Large Stump Removal

[RobD70]

Im posting this to help out my nephew. He has a plot of land near a lake in norhtern Wisconsin. I have not seen it, but he has a huge stump he was working on getting removed. He said it was 3 large oak trees that grew together with one huge stump. Soil up there is sandy with alot of rocks. He had a backhoe in to dig around it some, he says the guy dug 3-4 down and wasnt able to move the stump. He drilled holes in it and filled with drain oil several times to let it soak in good, then tried to burn it, without luck. The tree was cut down last year so the stump is relatively green yet. Im sure in the efforts to burn it out, it dried somewhat. I know the easiest answer is to bring in a big excavator on tracks or a big dozer and let them rip it out, but that will cost a fair amount, which he dont have, so we are looking for budget ways to get the stump out. I know a way, but his camper is to close and the lake it to close and it would draw too much attention. What other ways is there to get this big stump out? Even if it can be broke lose, we could work on dragging it out. The ground around the stump is 3-4 feet lower than ground level from what the backhoe dug out. Any ideas ?

Thanks

Rob

 

[jeff9366]

When the stump is fairly dry, make a dam around it, pour in 20 - 50 pounds of cheap charcoal briquets and fire it up.

Stump can burn up to two weeks. If the ground is dry/porus you need to wait as smoldering can spread through roots to edge of the drip line.

With favorable conditions the entire trunk and roots down to one inch will convert to ash.

 

[Creamer]

Not having seen photos I am a little in the dark but I will take a shot.
Somehow you are going to need to piece it out. If you have dug around it take a garden hose (or better yet, a power washer) and wash the dirt off of it. Then you can cut it with a chain saw. If you can cut down past the stump into the roots then you can either cut the roots or use the small backhoe to take the chunks out ot at least break them off way below grade.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Does he still have the backhoe out there? Couldnt he just dig a larger circumference and deeper hole?

 

[5030]

+1 on roasting it. I do that regularly. Another option is drilling and filling woth potassium permagnate. That rots the wood quick but the charcoal cooking works best.

 

[dave1949]

+2 on burn it out. Charcoal, or make that the brush burning hole until its gone.

Stumps are heavy. I've dug all around smaller stumps than that, got all the roots cut, and my little backhoe didn't have the grunt to pull the weight of the stump up out of the hole. Sometimes, if you dig a ramp on two sides so the FEL bucket can get a good shot at it, and you're not trying to push the stump over the lip of the hole, you can push out bigger stumps than the backhoe can lift.

I once had a triple maple stump in sand that I dug to China around and could not move it. Eventually I found the roots had grown around a big rock, bigger than my FEL could lift. Surprise! :laughing: I used the push it up a dug ramp technique on that one.

 

[Egon]

Time to call on Shane and the Farmer!!

The pressure washer may be the way to go. If it's possible to trench out the water even better or use a trash pump.

 

[woodlandfarms]

We hired a large track hoe. Going to expirement with burning the remainder this fall....

 

[NWOutlawMX]

I've just spent 2 months pulling huge Douglas fir stumps. There were a few that had 2 or three that had grown together. I ended up digging around the stump and find all the roots growing outwards and dig along them. Cut them off at the stump and again at about 4ft away. Then keep digging down to make sure the ones that go out are all cut, then I had to start digging underneath the stump (there is another set of roots going straight down) keep digging from the side underneath and cut the roots. at some point a backhoe should be able to pull it over. Some of them took 12-16 hours a piece

 

[Creamer]

I've just spent 2 months pulling huge Douglas fir stumps. There were a few that had 2 or three that had grown together. I ended up digging around the stump and find all the roots growing outwards and dig along them. Cut them off at the stump and again at about 4ft away. Then keep digging down to make sure the ones that go out are all cut, then I had to start digging underneath the stump (there is another set of roots going straight down) keep digging from the side underneath and cut the roots. at some point a backhoe should be able to pull it over. Some of them took 12-16 hours a piece

That's a good sized backhoe. I would think they would make short work of Fir stumps. How long did you have in the worst stump?

 

[Blade Breaker]

How about just rent a stump grinder. 20 minutes and it will be cut down to about a foot below surface.

 

[Sysop]

The more of it you can take out, the quicker you can have the hole filled and no longer need to mess with it. A stump grinder is a good quick solution, but you will spend the next twenty years adding dirt and replanting grass in the hole as what remains rots away.

 

[NWOutlawMX]

That's a good sized backhoe. I would think they would make short work of Fir stumps. How long did you have in the worst stump?

The worst one took 2 days. It was actually one with a 52" diameter at ground level with a 28" and a 14" side by side grown into the roots of the big one. It's a 120 sized excavator and I thought it would be big enough to make the labor part less but it was not to be. It will pull up to 24" stumps with no cutting. Quite a few times I lined up head on, got the bucket under the edge of a root and pulled. This would then raise the back of the excavator up 2-3ft then I would just twitch the controls and get it bouncing and eventually it pulled them free.