Taking down some trees for land clearing - how high should I leave stumps for easier removal?

[ddbackhoe]

How do you fall a large tree such as an oak in a timber full of trees without collateral damage? Around here logging is done in small areas. Clear large oak or walnut from a mixed timber for example. It always leaves a mess. No way around it.

Not many Axmen type videos filmed in my area. Typically use feller bunchers, none of the guys I know with a 48” bar on their saw either

 

[jyoutz]

How do you fall a large tree such as an oak in a timber full of trees without collateral damage? Around here logging is done in small areas. Clear large oak or walnut from a mixed timber for example. It always leaves a mess. No way around it.

Typically the objective is to open the stand such that there is room to work. Most forestry projects have an objective to open or regenerate the stand. We don’t typically remove a few large trees and leave the stand dense. The smaller trees are thinned as well. I’m only explaining how timber management projects are typically done. And what looks like a clean job in the eyes of a forester will probably not appear clean in a landscaping context.

 

[two_bit_score]

And what looks like a clean job in the eyes of a forester will probably not appear clean in a landscaping context.

It’s all in the eye of the beholder.

 

[MossRoad]

Probably what it will do is cut flush plus nail some flagging tape to the stumps for better visibility until I rent later on.

I cut several hundred 10" and under tress flush around 1991 and regret it to this day. I hit them often when brush cutting. They rose up a bit over the years, or the dirt around them eroded. Either way, they are up to where I bump into them. Any I've cut since, I've left tall enough to see them over the grasses and wildflowers that grow up now. I can go around them. Until I get something to puck them out, I can at least see them easily.

So take it for what it's worth, but cutting them flush is pretty hard without getting your chain and bar in the dirt. Until you get something to dig the stumps out with, leave them taller, and the taller the better for leverage.

Have you thought about just spending the money and renting an excavator with a thumb for a week and just getting it over with?

 

[ovrszd]

Typically the objective is to open the stand such that there is room to work. Most forestry projects have an objective to open or regenerate the stand. We don’t typically remove a few large trees and leave the stand dense. The smaller trees are thinned as well. I’m only explaining how timber management projects are typically done. And what looks like a clean job in the eyes of a forester will probably not appear clean in a landscaping context.

You are describing the objective in your area. Not in my area.

 

[jyoutz]

You are describing the objective in your area. Not in my area.

I’m familiar with forestry practices in Missouri ozarks for forest management. But as a landowner, you have your personal objectives, and that’s your right.

 

[mikester]

Cut the trees where it's safest and easiest for you. More stump = more weight = harder to move the root balls after. If you have a lot of 30" diameter plus trees hire a guy with a 25-30 ton excavator with thumb, he won't need much of a stump to yank it out. I let the excavator push over the large dangerous trees i.e multi-stemmed that have grown together or ones with interlocking canopies.

I tend to push out small trees under 10 inches and saw them after. The tree canopy weight makes it easier to get the root ball lifted out of the ground.

 

[Jstpssng]

Mixed: loblolly pine/poplar/black walnut predominate, a couple other odds-n-ends mixed in

SOME of those should come out relatively easily… the walnut could be the exception.

 

[KilroyJC]

I cut several hundred 10" and under tress flush around 1991 and regret it to this day. I hit them often when brush cutting. They rose up a bit over the years, or the dirt around them eroded. Either way, they are up to where I bump into them. Any I've cut since, I've left tall enough to see them over the grasses and wildflowers that grow up now. I can go around them. Until I get something to puck them out, I can at least see them easily.

So take it for what it's worth, but cutting them flush is pretty hard without getting your chain and bar in the dirt. Until you get something to dig the stumps out with, leave them taller, and the taller the better for leverage.

Have you thought about just spending the money and renting an excavator with a thumb for a week and just getting it over with?

Problem is I do seasonal work from January to May, and we were all laid up with acute bronchitis all of December, so my the time I have time again, everything will be in full leaf and the ground will be muddy, and nothing will be planted . . . I may be plowing some weird disconnected furrows !!!

 

[KilroyJC]

Mrs on the pull line, but you can get an idea of terrain and trees. Some skinnies were already taken down