Best way for clearing HUNDREDS of stumps?

[bcp]

I fully expect it to take me all spring and summer to get the trees down,...

Get a large excavator or dozer to push the trees down, then there won't be 100's of stumps left to dig out.

Bruce

 

[4570Man]

Get a large excavator or dozer to push the trees down, then there won't be 100's of stumps left to dig out.

Bruce

Agreed. Cutting the trees first is a big waste of time.

 

[nybirdman]

I had about five acres cleared of brush with a skid steer with a Fecon head;left some trees that were good for firewood(cut over the winter)spring time I hired a guy with a 6000 lb.excavator with a thumb to dig maybe 50 stumps and I cleaned up and piled with my tractor and grapple.Burned the piles and no big holes to fill.

 

[NYCheese]

Get a large excavator or dozer to push the trees down, then there won't be 100's of stumps left to dig out.

Bruce

What size machine are we talking about here, to be capable of pushing down trees that are 24"+?

I'm not at all opposed to this idea, I just don't have any experience running equipment that would be big enough to do it.

 

[BoylermanCT]

I hired a large excavator to demo my barn, and while he was at it, I asked him to remove a stump from a 20" diameter oak tree. Took him less than 2 minutes. Get the right tool for the job or you will be clearing your field forever! This is a 70,000 lb excavator.

 

[TractorGuy]

What size machine are we talking about here, to be capable of pushing down trees that are 24"+?

I'm not at all opposed to this idea, I just don't have any experience running equipment that would be big enough to do it.

15,000 lb minimum.

 

[oosik]

I helped a fellow clear a windrow of willows. At first we fell the trees and left a stump about five feet high. We pulled the stump over & out with his large agricultural tractor. What a mess. It left gigantic holes. And we still had the stump and root ball to deal with.

Then we started cutting the trees at or a bit below ground level. Left the stump & root ball in the ground to rot away. Rented a large self propelled chipper and over a two week period all the trees were chipped.

His windrow was at the property line. Depressions & holes from the rotting root wad presented no problems. After about five years he ran his crawler tractor over the area. It fill all the holes - compressed the ground - leveled everything out. He just might have to do it again with his crawler tractor in another ten years or so.

 

[1010]

Hardwood is in big demand in my area $$$ I certainly wouldn't waste my timber. I dunno what you have either but a 14 inch + tree is worth something..

 

[Jstpssng]

Hardwood is in big demand in my area $$$ I certainly wouldn't waste my timber. I dunno what you have either but a 14 inch + tree is worth something..

I was thinking the same thing. That's before we start talking about what to do with all of those trees afterward. As a very rough estimate if the field is completely grown in. you have 1 cord of biomass per acre for every foot of height.

This is the proper tool for land clearing...

 

[caver]

Getting rid of the trees will also eliminate "rotors" coming off them. Never flew a paramotor but flew a trike for several years and a Weedhooper before that.