Backhoe Dealing with pine trees

[hunt4570]

My question is , what are you doing with that land after getting rid of the trees? if its been raining and that sand is wet you can push over up to 3 maybe 4 inchers. If you have no quick use for that land those pine stumps rot away pretty quick, leave em a couple feet high and push em over in about a year or three..

 

[Egon]

Try out the equipment you have. Use the hoe to cut roots. The bucket to push over. Expierement on what will work for you.

 

[fried1765]

Unless you are planning on selling the wood as sawlogs cut the stumps as high as you safely can. That will give you a little more leverage to pull on once you get the roots loosened up. I dug out some surprisingly big stumps with my little L275 and a small "CadPlan" backhoe which just rode on the 3 pth, although I was left with some pretty big holes.

I have a 48 HP tractor with 10' industrial hoe, and it takes me forever, and a huge mound of dirt, to extricate a pine stump.
As mentioned above, I prefer to wait a few years for them to partially rot.

 

[fried1765]

I don't recall that it was a pine tree but my wife's cousin next door had a tree he wanted dropped.

I dug on three sides of it, leaving the 4th side as sort of a 'hinge' to help prevent it falling back towards the house.

Otherwise, I simply dug on three sides, huffed, puffed and pushed it over.

Yeah, it was a bit nerve racking since "things happen" but it all went according to plan.

Since whole tree fell, it popped the root ball up.

Nice thing is, once I was done, I was done. HE was the one that cut the tree up & got rid of it. I got to MAKE the mess while he cleaned it. Doesn't get much better than that!

Much different!
THAT is not a pine tree.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I had hired this machine to do some other work.

I just find them too slow and expensive to deal with pine stumps. And the hole and ripped out roots are a terrible mess. But, he had to work around trees that were remaining. So I thought a dozer would be better. Never had a hoe take out all pines, but I can't see it being any more efficient. A hoe isn't great for levelling large areas.

For the work done, I think you just can't beat hiring BIG IRON. Then do the finish work yourself.

 

[hunt4570]

I had hired this machine to do some other work. View attachment 595546

I just find them too slow and expensive to deal with pine stumps. And the hole and ripped out roots are a terrible mess. But, he had to work around trees that were remaining. So I thought a dozer would be better. Never had a hoe take out all pines, but I can't see it being any more efficient. A hoe isn't great for levelling large areas.

For the work done, I think you just can't beat hiring BIG IRON. Then do the finish work yourself.

I agree, I had 6 acres cleared, then hired a guy with a dozer and excavator to stump it/clean it and level it. If you are just doing a few small trees that's not necessary but a big area yes..

 

[RUSTBUCKET BRONCO]

my vote is to cut them flush with a chainsaw low enough you can brush hog over the top. In a few years they will be all rotted away and not leave a big mess. That's what i'm doing with a lot of the alders I have on my property.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have found that anything you want made of wood rots overnight and a stump you don't want (in the ground) lasts forever!

 

[fruitcakesa]

We had to clear our homesite of a thicket of 20-30ft tall white pines.
We cut everything flush to the ground and then, since we intended to have a garden and lawn we proceed to cover the entire acre+- with everything carboniferous and biodegradable, newspapers, cardboard boxes, old clothes, rugs bedding, leaves, sawdust, woodchips etc.
That was 30 years ago and we have been gardening and mowing the lawn for probably 25 of those years and there is no sign of stumps as everything eventually composts.
I guess it depends on how big a rush you are in.

 

[Beltzington]

My question is , what are you doing with that land after getting rid of the trees? if its been raining and that sand is wet you can push over up to 3 maybe 4 inchers. If you have no quick use for that land those pine stumps rot away pretty quick, leave em a couple feet high and push em over in about a year or three..

AGREE

I dug, pulled, pushed and cussed at pine stumps and found they will basically rot away within a year if you just let them sit. You can drill a hole in them and add several different common household chemicals if you want them to rot faster. Unless you need to remove them for building something cut them close to the ground and forget about them.