Stumps

[602466]

I have cleared about 2 acres of land last November. I have been working the past year cutting the wood down and giving away for free firewood. I had a guy come in with a big dozer and lean into the trees. It took down the tree and stump. I am down to the stumps at this point. Most of the stumps are too big for my tractor to lift (I have to roll the stumps). I have drilled into the stumps and soaked with diesel fuel. They just don't want to burn. I don't want to bury them either. Any ideas to make this go quicker? I have about 50 2-3 foot diameter stumps to get rid of.

Thanks,

Wally

 

[Treemonkey1000]

If you have any of the branches left stack them up around the stump then take a good leaf blower and aim that at the base to get the flames good and hot. They may need to get a little drier to burn. Sounds like you can't skid or drag them into a big pile. You might try anchoring to a good tree or stump a strong cable or rope then thru a pulley to your tractor and the stump you want to move. That would almost double your pulling power. That creates the risk of snapping the cable or rope though.

 

[602466]

I have the stumps in a circle with the root balls to the outside. I have burnt all the wasted wood in the middle of this circle. I was hoping to get the wood (stump) really hot and dry out and burn. This also kept any fire that I made under control. As I said, I could roll the stumps in an effort to get all the dirt off also. Hoping to get this done ASAP.

Thanks for your post.

Wally

 

[redharley]

20 plus yr's ago I cleared 2 acre's where my house sit's now of tree's and stumps.I think you got rid of your fire wood to soon.It takes a fair amount to get those stumps going,the least amount of dirt the better try to knock off as much as possible.Maybe collect some old pallets to get things going,add some fuel oil if needed,you will need a big bed of coals to keep them going and will have to move the pile to make things happen.My pile would still rekindle after 10 days when stired up.Is hauling them somewhere close for fill an opition? You'll spend a few nights looking when the wind blows for sure. Good luck

 

[VirginiaAgent]

I tried to burn large stumps when I cleared my property earlier this year. Smaller stumps, up to about eight inches in diameter, were burnable. The big stumps, some two feet in diameter, were not. I scorched them, but they would not burn.

Redharley is right, the size fire you would have to build and maintain to burn big stumps is a scary thing. A friend of mine recently lost 10 acres burning piles of trees. I recommend you take / push / pull them to an out of the way area, and forget about it. It would cost allot to have them hauled away. I coverd mine with dirt from the pond that I dug. Now I have nice rolling hills (with stumps underneath)

VA

 

[LBrown59]

When i did my grubbing I took about 28 stumps up t0 14'' in diameter to the land fill.
L B

 

[EddieWalker]

I found the only way to get rid of them was to first get them out of the ground. They hold water, and the drying out time can be years depending on the species. Heck, some will even come back to live after a few years.

Stump removal really isn't allot of fun, but with a backhoe or trackhoe, it's just a matter of time spent doing them one at a time. Some species come our fairly easily, like cedar, others can be a nightmare with a massive tap root, like some types of pine. The hardwoods are usualy pretty basic, you just have to start out far enough to cut the smaller roots and work your way in. The roots are too tightly packed in the dirt close to the stump to cut through with a regular sized backoe.

If you just want it for pasture and you don't mind them rotting in place over the next dozen years, or so, then grinding them down is a simple, do it yourselfer option. Grind them down as far as you can and cover with dirt. When they start to rot, the ground will create a deprecion and then a hole. You'll just have to add dirt to these areas when they become a problem. If you are not building over these stumps, this is a simple, easy solution.

Good Luck,
Eddie

 

[FortClatsop]

I had an excavator pile them, left them to dry all summer, piled lots of good stuff all over them and come fall used a leaf blower and still had the most dissapointing fire ever. Pushed the pile, pushed and lifted, eventually dropped one stump on the tractor hood...ouch. Spring came, started again. Eventually had another excavator move the unburnable ones to a far, low corner of the property and pushed them far away. I suppose if I ever want firewood from that corner of the swamp I'll come to regret that decision.

It seems like they take time, patience, or money to get rid of. Good luck.

They take all the fun out of burning.

 

[RonMar]

Before I got my backhoe, I did some experiments with accelerated decay of the stumps that were in my way. Best results I had was to cut the tree or stump off as close to ground level as possible. Then using a chainsaw, I cut a 2" grid as deep as I could into the top. Cutting it down to ground level allowed me to drive the tractor over it, but the grid really accelerated the decay. A fire on top would have got it below ground level relatively fast. The stumps I have removed with the backhoe and grided with the chainsaw do burn faster.

So what I do now is, as mentioned get them out of the ground and get as much dirt off them as possible. A pressure washer works well for this. Then take a chainsaw and cut as deep as you can into them in as many places as possible to increase their surface area. This is a real pain as roots grow around and hold rocks, and you are never quite sure where they will be found. You can usually cut pretty far down in from where the trunk was attached though, and this will get you mostly into the heart of the trunk and expose that wood to the atmosphere. The more deeper cuts, the better. Then burn regularly. Got brush to burn, pile it over a stump. Just like trying to burn green firewood, the split wood burns easier than whole rounds as the smaller cross section pieces and added surface area helps the fire heat to drive out the moisture and release the wood gas. What you are looking for is a fire hot enough so that you see steam escaping from the side of the stump that is away from the fire, and with a large stump, this takes a sustained hot fire. Any way you look at it, burning stumps is very time consuming and labor intensive. If you want this done quickly, as mentioned, have them hauled or have them buried...

I feel your pain, good Luck.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So on this whole subject of stumps. We placed well over half a dozen large (like small car sized) stumps into a hole an buried it up. It was done professionally, all the dirt packed down nice.

But someone said that It may all collapse underneath when it rots. Any thoughts on this? I really don't want to create a hazard on my property, at least more than living out in the sticks causes anyway...