Opinions from land clearing experts please?

[prichard]

Not exactly equipment, but process.

We need to take down 20-30 trees. Some are where the house will go some are yard and garden areas. I think I'll likely just cut them down. But what to do with stumps? My tractor won't pull stumps. So in yard areas I don't mind hiring/renting a grinder. But where foundation will go I'm concerned about soil disruption. Foundation will be part wall, crawlspace, not slab or full basements.

Any thoughts?

 

[Coyote machine]

Cut trees, leave 3' high stalks, hire excavator to dig foundation, rip stumps and haul off, or dig huge hole and bury where you won't be using that section of land. You will have to disrupt soil to get rid of trees. Ask the excavator best way to minimize same, fill in area and compact soil, etc.

 

[prichard]

Thank you. That's what I was thinking.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using TractorByNet

 

[Looking4new]

You could use the excavated stumps for a fence around the perimeter of the property.

 

[EddieWalker]

I learned many years ago that the biggest waste of time in tree removal is cutting them down, then dealing with the stumps. If you dig the stump out with the tree still attached, you don't have to deal with cutting it down, and the weight of the tree does most of the work for you getting the stump out. I've taken out thousands of trees like this with my backhoe. An excavator is even better!!!!

Once you dig out your first stump, you will realize what a pain and waste of time that is.

 

[prichard]

So, Eddie, you dig the stump with tree still standing? What stops the tree from falling on you? How big of a backhoe or excavator is required? These are some hardwood up to 6" and some volunteer pines up to 8". Most are 3" - 5".

 

[EddieWalker]

Gravity keeps it in place. The hardest part of it is pushing them over once you have dug a trench on all four sides. I have a full sized 80 hp 2 wheel drive New Holland backhoe. I don't even think about what might happen on anything smaller then 2 feet at the trunk, and I've taken out dozens of oaks and pines well over 3 feet thick at the base. The only ones that scare me are the standing dead ones that are starting to rot. A branch can come off any time and drop on you. Same thing with a pine. I once had a pine snap off way up high and come down like a spear and stick into the ground about ten feet off to the side. But there is a huge difference between those and little trees like you are talking about. If you are having an excavator come in to dig the basement, it will take each one out in a few minutes. Five minutes max!!!!! Then you have a clean hole to fill with clean dirt that you just compact real good and you're done.

 

[tractorshopper]

Put a tooth bar on your B2601 and you'll be surprised how many trees you can pop out yourself, especially the pines. Kind of push the tree about 5' up in the direction you want it to fall to get it's weight going that way, then use your loader and a well placed tooth under the root area and curl the bucket. I've done a lot this way. Most with an L3800, but a few with my BX also. The weight of the trees helps pull up the tap roots and putting a tooth under and curling and pushing will finish the job. You'll learn pretty quickly what you can and can't get. I'd estimate you can probably get a lot of 4" and under stuff yourself.

 

[prichard]

Thank you, Eddie. Need to talk to the neighbor about his backhoes then. Else I might rent one to get rid of them.

 

[EddieWalker]

Only picture I could find that might give you an idea of how it's done. After digging down two sides, you change position and dig out the other two sides, to create a square. On some trees, especially big ones, you have to undercut the stump a little to get it to break free. Other trees you have to go down deeper, but for small pines like this, it's pretty simple.

I dig my first two sides where I want to three to fall. Then I dig the other two sides, then lift the hoe stick as high as I can and push. It always falls right where I want it to. Out in the open, where I can either pick it up with the grapple, or get a chain around it and drag it to the burn pile.

Sometimes you get a tree in one of those awkward locations where you can't drop it in the most ideal place to remove it. Then its more work either cutting it into smaller pieces, dragging lengths of chains to it, or taking out other trees to get to it.