Stumping after tree felling.

[BravoXray]

I dopped a few pine and hemlock trees for a neighbor. I left a few feet of stump up for leverage when I dig the stumps out. The land owner doesn't want me to dig, he says the roors are too deep and spread for me to remove them. I have removed smaller tree trucks before, but his is bigger at 41 foot. How long should I excpect to take to remove afour foot stump that is 16" diameter?
I' using my BX-25D backhor?

Thanks!
Jerry

 

[skeets]

Lima Papa Lima Papa , this is Bravo Dog Charlie,, my advice would be to cut it off as close to the ground as you can then rent a stump grinder,,, Just MHO you understand,, and yes it could be done though it would take a lot longer than you wanted to play with it Im thinkin

 

[koja]

I've taken out quite a few stumps with my bx25 , it takes time . The easiest way is to dig the stump and tip tree and all over . But I don't recommend this for novices either . You start getting much bigger than 12" in diameter and you will be there a while . It also depends on a lot of other things too . Like how old is the tree , the older it is the bigger the root system . Is out where it got full sunlight ? If it were grouped in amongst a lot of other trees you may have a tangled mess of roots . So,,,, to answer your question of "how long" can't really be answered without being there . Can you do it ? Yes . All depends on what you find when you start digging as to how long it will take .

 

[Tooljunkie]

Stump grinders are great, but real beasts to handle. Some are worse than others
I made a ripper tooth for a small hoe, worked well but was slow. Did great in ripping frost.
I used a sawzall and plunged it in the soil to cut the roots- that worked slick!
Blade was very coarse and thick -3 teeth per inch if i recall. Goes where a chainsaw would fail miserably.
Buddy used that idea to cut a small trench in a heavily treed part of His yard. He fought for days with a pick and axe. Now he thinks im some kinda genius...

 

[Diydave]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, just cut it off, a 4' diameter tree, with a BX? Unless you want full time employment for 6 months and a tractor that ends up FUBAR! Whoops, misread thought it was 4' dia. A 16" might only take you a week or 2 with a BX... About 20 minutes with a big stump grinder...

 

[Daren Todd]

Like others stated. 4ft is pretty darn big for a bx. I took out a 3 1/2 foot oak stump with a small rental back hoe. 5 hours later the stump ball was out. And I had a huge crater to fill then the back hoe wouldn't push or pull the stump ball. Had to get behind it and roll it with the fel. And then it had all it wanted to do to roll it. If your not up for grinding it with a stump grinder. Cut it off as low as you can. Drill a bunch of good sized holes through it with a heavy duty drill. Dump some bottles of cola (not diet) on it, or the stump begone stuff. And just let it sit. If you can burn, come back the next summer and start a fire on it. It should smolder for days and should end up with a hole to fill

 

[skeets]

Dump some bottles of cola (not diet) on it,
What will that do beside draw ants

 

[koja]

Here's a couple stumps I've done

 

[Diydave]

Never heard of the cola thing. The one I use, is salt peter (AKA potassium nitrate), in the holes, A 1" hole every 3-4 ", wait a year, and burn it. Use a bottomless burn barrel, set on 3 or 4 bricks, around the stump, and you get a venturi effect...

 

[koja]

This size is easy

 

[Daren Todd]

Dump some bottles of cola (not diet) on it,
What will that do beside draw ants

Ants will go to town on the stumps creating more spots for moisture to get to excelerating the rotting of the stump. Worms and other bugs are drawn to it too. It's the caffeine!! Read it in one of those supermarket super garden books that uses every day household stuff for pest control, fertilizer and other issues. Tried it on a couple of oak stumps that were too close to the house to grind. Went back out a year later and was able to pull them apart with a pick axe with very little effort . Works really well for really barron soil as well. Dump some cheap cola on it, cover with plastic or a tarp and let it sit for 6 months. Ground will be full of earth worms and soil will be nice and black cuts down on fertilizer for the garden as well.

Buttermilk and yeast work good for breaking down stumps also

 

[Daren Todd]

Never heard of the cola thing. The one I use, is salt peter (AKA potassium nitrate), in the holes, A 1" hole every 3-4 ", wait a year, and burn it. Use a bottomless burn barrel, set on 3 or 4 bricks, around the stump, and you get a venturi effect...

That potassium nittrate puts you on the homeland security watch list depending on how much you get i have a run on bottomless barrels for the neighbors. And do the same thing with my smaller stumps

 

[BravoXray]

Thanks everyone! I think we've decided on the stump grinder. He wants them gone fast, and there's a heavy duty grinder available for rent two miles from his house.

Jerry

 

[lakebota]

I've been de-stumping up to 3' knob-cone on our property and have found the best method is to burn.
After felling and cleanup, cut the stump close to ground, cut a few saw kerfs in the stump about 4" to 6" deep and let is set for a year or so.
When dry, pour kerosene or diesel into the kerfs and let it soak in, make a little camp fire on it (or burn pile of yard waste) and torch it off.
I'm careful to put either tin, or plastic sheeting over the stumps to keep them dry and burn (with permit) as soon as the burn-ban is lifted in the fall.
On larger stumps it helps to remove duff and some of the dirt on the sides of the surface roots. On larger stumps two burns are sometimes required.

 

[davesl708]

Never heard of the cola thing. The one I use, is salt peter (AKA potassium nitrate), in the holes, A 1" hole every 3-4 ", wait a year, and burn it. Use a bottomless burn barrel, set on 3 or 4 bricks, around the stump, and you get a venturi effect...

I have used Epsom salt(magnesium sulfate) in holes and cover with dirt.