Grass Stirp 100 x 1800

[wisc]

I want to build a private grass strip at my place, 100 x 1800.
I will have to remove trees, remove the stumps, smooth it out, possibly fill in some low level areas. 1300 feet has trees, the other is just a field.
I will have the trees cut by a lumber company. I assume they will not clean up the area very well.

I have a small Kubota tractor L2800.

Questions/Issues:
What is the best way to dig up or remove the stumps? The trees in general are not very big, probably 2-3 feet diameter at the most.
Should I rent a dozer?
Is there anything I can purchase for my small tractor to do the job?
If my small tractor will not do the job if I had a slightly larger tractor could I do the job? If it is more economical than renting I could trade in my tractor for something larger.

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[BeezFun]

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

I'd hire a stump grinder and not pull them out. If you dig them out you'll have big holes to fill, they'll settle over time and you'll have to regrade and seed. My experience with grinding down about a foot is that you can spread some dirt, reseed, and in a year can't tell anything was there. A stump grinder also won't tear the whole place up like the tracks on a bulldozer, it just rolls around on tires. I rented a grinder once and wished I'd hired it out. They're huge, dangerous machines, kind of scary until you get used to them. Also the commercial ones are bigger than what you can rent and they get the job done much quicker.

 

[wisc]

BeezFun, that is a good recommendation. However, it is a pretty big area to individually grind stumps, does that change your thoughts?
I'll look around and see if I can find a stump grinder attachment for my tractor.
Thanks

 

[Willl]

Stump will rot then you will have to fill anyway.

I'd rip 'em out, fill and compact, grade and compact (yes, compact twice), rent seed drill and seed.

 

[KYDan]

I don't know about you, but I consider a 3' diameter tree to be large. I had some moved from my runway area by a big trackhoe with a thumb. It worked pretty good, then I had him tamp dirt back into the hole with the trackhoe. It cost a little money, but 10 years later there is very little settling involved. I roll the runway regularly and if there are any depressions of significance I simply put some topsoil in seed it with some rye and roll it again. Works pretty good. I have an 8' roller filled with waste anti-freeze that my Kubota dealer gave me, so I don't have to drain it in the winter. It is 30" diameter. I use the muck from my ponds for topsoil after it has composted.

 

[dstig1]

Hire a guy with a big enough excavator to dig them out like Willl said. Grinding does not remove them, it just cleans up the surface and a few inches down and there will be further rot and settling over the years. 2-3' dia is not a small tree...

You may want to look into land clearing outfits for this. They could zip that stuff out in a day or two with the big equipment.

 

[creekbend]

You stated:"I will have the trees cut by a lumber company". This indicates to me that the logging has not begun as of yet. Are you proposing having a lumber company's loggers doing the cutting, or a private certified logger doing the cutting and selling to the yards? It is also obvious that no contract has been signed between you and the logging firm. There are other TBN members that are loggers and do land clearing for their livelihoods. Perhaps they will give you additional advice and proposals, because a person does not have the opportunity to sell timber just everyday. There are many variables involved in selling cutting rights in regards to your timber. Proof of liability insurance carried by the company, which party is responsible for providing adequate access, such as roads, surveying the property lines, maintaining erosion preventative measures; etc. When I had some of our land logged, the contract detailed all the previous stated variables and then some. For instance, the time span, from beginning to ending. By the way, most professional logging companies will provide you with a substantial down payment and count the additional truck loads and provide all paperwork between them and the lumber yards. The final payment will be decided by the tonnage rates, both for hardwoods and softwoods, that were listed in the contract. I even had the logging company put into the contract that they would perform 10 hours of dozer work afterward to be done by at least a D-9 machine, and that was after all the debris was gathered into piles. This did not include stump removal. Be advised that many companies have different methods of doing business, but this is exactly the way, that my business dealings went. Another important thing is to have the contract signed by a notary with both parties present. Hope this was of some assistance. Please do all the research before making a decision and signing a contract.Best of everything in regards to your endeavor.

 

[wisc]

Thanks everyone, good advice. Definitely more things to consider before hiring the lumber company.

 

[BeezFun]

What kind of plane do you have?

 

[AHNC]

Well, the way we did it in the pipeline business is to bring in a JD450 dozer with a front mounted rake to handle the 2-3" logs. We'd burn the tops, but that was a "production job". The tops are good firewood. Then we would have a D9 come in to dig up the stumps, push them all to one side, dig a trench on the open side, push the stumps into the trench, smooth it all out and install the pipeline in the clean side. In your case, you can negotiate anything you want with the loggers. They likely have the equipment to deal with this and once they are there...well, it has to be esiest to get it done the first "go around."