Suggestions for removing Flowering Pear trees

[jdgreg]

I have 2 flowering bradford pear trees in my front yard, that have been ravaged by storms and momma wants new trees planted. The trees are 8-10" trunks, they were very tall, before the wind tore them apart. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Trying to mull over my best solution to get rid of the trees. I'm not going to salavage the trees, cost too much to have them transplanted, and the condition they're in, not worth it.

I would expect the trees are way to big to try and pull out with the truck and (long) chain.

So I guess my best bet is to cut them down and rent a grinder to grind the stump down.

Any other good suggestions?

 

[8NTX]

Been there, done that. For a quick fix, what you described is the best bet. There are probably a dozen threads on this very subject over the last few years describing alternative methods such as burning and ways to make them rot faster; you could check into those if you want.

 

[jdgreg]

I've seen a lot of them. Guess what I was really after was the type of root with that tree, and if pulling them out was worth it, or even possible. Not gonna burn it, acid it, etc, etc. Probably just gonna cut-em and grind-em. Besides, it'll give me an excuse to play with a new toy, a stump grinder. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dooleysm]

I've seen alot of Bradford Pears completely uprooted after heavy winds. This leads me to believe they have shallow roots and that you might have some luck pulling it over and getting the root ball out of there in one shot rather than cutting it down and grinding the stumps.

This is all speculation on my part, but pulling a tree over sounds like much more fun than just cutting it up.

 

[jeffinsgf]

8-10 inches is awfully big to think about pushing or pulling over. I have a 4410 and I have been tackling some saplings and 4-6 inchers. If it is in your yard, I would lean toward cutting and stump grinding. If it is someplace where tearing the ground up isn't a big deal, dig all the way around it, cutting as many roots as you can. Put your bucket against the trunk as high as you can and try to get it moving. BP's aren't deeply rooted, but anything that big is going to have a pretty good base.

 

[jdgreg]

Given the trunk size, is why I went ahead and cut them down. Will be renting a stump grinder this weekend. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Freds]

I just had three pear tree stumps ground down yesterday. They were about 16". I had thought about renting a stump grinder, but after talking with a couple people who have used one and the *intructions* from the rental place to dig all the dirt away from the stumps so the blade doesn't hit dirt.... The $30 I gave a professional with the right tool for the job was well worth it.
After I cut the trees down a few years ago I sure did miss the flowers from the trees in the spring, but not the rotting pears in the summer.