Root'n Huisache Trees - How to get the root out?

[SanDucerro]

I have Huisache trees on my property - lots of them. They're similar to Mesquite in that they have lots of thorns and grow like weeds. You can chop them down pretty easily - and a bush hog will make quick work of them - but they just grow back again. I've maintained the front pasture all along, so for the most part it's clear (we'll not worry about the back of the property for now). However, I've got a spot up front that's less than an acre - 0.80 to be exact - that had 5+ year old Huisache trees on it.

We had a dozer come out and push over the trees. On the younger Huisache the tree AND the roots came up. However - in this one area - the trees were more mature and it seems the trunks just snapped right at the soil level, but the tap roots are still there. And the roots are HUGE - I'm talking roots as big around as your arm! So now I'm attempting to plow this area and the roots are in the way. I called the dozer guy and he doesn't have a root plow - but thinks he can borrow a tractor with one - and he thinks he can get to me late next week. Unfortunately - this particular dozer guy is the only one in our area that's not booked 6 weeks out. All of this is kinda "up in the air" and I don't really like to work that way. I need this spot cleared by the 15th of this month and there just isn't enough confirmation that this is going to happen - so I need a plan B.

We maked all of the stumps (which are flush with the ground) with flags so we would know what we were looking at and then proceeded to try to get a few out (my guess is there are about 90 tree roots in this area). Using the FEL we were able to get down to the root ball (about 12" under the surface), but the FEL isn't strong enough to pull the root out. Plus, we found root "arms" branching away from the tap root that are HUGE as well. I wound up using a chain saw to cut the tap root below the ball and then pull the ball out by hand. But this is taking way too long and frankly - I'm just not young enough to do this type of work any longer. I'm good for about 4 of these and then I'm wasted for the day. So - I'm looking for suggestions....

 

[mikim]

Sounds like you need it done right away ....if ya had the time -- paint the stump with remedy & diesel and wait for it to rot. If not -- good luck. I just keep mowing mine.

 

[TRR]

Can you have someone with an excavator come in and pull them out - or rent one and do it your self?

 

[ustmd]

Sounds like you need it done right away ....if ya had the time -- paint the stump with remedy & diesel and wait for it to rot. If not -- good luck. I just keep mowing mine.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Digging them up never works.

 

[SanDucerro]

Has anyone ever tried a Stump Bucket for a skid steer on a tractor?

 

[SanDucerro]

Can you have someone with an excavator come in and pull them out - or rent one and do it your self?

That's plan "C". I've been reading up on the mini's and trying to determine if they will do the job - and it looks like they would, I've just never used one before (although it does look like fun). Rental looks to run in the $300 a day range in my neck of the woods. A bit cheaper for a smaller unit. My hesitation stems from the fact that my FEL isn't up to the task, so why would a smaller HP mini do the job? That's a retorical question by the way, but feel free to answer...

A stump bucket (see post above) can be purchased for under $700 - but I'm not sure it will work off a tractor... But if it would then I'd have a tool to use for other chores.

 

[otis whitehead]

So I have some family in the area and have seen an attachment sold in the area that plow and cut them off below the ball. Problem is its built for 100HP units and bigger. I built a unit that cut the feeder roots then you hooked the ball and rolled it out. It is currently sitting in Houston and i am near Laredo.

 

[SanDucerro]

So I have some family in the area and have seen an attachment sold in the area that plow and cut them off below the ball. Problem is its built for 100HP units and bigger.

That's probably similar to what I'm finding. I have the M7040 at 71 HP, but that's a far cry from 100...

So I have some family in the area and have seen an attachment sold in the area that plow and cut them off below the ball. Problem is its built for 100HP units and bigger. I built a unit that cut the feeder roots then you hooked the ball and rolled it out. It is currently sitting in Houston and i am near Laredo.

Any photos? I'd like to see what you came up with. I found a unit on Craigslist, but I just don't think it's big enough or heavy enough to get the job done. 3pt Root Gruber Plow - $475

 

[otis whitehead]

man I have searched and tried to load a few shots of the ripper i made. heavy iron and sharp cutting edge made from 1.25 plate looked like the old school hand sickle.
The root plow i was thinking of had a v and two arms going into the ground with a push bar about two feet above cutting edge. you backed into tree pushed it back and v cut off roots below grade.I posted a few shots of the hook I built a while back Just cant find them. Good luck

 

[otis whitehead]

man I have searched and tried to load a few shots of the ripper i made. heavy iron and sharp cutting edge made from 1.25 plate looked like the old school hand sickle.
The root plow i was thinking of had a v and two arms going into the ground with a push bar about two feet above cutting edge. you backed into tree pushed it back and v cut off roots below grade.I posted a few shots of the hook I built a while back Just cant find them. Good luck

 

[texasjohn]

You have a 70ish hp tractor...that matched with Otis' heavy duty ripper would do the trick, seems to me. Looks like it would cut thru all but the largest roots and you already have marked where you need to go....seems a slice around each stump would really get a start on loosening up the soil and getting roots to the surface. A brush grubber Brush Grubber Brush Grubber Xtreme, Model# BG-11 | Weed Control Brush Removal| Northern Tool + Equipment might also be useful...might need to use chain on some of the tougher pulls...or make your own since it is for a 40ish hp tractor.

good luck...tough problem.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/121022-clearing-huisache-mesquite.html old thread on this subject

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/115176-root-ripper.html

 

[SanDucerro]

Got lucky today...

The dozer guy never called back, so I'll have to assume he couldn't do the job. That left me looking for a mini excavator to rent. This wasn't high on my list of solutions, but I needed the job done. Then fate, luck, good fortune, karma - something or the other stepped up to the plate.

About a mile from the farm is a new feed store. They're just getting started, so they are very small. When I went past today, outside their store, next to the road, was what appeared to be a used root plow.

I spun the truck around and went back to check it out. Sure enough - it was exactly what I was looking for - a 3pt Cat II Root Plow. Used, but in great shape, most of the paint still there, standard surface rust, on consignment for a friend of the shop owner. It's now in the back of my truck waiting for me to unload it and rip out some roots!

 

[texasjohn]

Great to hear ...now for photos of how it works!! Are the sides or the straight blade sharpened much, or at all?

 

[otis whitehead]

Good deal! was contemplating a run to Houston for my hook and letting you borrow it. Long drive... Will be expecting plenty of photos from you as to how the plow works.

 

[two_bit_score]

Got lucky today...

The dozer guy never called back, so I'll have to assume he couldn't do the job. That left me looking for a mini excavator to rent. This wasn't high on my list of solutions, but I needed the job done. Then fate, luck, good fortune, karma - something or the other stepped up to the plate.

About a mile from the farm is a new feed store. They're just getting started, so they are very small. When I went past today, outside their store, next to the road, was what appeared to be a used root plow.

I spun the truck around and went back to check it out. Sure enough - it was exactly what I was looking for - a 3pt Cat II Root Plow. Used, but in great shape, most of the paint still there, standard surface rust, on consignment for a friend of the shop owner. It's now in the back of my truck waiting for me to unload it and rip out some roots!

Glad it worked out! Looking forward to the pics of it in use and the end results.

I know youre trying yo get a lot done by a deadline and that's usually an expensive way to have to do things.

I second the use of some herbicide when you ave time to let it work. In addition to the 50/50 remedy/diesel solution I've had good luck on just cutting brush and painting the stump with plain old 2,4D straight.

With the remedy/diesel you don't even have to cut it down. Just spray all around a smooth bark tree from the ground three feet up and it will slowly die roots and all then it's easy to get out.

 

[SanDucerro]

I know youre trying yo get a lot done by a deadline and that's usually an expensive way to have to do things.

That's the truth! We've "redesigned" the vineyard layout a thousand times - each redesign was to fix some issue we found with the layout. We finally worked out a layout that looked to be perfect - until we got to the last acre we needed plowed and found the Huisache tree roots in this one area didn't pull out like the rest when the dozer did it's work. Perhaps I should have started on that end (it's the far end), but I didn't - so I'm too far along to work around the problem area and I need to fix it before the vines arrive the end of the month. Everything else is cleared and plowed for the most part - it's just the final acre at the back of the vineyard that's giving me fits!

Great to hear ...now for photos of how it works!! Are the sides or the straight blade sharpened much, or at all?

The sides are straight and the blade has a "V" shaped cutting edge toward the middle. I've not seen one like this before, so I have no idea who made it. I'll try to find some additional details when I get it off the truck. I can tell you this - it's VERY heavy. When I went to push on it while it was at the feed store it didn't budge it a bit. We used a fork lift to load it into the truck. Which - on a side note - was the first item "hauled" in the bed of the new RAM 3500 mentioned in the thread about talking me OUT of buying a Dual Cab Dually...

As for photos - I'm at the farm and our internet out here is poor, so I'll have to wait until I'm back in town to post photos.

 

[SanDucerro]

Good deal! was contemplating a run to Houston for my hook and letting you borrow it. Long drive... Will be expecting plenty of photos from you as to how the plow works.

Thanks! That would have been great!

 

[texasjohn]

I'm thinking that you will be using the "hook into it then lift the 3ph and try to drag it out of the ground" approach on the really big roots. Let us know the best technique...inquiring minds are curious!!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I don't know what that tree you have is, but if it sprouts back from the roots like our thorn trees around here do, then after you get all the stumps out, you will likely need to run a chisel plow over the land to uproot all the runners. Then pick them all up. Might be possible to drag some of them into a pile with the chisel plow. A box blade with the scarifiers ran deep might work also but may not go deep enough.

I use my little B 26 backhoe to dig out trees and then the hoe with the hydraulic thumb to pull up the roots. It works pretty good. I have been uprooting some pretty tall pines and a couple of thorn trees with it lately and it did well with that. I have a 12" and 7" bucket for it and the 7" is the best for uprooting trees as it doesn't remove a lot of dirt so much of the power is applied to the roots not removing a bunch of dirt. That one will rip thru some pretty good sized roots and usually all I have to do is dig on 2 sides to get them out, but the really large ones, I have to reposition and dig all four sides cutting off all the feeder roots and then lift it out. I have removed stumps as large as 20" across with this little 26 HP at the motor tractor.

 

[SanDucerro]

Had a fair day today using the "new" root plow. Upon closer inspection it shall remain nameless, but only because there are no markings on it to indicate who made it. The sides of the root plow are not straight (as I had orignially indicated) - they are curved. The sides originate just inside the hitch attachments, drop down about 18", and then curve in to meet the "plow". The "plow" is about a foot wide, sharpened, with a "V" cut into the front face. The sides are also sharpened - but not all the way up. The plow engages the ground well and drops about 14" into the soil. It does a good job of cutting most of the roots.

I have not been sucessful in "hooking" the root ball and pulling the whole tree out of the ground. For the most part the root balls are about 12" under the surface, but they have a thick tap root that goes straight down and several arms that branch sideways. Most of these "branches" are VERY thick - 3" or more in diameter. The root ball itself is as hard as iron and it can stop the tractor in its tracks. We had one that kicked our butt this afternoon. We wound up digging out the dirt surrounding the root ball with the FEL, then attacking it with a chainsaw. The chain saw will NOT cut the root ball - it's that hard. We just cut the branches and then try to cut the tap root to remove the root ball. We got most of it out before we had to call it a day. That's the bad news...

The good news is that most of the acre has now been cleared. The majority of the Huisache tree roots were severed by the root plow and popped to the surface. So we made progress. Still have about 1/3 of an acre to do.