PTO Stump grinder for several acres

[North to Alaska]

I will probably hire a forestry mulcher this fall for about 6 acres that I have cut and removed the trees already. Sold the wood for firewood. I will have more acres in the future to mulch. Slowly clearing 25 of 40 acres for a berry farm.
All spruce and birch.

Thinking about buying a PTO stump grinder, the type that swing side to side.
General idea is to save a bunch of money on the mulching end by using my tractor to remove the most time consuming part of the job, which is the stumps. Plus remove them a little deeper into the ground.

2020 Branson 4520r with 48 hp. Two rear remotes.

Guy doing the mulching thinks he can mulch the 6 acres within two days. $3,000 per day. Possibly do it in 1 1/2 days so low end of $4,500.
He’s a little hesitant on the larger birch stumps.

Is it worth the up front money, the wear and tear on the tractor, or my time considering how long it would take for me to grind that many stumps? Probably my biggest concern is the wear and tear on my tractor.

One positive would be extra income grinding other people’s stumps.

Thoughts?
Especially from those who may have done large numbers of stumps at a time?

Thanks all

 

[Fladogman]

I have the woods tsg50. Although it's tough and does a pretty good job I wouldn't want to use it for a lot of stumps at the time such as you're describing . It's slow and sometimes hard on your tractor . In my opinion they aren't as efficient as other options but if you have plenty of time they will do the job. I prefer digging them up to grinding if at all possible . Have you looked into an excavator ?

 

[oosik]

Talkeetna - you are pretty remote up there. I spent a year in Glennallen. This was quite a while ago - 1965. So - hopefully - things have improved in all this time.

I wish you all the best in your endeavor. You are taking on quite a project.

BTW - there is another TBN'er in Talkeetna that you might want to contact. Doofy.

 

[WM75Guy]

You will probably need to grind the stumps after mulching. I had some mulching done a while back. While the stumps were pretty flush to the ground, they still caused problems when mowing. I lived with it knowing where they were when mowing. This year I had some more oak trees taken down by a tree service and dealt with the stumps myself. I bought a Land Pride stump grinder for the CTL. Similar to the PTO stump grinder. It is a slow process depending on the stump size. One of mine was 4' in diameter 2' above the ground, and about 8' in diameter at ground level with all the roots running out from it, similar to the large tree in the background. Took me about 2 days to do that one. But I took it about 4-6" below grade level.

 

[rumwrks]

I don't have the swing grinder but the pull through.. I wouldn't use it on an non HST tractor cause you really need to crawl through the stumps with it.. The swing grinder would likely be ok since the tractor is basically stationary while it's in use.

It looks like the swing grinders are perhaps a touch faster but not hugely. The cut rate is really the limiting factor as you can only take off an inch, maybe two per pass and each pass takes a while (maybe 1-2 minutes per foot or so on softer wood.. slower on hard).

I can do maybe a dozen in an afternoon if they're small half a dozen if they're 12-18" and maybe a couple or even just one if they're of any real size at all. It's super convenient for MY use where I can do it on my own time and I don't really have that much real big stuff.. but I think for your project you might be there a while, especially if you need to take them below grade at all.

If you're planning to do a really large amount I'd either rent a big excavator to pull them (personal preference) or a much bigger self powered stump grinder (which still won't be super fast but faster). I think with a decent 8-12 ton excavator you could probably do somewhere between half acre and an acre per day depending on stump density and size.. bigger is faster.. that'd be somewhere around $3-5k per week rental around where I am... factor in some diesel..

 

[North to Alaska]

I have the woods tsg50. Although it's tough and does a pretty good job I wouldn't want to use it for a lot of stumps at the time such as you're describing . It's slow and sometimes hard on your tractor . In my opinion they aren't as efficient as other options but if you have plenty of time they will do the job. I prefer digging them up to grinding if at all possible . Have you looked into an excavator ?

My issue with the excavator is the large number of stump/roots that will be left in a pileat the edge of the property. We can’t just burn those piles due to major burn restrictions and permits here. (Easy to start forest fires here)
Then there are the holes which need to be filled up

 

[sandman2234]

If you rent a big enough excavator, then you dig a hole as deep as you can and bury the old stumps. Next door neighbor did that back in 2002 and the ground hasn't sunk like I thought it would. He buried them about 25 foot deep, but a lot of them!
A backhoe might be a good investment rather than a stump grinder. If you are planting in rows, the grinder may not go deep enough for the blueberries to be planted on top of them.
A neighbor years ago had some large pines cut on my property, thinking they were his. I rented a backhoe to dig out a small pond and a guy down the street stopped by and used it to dig the stumps. He just dug next to them on 3 sides, then either pushed or pulled the stump into the hole and filled it up. They were old growth pines, so probably won't rot any time soon. Even if the stumps do rot, a load of dirt would fix that issue.
David from jax

 

[garry1p]

The problem I see using the tractor stump grinder would be later when planting, at best I doubt you can grind more than 6" below the surface.
The second consideration is the hole will still have to be filled with dirt, if you just push the sawdust and chips in to fill the hole it will take years to compost.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I don't have the swing grinder but the pull through.. I wouldn't use it on an non HST tractor cause you really need to crawl through the stumps with it..

This just isn't true! If your tractor has the creep transmission, a pull through grinder works perfectly.

SR

 

[nyone]

Dig the stumps with the tree still attached for the rest of them. After doing it how your do and digging up the tree whole il never cut a tree that il want thr stump also gone.

There's almost always a decent time of year to burn brush..it may just not be right now.

 

[North to Alaska]

Dig the stumps with the tree still attached for the rest of them. After doing it how your do and digging up the tree whole il never cut a tree that il want thr stump also gone.

There's almost always a decent time of year to burn brush..it may just not be right now.

Burn permit (and inspection) is required for larger burn piles. All burn piles require a person 18 or older to be near the fire at all times till cool to the touch. This requires one of to be there all night long.

Small burn piles just don’t require inspection and can be put out easier.

This is taken seriously up here.

 

[North to Alaska]

The problem I see using the tractor stump grinder would be later when planting, at best I doubt you can grind more than 6" below the surface.
The second consideration is the hole will still have to be filled with dirt, if you just push the sawdust and chips in to fill the hole it will take years to compost.

A forestry mulcher smoothes things out pretty well. Lots of advantages for me. Not worried about how deep the stumps are since I will be seeding hay (timothy and brome) with white clover in the rows of haskap bushes.

 

[BlueKnife]

Thoughts?
Especially from those who may have done large numbers of stumps at a time?

I owned and ran a tree service for 20+ years and have ground many thousands of stumps. My opinion? Don't bother with a three point stump grinder. Rent or hire a good sized tracked grinder.

 

[North to Alaska]

I owned and ran a tree service for 20+ years and have ground many thousands of stumps. My opinion? Don't bother with a three point stump grinder. Rent or hire a good sized tracked grinder.

Thank you!
Just trying to decide if it was worth it vs just letting the mulcher deal with them.

Still have questions for him such as how deep the stumps will go. I will definitely cut all the stumps to the ground. It’s firewood
That will save him time and save me money.