Stumps

[602466]

I have cleared about 2 acres of land last November. I have been working the past year cutting the wood down and giving away for free firewood. I had a guy come in with a big dozer and lean into the trees. It took down the tree and stump. I am down to the stumps at this point. Most of the stumps are too big for my tractor to lift (I have to roll the stumps). I have drilled into the stumps and soaked with diesel fuel. They just don't want to burn. I don't want to bury them either. Any ideas to make this go quicker? I have about 50 2-3 foot diameter stumps to get rid of.

Thanks,

Wally

 

[Treemonkey1000]

If you have any of the branches left stack them up around the stump then take a good leaf blower and aim that at the base to get the flames good and hot. They may need to get a little drier to burn. Sounds like you can't skid or drag them into a big pile. You might try anchoring to a good tree or stump a strong cable or rope then thru a pulley to your tractor and the stump you want to move. That would almost double your pulling power. That creates the risk of snapping the cable or rope though.

 

[602466]

I have the stumps in a circle with the root balls to the outside. I have burnt all the wasted wood in the middle of this circle. I was hoping to get the wood (stump) really hot and dry out and burn. This also kept any fire that I made under control. As I said, I could roll the stumps in an effort to get all the dirt off also. Hoping to get this done ASAP.

Thanks for your post.

Wally

 

[redharley]

20 plus yr's ago I cleared 2 acre's where my house sit's now of tree's and stumps.I think you got rid of your fire wood to soon.It takes a fair amount to get those stumps going,the least amount of dirt the better try to knock off as much as possible.Maybe collect some old pallets to get things going,add some fuel oil if needed,you will need a big bed of coals to keep them going and will have to move the pile to make things happen.My pile would still rekindle after 10 days when stired up.Is hauling them somewhere close for fill an opition? You'll spend a few nights looking when the wind blows for sure. Good luck

 

[VirginiaAgent]

I tried to burn large stumps when I cleared my property earlier this year. Smaller stumps, up to about eight inches in diameter, were burnable. The big stumps, some two feet in diameter, were not. I scorched them, but they would not burn.

Redharley is right, the size fire you would have to build and maintain to burn big stumps is a scary thing. A friend of mine recently lost 10 acres burning piles of trees. I recommend you take / push / pull them to an out of the way area, and forget about it. It would cost allot to have them hauled away. I coverd mine with dirt from the pond that I dug. Now I have nice rolling hills (with stumps underneath)

VA

 

[LBrown59]

When i did my grubbing I took about 28 stumps up t0 14'' in diameter to the land fill.
L B

 

[EddieWalker]

I found the only way to get rid of them was to first get them out of the ground. They hold water, and the drying out time can be years depending on the species. Heck, some will even come back to live after a few years.

Stump removal really isn't allot of fun, but with a backhoe or trackhoe, it's just a matter of time spent doing them one at a time. Some species come our fairly easily, like cedar, others can be a nightmare with a massive tap root, like some types of pine. The hardwoods are usualy pretty basic, you just have to start out far enough to cut the smaller roots and work your way in. The roots are too tightly packed in the dirt close to the stump to cut through with a regular sized backoe.

If you just want it for pasture and you don't mind them rotting in place over the next dozen years, or so, then grinding them down is a simple, do it yourselfer option. Grind them down as far as you can and cover with dirt. When they start to rot, the ground will create a deprecion and then a hole. You'll just have to add dirt to these areas when they become a problem. If you are not building over these stumps, this is a simple, easy solution.

Good Luck,
Eddie

 

[FortClatsop]

I had an excavator pile them, left them to dry all summer, piled lots of good stuff all over them and come fall used a leaf blower and still had the most dissapointing fire ever. Pushed the pile, pushed and lifted, eventually dropped one stump on the tractor hood...ouch. Spring came, started again. Eventually had another excavator move the unburnable ones to a far, low corner of the property and pushed them far away. I suppose if I ever want firewood from that corner of the swamp I'll come to regret that decision.

It seems like they take time, patience, or money to get rid of. Good luck.

They take all the fun out of burning.

 

[RonMar]

Before I got my backhoe, I did some experiments with accelerated decay of the stumps that were in my way. Best results I had was to cut the tree or stump off as close to ground level as possible. Then using a chainsaw, I cut a 2" grid as deep as I could into the top. Cutting it down to ground level allowed me to drive the tractor over it, but the grid really accelerated the decay. A fire on top would have got it below ground level relatively fast. The stumps I have removed with the backhoe and grided with the chainsaw do burn faster.

So what I do now is, as mentioned get them out of the ground and get as much dirt off them as possible. A pressure washer works well for this. Then take a chainsaw and cut as deep as you can into them in as many places as possible to increase their surface area. This is a real pain as roots grow around and hold rocks, and you are never quite sure where they will be found. You can usually cut pretty far down in from where the trunk was attached though, and this will get you mostly into the heart of the trunk and expose that wood to the atmosphere. The more deeper cuts, the better. Then burn regularly. Got brush to burn, pile it over a stump. Just like trying to burn green firewood, the split wood burns easier than whole rounds as the smaller cross section pieces and added surface area helps the fire heat to drive out the moisture and release the wood gas. What you are looking for is a fire hot enough so that you see steam escaping from the side of the stump that is away from the fire, and with a large stump, this takes a sustained hot fire. Any way you look at it, burning stumps is very time consuming and labor intensive. If you want this done quickly, as mentioned, have them hauled or have them buried...

I feel your pain, good Luck.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So on this whole subject of stumps. We placed well over half a dozen large (like small car sized) stumps into a hole an buried it up. It was done professionally, all the dirt packed down nice.

But someone said that It may all collapse underneath when it rots. Any thoughts on this? I really don't want to create a hazard on my property, at least more than living out in the sticks causes anyway...

 

[rimshot]

I have cleared about 2 acres of land last November. I have been working the past year cutting the wood down and giving away for free firewood. I had a guy come in with a big dozer and lean into the trees. It took down the tree and stump. I am down to the stumps at this point. Most of the stumps are too big for my tractor to lift (I have to roll the stumps). I have drilled into the stumps and soaked with diesel fuel. They just don't want to burn. I don't want to bury them either. Any ideas to make this go quicker? I have about 50 2-3 foot diameter stumps to get rid of.

Thanks,

Wally

50 2-3 footers can take up a lot of room. I don't know how hard you want to work at this but a pressure washer or even a hose can be used very effectively to wash off the dirt on the stump especially if it is sand. Then one can take a chain saw and with a few cut through clean washed roots the darn things can be consolidated or burned after a few weeks. Once removed from the ground, always cut off the butt log. If you have the stumps hauled away(and you probably should since you have so many) they can get twice as many stumps in the trucks for a much more efficient use of equipment.I hate to dig a hole and bury them because they come back to haunt you.

rim

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Yes burying stumps will create cavities after they rot out. It takes a while. You may see about driving over and compacting every so often with a tractor or something so that you don't get surprise by a large hole where the stumps were.

 

[SteelDust]

I've done this two ways, one worked a whole lot better than the other.

The first was when we cleared about an acre of land for the house. It was 99% brush, one or two good sized trees, and about 20 very large, old stumps. The stumps were dug out with a rental excavator. We piled the brush and then the stumps. The slash pile was enormous. Diesel, a brush fan, and propane weed burner got it going and it burned pretty well for about 2 days. I was still left with about 8 still large stumps. As I cleared more brush, I collected it in another large pile, rented an excavator again, cut the stumps down as much as I could with a chainsaw, and burned again. After that I was down to about 5 large sections of stump, these were buried, as deep as the excavator would reach, in a spot that will never be utilized as anything but pasture. 4 years later I still haven't seen the ground sink in that area.

Here's a picture taken of one of the larger ones during the restack (barely touched by the original fires) I'm to the left a friend is running the machine. For the what the rental of one of those costs and how much fun they are it was hard to give up the seat:

A few years later I hired someone to clear my barn pad. There was about 40 trees to pull out, half of them over 12" at the base. The guy used an excavator to topple them and limb them. I cut the root ball off and bucked them while he held them up. He piled all the limbs and stumps in a very particular order. When he was done I had a pile of limbs and stumps that was about 15x15x15. This was in the spring, I figured I'd have to let it sit till fall before burning it. He told me to light it now, and he'd be back in the morning to restack what was left. I figured he was out of his mind, these trees were alive that morning and were still plenty wet. The weed burner and leaf blower trick got it going, I was amazed when the whole pile took off. That pile was burned to nothing in 2 days. He said it's all in how you stack them.....amazing.

 

[woodlandfarms]

So, does anyone know the timeline for decomposition? The area we put these stumps in is frequented by winter rain runoff...

Treemonkey and Steeldust, both of you live in the hood. Does it amaze you as much as me the size of these old tree stumps? I mean I have been to the redwoods, but these old growth stumps are Huge...

This fall we are going to do our first major burn. We built a pile of sticks 12 feet high by 15 feet wide by at least 100 feet long. Our neighbor came up with a dozer and broke the long pile into 5 small piles... small being relative, I am a bit nervous on this burn but the locals say they do it all the time...

 

[SteelDust]

So, does anyone know the timeline for decomposition? The area we put these stumps in is frequented by winter rain runoff...

Treemonkey and Steeldust, both of you live in the hood. Does it amaze you as much as me the size of these old tree stumps? I mean I have been to the redwoods, but these old growth stumps are Huge...

This fall we are going to do our first major burn. We built a pile of sticks 12 feet high by 15 feet wide by at least 100 feet long. Our neighbor came up with a dozer and broke the long pile into 5 small piles... small being relative, I am a bit nervous on this burn but the locals say they do it all the time...

The best I can (from gathering "history" for the neighbors). The stump in the above picture is well over 50 years old. The time line for stump decomp is glacial. I'd say you're looking at hundreds of years for something that size to rot away to below ground level.

We've done quite a few piles in the "enormous" range over the years. Around here it's all in the timing, you certainly wouldn't want to torch one of those off right now, with everythign being so dry. Ideally, I wait for the burn ban to be lifted, a relatively calm day, and a light drizzle. A while back one of our piles was built near a single, standing lone fir. That tree got the full blast of the fire for hours, one side of it eventually died off, but the tree itself never caught fire.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

The Old Cedar stumps with Springboard notches that the old loggers use amaze me. Cedar does last a lot longer above and below ground. I am surprised at how little root system holds up some of these tree's. A cottonwood blew down with the big windstorm 2 years ago. Along with a Fir tree. Both tree's were about 110' tall. The root ball that tipped with them were about 10' across by about 2' deep. There were longer roots left in the ground but not real large. As far as pace for decomposition a lot depends on how much moisture they get I think while buried.
I do like the idea of pressure washing the roots to cut up a bit more with a chainsaw. My cousins own a dozing, excavating business. They would stack large stumps in a teepee pile and burn them over 2-3 days.

 

[SteelDust]

The Old Cedar stumps with Springboard notches that the old loggers use amaze me. Cedar does last a lot longer above and below ground. I am surprised at how little root system holds up some of these tree's. A cottonwood blew down with the big windstorm 2 years ago. Along with a Fir tree. Both tree's were about 110' tall. The root ball that tipped with them were about 10' across by about 2' deep. There were longer roots left in the ground but not real large. As far as pace for decomposition a lot depends on how much moisture they get I think while buried.
I do like the idea of pressure washing the roots to cut up a bit more with a chainsaw. My cousins own a dozing, excavating business. They would stack large stumps in a teepee pile and burn them over 2-3 days.

I lost about 30 trees in that same windstorm. 90% of them were in areas where the ground was overly wet. In those wet areas I noticed that even on 80-90 foot trees, the root ball was less than a foot deep, but very wide. The trees I lost in drier areas had a narrower but much deeper root ball. I also lost a couple that just sheared off about halfway up.


Some of the smaller trees I lost, you can see they're only rooted a few inches deep.

A few of the larger trees, again you can see they're not that deep at all, and these were at least 15" at the base.

 

[dmccarty]

. I have drilled into the stumps and soaked with diesel fuel. They just don't want to burn. I don't want to bury them either. Any ideas to make this go quicker? I have about 50 2-3 foot diameter stumps to get rid of.

Wally,

On the 64 bypass around PBO there is a place that cleared 5-10 acres a few years ago. He had all of the slash and stumps put into long rows that he burned. It took him awhile but the last time I was out that way he had burned much of the mess.

I think the pile construction can make a big difference. I would try to stack material so that each layer was 90 degrees from the lower layer. If the material is all mushed together its harder to burn. The fire needs space to burn.

Once I dug out a pit for the fire to burn in. The idea was was to concentrate the heat. Good idea but the pit filled with water before I could burn. Eventually the water evaporated the pit did seem to work better and helped contain the fire. SOOOO, if you can dig a pit, push the material into same that might help.

The fire service has an office just down the road from you so make sure you have your permits in order.

If the fire does not work there is a timber equipment supplier in PBO that might be able to put you in contact with a contractor with a tub grinder. We have a large pile of wood/stumps left over from timbering and house site clearing. Some day I'll have that grinded up.

Later,
Dan

 

[J_J]

So on this whole subject of stumps. We placed well over half a dozen large (like small car sized) stumps into a hole an buried it up. It was done professionally, all the dirt packed down nice.

But someone said that It may all collapse underneath when it rots. Any thoughts on this? I really don't want to create a hazard on my property, at least more than living out in the sticks causes anyway...

Carl, It will either rot out and one day when you or someone runs over that spot, it might let go, or it could rot a little and the ground will sink. I have a similar situation. The guy that owned the property before me tried to burn a large brush pile, and the fire got to big and the fire department came out and put it out, and he finally just buried everything that was left, and it has been decaying since then, and ground has a large depression in it now. About the only thing to do in this situation is to keep adding dirt to the depression. I guess if you had a backhoe, you could dig the stumps up and re-burn them. I have seen those gas powered large blowers in a field with a 100 ft stump pile. Once the fire is going, a dozer keeps pushing the stumps into the burn area. You may also have to get a permit to do this.

 

[PAGUY]

This is for the reader who may have only one or two stumps in the yard. What I did was cut the stump as near to the ground as possible then I drilled holes into the stump from the center out. Next I took a bag of dehydrated cow manure and spread that on top. Wet it down and then place a plastic cover over the stump using bricks to hold the plastic in place. Mother Nature takes over and rots it. I left it covered for the year and noticed from my elevated deck that the grass had grown thicker like fingers away from the stump. This I took as the roots decomposing and feding the lawn.

Another way I had good luck with is with two pine tree stumps. I left them about 2 feet above ground and put some bricks on top of the stump. Again Mother Nature and her insects destroyed the stumps but this took years to accomplish. I had deprecitions in the lawn where the roots rotted out from the stump.