Removing christmas trees stumps

[tcreeley]

Here is something designed for the job:

 

[Thirsty]

Get a root ripper. I got mine from Bro-Tec and I am extreamly satisfied. I use it on my Kubota BH-92

 

[TheMadOne]

I kinda doubt OP has enough horses to pull that thing with his L3800. Maybe see if a local tree farm has one and is willing to hire out both the tiller and the 300+HP tractor it takes to run it. There's actually a fair chance if he doesn't mind waiting until the tree farm is between planting and harvest.

 

[eyi]

Hi all,

You are very generous to take time and share ideas. I realize l am not stupid and it is a good challenge indeed.

Some of the trees were already harvested last fall so i am having some stumps l can make tests on. Soon after the snow has melted l'll try with my tractor and the rachet rake. I'll see and keep you posted for sure.

Another thing is l do not exclude to work it out differently sectors by sector. Maybe work extensively in a parcel ( with an excavator or the tractor depending ) to have it started and do thing another way in another parcel. I was already thinking about cutting them flush and plant between rows, l' ll have to re-check how wide it is between rows and see what kind of implement could break ground between them.

A last factor l'll have to check is the soil acidity, l suspect all those trees have had a bad impact. I don't even know if it'd be wise to plant clover ( for example) right away. Maybe it will need to sit ( and rot ) for a while. All that could become expensive, it is always sad when anything grows, except what you want !

Thanks again, will keep you posted.

 

[TheMadOne]

Pines are hard on ph. Definitely spend the money for the test kit before you try to plant anything. I put in a small deer plot last fall, and almost nothing came up because the soil was so sour.

 

[MossRoad]

Hi all,

Bought a 20 acres field loaded with christmas trees which will be cut next fall.

My plan is to converse most of it into a nice deer food plot. The question is what to do with the stumps ?

Leave them rot would be a solution, but how long would it take ? Probably a problem to work the soil correctly for 3-5 years ? Too long ...

Could i remove it with my Kubota L3800, with a rachet rake on the bucket ? I fear l may have a hard time with the largest ones ?

Any implement comes to your mind ?

Thanks

Don't know how your trees are planted. Most Christmas tree farms around here have 6 rows of trees with a driving lane between them. Till up the driving lanes and plant your deer feed in the driving lanes and let the stumps rot. In the old tree rows, plant oaks that will produce acorns and other trees and shrubs that will provide deer forage and food for other wildlife. Put deer stands at the ends of the feed lanes.

 

[4570Man]

Is there enough stump sticking up to grab it with a tree puller? <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=502834"/>

That puller is the best thing since sliced bread. Even if the stumps were flush with the ground I could still rip them out it. I've taken 20" oak stumps with it. A 4" fir stump would be a piece of cake.

 

[eyi]

Don't know how your trees are planted. Most Christmas tree farms around here have 6 rows of trees with a driving lane between them. Till up the driving lanes and plant your deer feed in the driving lanes and let the stumps rot. In the old tree rows, plant oaks that will produce acorns and other trees and shrubs that will provide deer forage and food for other wildlife. Put deer stands at the ends of the feed lanes.

Not a bad idea. Anyway i need some driving ways. Could manage some over flat stumps !

Thanks again all

 

[Gary Fowler]

Christmas tree sized evergreen trees should not be hard to pull up by the roots just using a chain and pulled from the drawbar. There are some gadgets that enable you to drop a loop quickly over a small stump and grab the stump securely. I cant think of the name off hand but I am sure someone on TBN can come up with it. It would be simple operation to just drive down center of the tree lane, drop the loop, drive forward to remove the stump, then release and drop the chain over the next one. It would take a ground man, but costwise this is your cheapest option. 20 acres seems like a lot but it will go pretty fast and at most your investment in new equipment would be under $100 including the chain.

 

[Xfaxman]

I cant think of the name off hand but I am sure someone on TBN can come up with it.

Brush Grubber: BrushGrubber | Brush Grubber Products

This is the type that I have

 

[Egon]

Clearing:

 

[Creamer]

Leave it to Gary to have a simple effective method and Xfaxman kows what toys are out there.

 

[rd_macgregor]

If you don't want to wait for the stumps to rot, I think Thirsty's suggestion of a root ripper is a good one. If you don't have a backhoe, you can get (or have made) a similar implement for the 3-PH that will be able to just pop the small stumps out (without needing a ground man) ...all it will take is accurate driving to snag them as you drive along. Then, you can come back and collect them with a landscape rake, grapple rake or whatever you have available (hint, a FEL bucket is a poor tool for scooping up these little stumps with roots unless you are content to do only one or two at a time!).

 

[kthompson]

Maybe I totally failed to see where the type of Christmas tree was mentioned. Some every green stumps rot out reasonable well while others are very slow to rot. Can tell you in my area we have pines that rot out say in 5 years that size and others that will be there 15 years. First is to know if they rot and if so what kind of time table. If I were doing this and they would rot in say 5 years would plant between them as suggested. I have used a standard box blade to pull stumps like that but was using little heavier and about 43 hp. Was very easy and fast. If it failed to come up pulling one direction would circle it and pull from another. You could use the box blade to pull or push them into piles.

 

[MossRoad]

Just some fun things to think about.....

Typical Christmas tree farm has over 1000 trees per acre.

OP has 20 acres of Christmas tree stumps.....

That's at least 20,000 stumps, probably more.

If you spend 3 minutes on each stump, that's 60,000 minutes. That's 1000 hours, or 125 eight hour days.

Then you have 20,000 stumps sitting in a field that you have to do something with.

You also have 20,000 chuckholes to fall in while doing something with the stumps.

So depending on how fast you want that job done, and if you want the holes filled back in, and what you want done with the stumps.... things to think about.

 

[MossRoad]

I vote for the let them rot test.... :laughing:

 

[fishheadbob]

I've owned 2 Christmas Tree farms. Moss Road makes an excellent point about 10 to 20 thousand stumps. I'd vote for letting them rot for a year or two to soften up, then I'd rent, beg, or borrow enough horsepower to pull a moldboard plow through the stumps. At least 3 or 4 bottoms and 70 to 100 horsepower with good treads for good traction should be sufficient to turn over the stumps without one of them stopping the tractor. Once they're in full contact with the ground they'll deteriorate quickly - like a few more years - and you could do anything with the land. That all assumes the tree owner cuts every last tree out. Odds are that some will be butt ugly and not worth cutting, so factor that into the labor equation.

 

[Egon]

Just some fun things to think about.....

Typical Christmas tree farm has over 1000 trees per acre.

OP has 20 acres of Christmas tree stumps.....

That's at least 20,000 stumps, probably more.

If you spend 3 minutes on each stump, that's 60,000 minutes. That's 1000 hours, or 125 eight hour days.

Then you have 20,000 stumps sitting in a field that you have to do something with.

You also have 20,000 chuckholes to fall in while doing something with the stumps.

So depending on how fast you want that job done, and if you want the holes filled back in, and what you want done with the stumps.... things to think about.

Moss; one starts to manually remove the stumps one by one. The chances are most will be rotted out before you finish!

If the stumps are required to be removed a breaking disc and tractor of suitable size will make short work of them.

 

[k0ua]

I vote for the let them rot test.... :laughing:

Depends on what the are. I have one Eastern Red Cedar stump that size still in my front yard. Cut flush with the ground. The house was built in 1992 and I suspect it was cut down then. I arrived on the scene in 2002 and the stump was there when I came. The stump is still there today. There were still several smaller ones that I did pop out with the bucket over the years but this one has resisted any efforts like that. I haven't tried it for a while but it seems to still be in pretty good shape. I guess it depends on how much rot resisting resin is in the tree. But some of them can resist rot for a very long time.

 

[FatTire]

If just doing a 100 or 200 I'd try the root ripper. (Plus it would give me an excuse to actually buy a root ripper.) Lot's of good ideas in this thread. Going back to the early suggestions, for this acreage I think I'd hire a dozer. I imagine a skilled operator would learn quickly how much blade to use and ground damage would be minimal. I'd tell him to go fast and I'd handle all the clean up. 2 days is my guess for the dozer work.