stump grinder? backhoe? need to remove 30ish stumps

[HTRN]

For that many? Stump grinder.

Don't bother renting them - search Craigslist for a decent priced used one, grind all your stumps, sell the damn thing to the next guy on CL again.

[rightisright]

The problem w. a stump grinder is it will leave the all the roots in the ground. If you want to plant a bunch of new stuff, it's a major PITA. Plus when the root ball eventually rots, it will leave a big divot in ground.

When clearing lots, the tree guy is followed by a bulldozer of size commensurate w. number of stumps and their diameter. The dozer is then used to level the ground.

W. 30 stumps, you should be able to do it all in a longish day and level any fill you may or may not need.

[Termite]

The problem w. a stump grinder is it will leave the all the roots in the ground. If you want to plant a bunch of new stuff, it's a major PITA. Plus when the root ball eventually rots, it will leave a big divot in ground.

When clearing lots, the tree guy is followed by a bulldozer of size commensurate w. number of stumps and their diameter. The dozer is then used to level the ground.

W. 30 stumps, you should be able to do it all in a longish day and level any fill you may or may not need.

^This.^
A Cat D6 or JD 850 should be plenty big enough, unless they are really big trees.

[evan price]

A good operator on a 24" stump grinder can get down a foot underground easy. The root ball underneath gets pretty thinned out that far down, once the taproot is chopped up the rest won't last long. We've had the Emerald Ash Borer infestation out here and we've had to remove some pretty good sized trees because of it. Failing that, a big dozer can push those stumps out but that will be a lot of backfilling and levelling afterwards. Don't know what they charge for a day of dozing out in Texas.

These guys do a lot of land clearing out here and they've got a 48" grinder on a caterpillar chassis.
http://www.completeclearing.com/Hydrastumper.htm

[blackeagle603]

Now THAT's a stump grinder.

[gandalf23]

I can't get a bulldozer into the backyard. The bricks they built the house out of in the 50s are not fired which makes them dissolve in the rain. The "fix" that, the owner in the 70s rebuilt the roof so now it overhangs a good three feet, which keeps the rain off the bricks, mostly. And keeps anything over nine foot tall from going down the driveway. Which was not a problem in the 70s because then the neighbor's fence was five feet on his side, but 15 years ago the new neighbor moved the fence to the property line.

Well, I could come in the back through our behind neighbor's seven acres, but there is no path there and I think he'd be pissed if I carved out a road to our backyard. He gets pissy about us cutting down trees on our land, so I can't imagine the fuss he'd cause if I tried to clear cut his property just to get to mine

I've looked into buying a mini-dozer, there was a nice one for sale on craigslist a while ago, but the wife said no. And the guy never got back to me, so I let it go.

The majority of the stumps are on a slope into the ravine. I don't really want to tear it up too much as the next time it rains it'd probably all wash down. We've only got a few inches of dirt, we're on Austin Chalk.

We're not looking to plant an orchard, I just figured since we wanted to plant some trees back there they might as well be fruit bearing.

[gandalf23]

pictures:

http://gallery.gandalf23.com/v/ourhouse ... ewsIndex=2
lagustrum I tried to dig up with the bucket. didn't work.

http://gallery.gandalf23.com/v/ourhouse ... ewsIndex=2
cedar that I tried to dig up with the bucket. also did not work.

http://gallery.gandalf23.com/v/ourhouse ... ewsIndex=2
view basically from just outside the master bedroom of the backyard. the flower bed area to the left we just planted a peach tree in, the one on the right I want to plant two or maybe three fruit trees in, it's just outside the sunroom. the rest I want to plant down on the slope we've cleared over by the cat. the nice empty slope in the center of the picture I think we want to leave open as a entertainment area or where the kids can run around, might build a fort house there or something.

http://gallery.gandalf23.com/v/ourhouse ... ewsIndex=2
slope where most of the stumps are, and where I'd like to plant most of the fruit trees.

http://gallery.gandalf23.com/v/ourhouse ... ewsIndex=2
I am concerned that the three hackberrys that my wife loves will provide too much shade and will kill the fruit trees.

[blackeagle603]

A little trac-hoe would make short work of those.

Sep 2012 driveprep5.jpg

That's the unit we tore out my avocado stumps with.


Maybe a root ripperon your skid steer would take care of some of them.

[evan price]

They make a stump grinder attachment for the Toro Dingo walk-behind skid steers, and for larger skid steers with a highflow hydraulic auxiliary channel. Got a rental place nearby?

The company that did all the ash trees here at work used a smaller version of that tracked grinder, he demo'ed it for me. Vermeer SC60TX. The caterpillar tracks are on hydraulic slides, he can retract the machine to a width narrow enough to fit through a standard 36" gate, then extend it all out again for stability. He was chewing up 24" diameter ash stumps in the parking lot with no problems. Even cooler was that it was operated by wireless remote control.

[rightisright]

Ah, those are baby stumps!

A small Kubota or excavator like the one BE pictured will make small work of those.