Backhoe stump grinding vs. backhoe

farmerpsv · Nov 13, 2003

Hey all.

I've noted that stumps are the number one excuse...er eh reason for getting a backhoe, which makes a certain sense to me. On a different level though...i do organic vegetable market growing, so soil is pretty important to me. i'm looking at some new properties that are wooded and would need clearing to create tillage. the good news is forested soil is often very nice, having years of leaves composting. the bad news would be stump removal. using a backhoe or dozer generally takes alot of soil i'd rather keep, stump grinding would turn the stump back into soil (after a fashion). of course, that doesn't create instant tillage, but seems to be the least intrusive way of removing stumps and preserving the soil. I have a NH TN65 and wonder about the cost and feasability of a pto grinder. any experience and input would be much appreciated.
thanks,
paul

markie61 · Nov 13, 2003

Here's one on ebay. Requires a minimum of 35 pto HP and hydraulics to move left to right, ie "sweep" the stump.
I've rented a self-contained stumpgrinder for a couple of days to handle 50 stumps for about $400 for comparison.
Mark

Hambone · Nov 13, 2003

I would get some estimates about having the stumps ground out. I think they are reasonable and definetly cheaper than purchasing.
Might check out this link, just did a simple search to find.

http://www.timcorbinstreeservice.com/servStumpRemove06.htm

cowboydoc · Nov 13, 2003

If you want to use the area for tillage forget about stump grinding. It will be 15 years before you can till the soil even with the grinding down of the stump. I'd go the backhoe route. Knock all the dirt you can off of them and leave them by the hold for awhile. Some good rains will get alot of the dirt off them.

bebster · Nov 13, 2003

If you remove the stump with a backhoe, you really don't loose any soil. Sure, there is a hole where the stump used to be, but that can be smoothed over when preparing the soil for planting. Or you could dump some sand or clay into the deep part of the hole if you wanted to fill it and save the loam for the top.

If you grind the stump, you have to grind fairly deep to prevent a tiller, for example, from hitting it if you have the depth of the tiller set at any reasonable depth. I think I'd feel better knowing I can move around and into the soil without hitting anything that wasn't ground down really low.

b6200hst · Nov 13, 2003

One question would be - How deep are you going to have to grind in order to use the ground as you choose to? Hidden stumps could really do some equipment damage. The best way I have ever seen to remove stumps is to connect a dozer mounted winch 15 to 20 feet up the tree, have the dozer a safe distance from the tree, and pull the tree, roots and all, down. Of course, this is done before you cut the tree. This was done on 2 foot diameter hardwoods.

have_blue · Nov 13, 2003

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( pull the tree, roots and all, down )</font>

That's the best way by far. Trees are far easier to manage than stumps! I have made the mistake of sawing trees down. Never again! Now I pull them down. Many would be surprised at how effective cutting a few big roots and a big NH can be at annhialating trees.

normde2001 · Nov 13, 2003

Depending on acreage/area and size of trees, I would hire a bulldozer/operator to push them over and into a pile for burning, then smoothe over holes. After burning you can spread ashes and dirt over area, ready for growing.

GregJ · Nov 13, 2003

I would definitely vote for the BH option. You didn't say what type of trees or their size, but if I were wanting to till an area that had stumps in it, I'd want to make sure that all the roots and every part of those stumps were out of the soil. I just removed a bunch of stumps and it is a real good feeling that there will be no "surprises" when I work in the area where the trees used to be. The most important thing though, is don't think this will be the only thing that you will use the BH for. I use mine all the time. This sounds like the perfect "excuse" for a new attachment.

Greg