Little Tractor, Big Stump

[TractorGuy]

This has probably been shared but I found it interesting to watch. Lots of set up and finish work for one stump.

 

[EddieWalker]

Re: Little Tractor, Big Stumo

Impressive display of how much more power you can get out of pulleys. Nice that the tree had such a shallow root system too. Here, we have trees that fall over in Tyler after a big storm, or if the ground is really saturated because they where planted after the house was built and watered their whole life. They never develop deep roots and eventually they are so big and heavy that their shallow roots can't keep them in the ground. I'm wondering if that's what happened with that tree, or if that's just how they grow there?

 

[TractorGuy]

Re: Little Tractor, Big Stumo

Impressive display of how much more power you can get out of pulleys. Nice that the tree had such a shallow root system too. Here, we have trees that fall over in Tyler after a big storm, or if the ground is really saturated because they where planted after the house was built and watered their whole life. They never develop deep roots and eventually they are so big and heavy that their shallow roots can't keep them in the ground. I'm wondering if that's what happened with that tree, or if that's just how they grow there?

Different trees have different root structures. I don't recall the cherry trees I dug out having a deep tap root. Most of my pine stumps will look like the tree trunk for 6 to 8 feet deep. They have to be dug out! I don't think this pulley system would budge one. The gnarliest stump I have encountered was a huge sweetgum. Not sure what species I'm digging as I work my way through the area I had clear cut but some will pull right out as this cherry does and others will require a couple hours of digging. They are all on the same land side by side so it is definitely a species variance rather than environment.

 

[EddieWalker]

True. I've taken out thousands of trees with my backhoe and I know that some species are going to be a lot harder then others. Pines can be really challenging, but there is another tree that has a dozen trunks coming out of a tangled mess of a root ball that has as many tap roots as it has trunks. Each trunk is about six inches or so in diamater, but the roots are even thicker and a lot harder to cut through with my backhoe.

In the video, it looks like an Oak to me. I've found that oaks can have some massive lateral roots and even a good sized tap root. I don't see that on this stump. This looks like those Oaks in town that fall over on houses and there are hardly any roots bigger then six inches on them.

 

[MossRoad]

I've got a lot of large cherry trees on our property. Seems I lose several a year to wind. They just don't have deep roots around here. The 12-14" locust have way more and deeper roots than a multiple trunk cherry with three-five trunks averaging 20" each.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I'm amazed that he didn't rip out the other tree which seems quite small for the task.

Sad when you loose a favourite tree.

 

[TractorGuy]

Water oaks have a shallow root system. We've had a few fall from wind.

BTW if you have a tree fall like that be careful when you cut it away from the stump. The stump is going to right itself with a vengeance.

 

[4570Man]

I'm amazed that he didn't rip out the other tree which seems quite small for the task.

Sad when you loose a favourite tree.

I find that white oaks are way more sturdy than a red oak. You’ll hardly ever see a healthy white oak uproot in a storm and it happens all the time with red oak. And I’ve dug up enough to know they put up a lot more fight. I’d you’re referring to a water oak as what I’ve always called a post oak they’re a garbage tree that’s usually half rotten, very few branches and easy to push over.