicker on the price. Money well spent.

C-4 works.

explosives.

never pass on an opportunity to blow something up.

I use a backhoe

depends on how quickly you want 'em gone.

home depot rents a stump grinder, which will reduce the stump (s) to wood chips in an hour or so. one can also use a paddle bit on your drill, drill a few holes in the stump, then pour fertilizer all around it and on top of it. it'll be gone when spring is over.

-tom

Tannerite and a .223.

Matt,

I took out 4 large pecan stumps, one being 36"+, the rest being 24-30" (courtesy of hurricane Gustav) by boring multiple holes down in them using a long, large bracing bit and 1/2" drill motor. I had ~ 6 gals of old motor oil that I kept pouring into the holes and over the stump tops over time (3 days or so), allowing it to soak in. When all oil was used up, I poured diesel (about a qt.) on each, allowed to soak in and lit them off. It burned them out such that I took a maul and broke off the rest. Added dirt later to fill it in and level them off for mowing over. The stumps were pretty dried out when I did this.

Just one idea for you.

Dig it out. Most of the roots spread out to the side and few are deeper than 8".

Leave some stump to attach a line to and you can pull them out with a truck without having to do too much digging.

Cut the stumps down to ground level, bore some holes in them, and put in Stump Remover (Sodium Nitrate-Salt Peter)from Home Depot. The fertilizer promotes fungus and such growth to eat the stump.

BACKHOE___one days rental or if ya know someone - simple' easy no mess - then ya can drag or haul away or advertize free fire wood - u cut haul - be suprise

If your not in a hurry, you can cut the stumps low (even with the groud) sprinkle a little 10-10-10 fertilizer and cover with top soil (preferably from the forrest floor).

This will activate the bacteria that will rot the stump away.

Also you can add a little epson salt to help kill the stump.

had several pine and sweetgum stumps ground and the roots ground out. The guy charged me $10 each for the pines(30" or more) and $5 each for the gums as they were smaller.

Whole tree harvester is what I do. Probably don't have access to that however, and then you gotta fill in the holes in the ground.

The stump grinder is the way to go ,the only thing to clean up is wood fiber and it can be used for mulch. Don

Anhydrous Ammonia pellets & Diesel!

Black powder pipe bombs.

As others have said, use a stump grinder.

I've tried digging them out, chaining them out, the holes full of oil, and holes full of stuff to rot the stump.

Most don't work, or work only partially, take lots of time, and still leave you plenty of hand work.

I got a guy with a grinder last summer to take care of about 10-12 stumps in my front yard. He was there about 45 minutes, and charged me $80. All I had to do was drink a glass of iced tea while he worked, then fill in the holes with a truckload of top soil, spread some grass seed, and forget I ever had stumps to cut grass around.

Some of the best money I ever spent.

Sometimes it's a lot easier to write a check than to think you're saving a little money (and wasting a LOT of time) doing something yourself.

Stumps is one of those times.

AMEN to that...

I would use a stump grinder...Its way easier and cheaper than DIY... but if you need to do it yourself..


Leave 15-20 feet of the tree standing. attach your chain or cable to the top and the other end to your truck. Use precautions for a broken cable if using cable.


Pull them over using the leverage of the tree.

Yup and when your ladder falls off the tree while your attaching the cable, or you cut your throat with a saw trying to cut the tree off at 20'!!!!!!! back to the stump grinder. i have been in the logging,land clearing business for many years , and my Brother owns a land clearing business. you would be amazed at the many ways "joe homeowner" can get into trouble around trees !!!!! most of the reason workmans comp is so high in the logging industry is because "Joe homeowners" chainsaw accidents are lumped under logging accidents !!!!!! Don

Trees are bad news to the experienced, let alone to the inexperienced. Have one friend that was killed by a kick back and another almost lost his leg on diy missions with trees.

Stumps ain't so hard.

Since living at my current location for almost thirteen years, I've lost about half of my backyard trees to disease or ice storms. I've used a local stump grinder service three separate times with good results. Grinding multiple stumps is not much more expensive than one or two since the machine is already set up and operating.

I believe the second and most expensive visit cost me $150. The man removed over thirty stumps ranging in size from a couple of inches to over two feet in diameter. The whole job took about an hour. He used a newer grinding machine with remote control. All I had to do after he was finished was fill in the holes with the dirt and sawdust mixture remaining after grinding. Took me a few hours of moderate shovel work.

The technique I described was done by a crew from a land clearing company on a neighbors property. I will just assume that having been in business for as long as I can remember that they had some clue what they were doing.

as a cheap skate, what i do after the main trunk is removed, is cut the stump off as low as possible. even dig around it with a mattock, and cut at or below ground line. put dirt on top, and keep mowing the lawn.

that doesn't answer your question, but it does minimize cash outflow.

the easy answer is to hire a stumpgrinding crew. but that's so plain vanilla.

If you absolutely, positively have to get rid of them a stump grinder is the way to go. Around the house, I prefer to cut stumps off a couple of feet high and put a table top on them. If they're rotted out inside fill them up with dirt and plant some flowers in them. (Did I mention I'm cheap and kind of lazy around the edges?)

yep, they do make excellent outside flower holders. put potting soil or just the potted plant and container inside the hollow center.

nothing wrong with being a bit lazy, in an effort to conserve energy, and reduce expenditures.

if one had the motivation, after cutting to the groundline, one could get out there with a battery powered drill and start drilling holes in it, to assist Mother Nature do her work.

Cut the trees at about the 4ft level.
Then a caterpillar and easily push them over, drag them to a pile and once they dry out some burn them to ashes.
Seen this done many times.

A logger I know used a half stick of TNT to blow a stump and worked real well, but don't get cocky he had to blow a bigger stump so he figured if a half stick worked well on the smaller stumps he'd use four sticks to blow the bigger stump so planted the TNT lit the TNT off and walla no stump to be found, it was gone, no sign of it. They found the stump a quarter mile away where it landed after it fell through the home owners roof onto his porch destroying the Home owner's wife's favorite rocking chair.

, well it takes stumps a long time to dry so you can burn them, you then got to fill in all the holes and clean up all the mess from the dozer or excavator and replant the lawn = $1500-$2000 vs. $200 or so for the stump grinding!! really some of these suggestions are totally without common sense! kinda like maybe i should give economic and law advice instead of something i have done for a living !!!!!! Don

Plastic surgery?

Burn

Lots of good ideas here guys, thanks. I plan on doing the work myself, I have the time and good health to spend a few days sweating, right now I'd much rather do that than spend the cash.

These are all pretty small, I think once I get the trees cut down and then limbed and cut into burning size logs I'll take a varried approach at removing the stumps.

Maybe do a test so to speak comparing how a coupld of the different methods mentioned work.

In the past on smaller trees I've dug out around the stump and then with a saw cut below the ground height and recovered with dirt.

Couldn't agree with you more,...some of the suggestions here were just plain STUPID.

Calls for a few lines from "Snag Fallers Ball" by Craig and Terry

.....There's only one ain't married in the whole dad-blame outfit,

She's six foot four and 205, and proud of it,

Her teeth are all brown from a'chewin snoose, she's got cork tracks on her nose,

Think I'm a'gonna marry her, and join the family show.



GTC

+1 I did the same with the place I bought last spring.

Digging them up isn't as hard as you'd think.

Spot

+100 on the stump grinder


I've bored some holes and dumped some gas on them and let them soak for a while. Next day, dump a little more gas and light-em up.

Few I've done have smoldered for a few days and have ended up 4-6" below the surface.

my god some of you all on have dont have a clue about this rasied on wooded farm and still farm and live there and run heavy equiment for a living if all you want is trees gone dozer them burn all a you can and bury whats left of the stumps if space is limted cut then stump grind to your liking. digging out stumps with hoe too works but stumps dont burn very good alone will need to haul off (gets very $$) or bury if you are going to rent a hoe to do this yourself make sure YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING or it will be cheaper to hire some one who does
reread post 15 8-12" trees no dozer needed just cut and grind or take hoe push out with boom and burn or cut stump off if you like and do with as you want burn all you can haul off or bury

I just cut them off 2-3' high & let them rot (it's not like they're going anywhere), when they are rotted pretty good I push them over with the tractor.

Mike

A few years ago, I needed to remove a small black walnut, about 4" diameter at the ground. I dug around it and cut off the lateral roots, leaving only the tap root. I chained on to it about 4' up and hooked it to my truck. The dang trunk bent over 90 degrees and didn't even crack. When I let up, it went right back up again. I had to pull it over again and dig enough to get an ax at the root.

I have tried digging, burning, pulling and letting decay do its job, stump grinding is so much easier. Remember the stump in the movie Shane, I had one of those, what a waste of time and energy.

i am truly stumped by this thread.

anyone wanna start a thread on how to insert loaded cartridges in a smith and wesson .38 special in a non-threatening situation?

stumped i tell you... stumped...

-tom

Make a beer cooler!

Newspaper "art" shows the loaded cartridges shooting out of the barrel, so they must go into the cylinder from the front. I think something must be wrong with mine. Can you help?



Bruce

I've pulled many a stump out with this :