Question: Removing Trees for Garden

[secureland]

Hi,
I have a 1 acre wooded area that I would like to convert to vegetable growing ground.

I don't want to compact the good soil

but there might be 100 various trees from 1" to 15" (ave size 8") and I would love to have them and their stumps gone.

Thanks for any replys.

 

[2dogs]

Fall them, have a D6 with rippers remove the stumps, and plow or disc.

 

[hammerlogging]

I 2nd 2dogs. A root rake would do it too-- high stumps and the doozer can push em over. Do it during the driest time of the year for the least compaction. Good time to add lime if needed, too, before you disc. The ripper would be better- super soil fracture, but root rakes can clear debris well without removing much topsoil, depends on the operator though... as usual.

 

[secureland]

pictures

I posted in forestry and logging because you guys seem to know how to handle this stuff. I don't own equipment so I've even considered trying to garden around the stumps.
How did the settlers do it? The shame is that I've had an old-timer tell me that he remembers making hay on this ground. This is typical of the norheasts pattern of farms going under and the ground giving way to natural succession. The soil layer is only 6" deep. I want to garden and hopefully here because it's right behind the house.

The rake gives some perspective, it's leaning against a tree at the larger end of the spectrum. Thanks for looking.

 

[slowp]

What the settlers did around here would be unacceptable today. They burned and burned. My dad had a steel bar with a chisel like point on the end.
It was used to make a hole in a stump. Then black powder was put in the hole and the stump was blown up. I don't think that would be allowed today.

 

[hammerlogging]

take a 55 (better if it was a smaller one 35 to 40) gallon drum with the top cut off. Poke a couple of holes near the top, into the sides, and a vent in the bottom, maybe a 4" diameter hole. Build a little stick fire on the stump and put the barrell over it top side down, pile dirt around the edges to get a seal. Never done it but an old timer told me it would burn out a stump right nicely. Worth a try, let me know if it works.

 

[Billy_Bob]

Can you burn there?

Are you trying to do this for little or no cost?

I suppose you could first try selling the trees. I don't know if they have any value or not? Pulpwood? Firewood? Other? Try looking for logging companies in the phone book. Wouldn't hurt to ask around.

Or if that poops out, so far as getting rid of the trees, perhaps you could hire a professional tree company to just fall the trees (very dangerous), then give away the wood. FREE FIREWOOD WOOD HERE -> Then burn the limbs if you can.

Wood is much safer to cut once it is down on the ground, but still can be dangerous if the limbs are still attached or logs are scattered here and there in piles. Safest is if logs are all in one stack aligned the same direction and the person cutting can easily pull logs out of the pile to cut on the ground.

The problem is if someone falls the trees and gets hurt on your property. Can any of the trees fall into your house, a fence, electric lines, underground lines, etc.? What if someone trys to fall a tree, it gets "hung-up" on another tree, then they leave it. Then some kid comes along and the tree falls on the kid? Lots of potential problems here!

Professional tree service companies know how to fall the trees safely, but they also charge a young fortune.

Logging companies know how to fall trees safely, but they would need to be able to sell the wood.

Maybe you could get someone from one of these companies who wants to do some side work on the weekends?

Another option is to get rid of a few trees a year as your budget allows. If you do this, you can get a cheap electric chainsaw to cut out the roots. This will damage the chain, but the chains for this are cheap as compared with paying someone to do the work. Or you can get a cheap chainsaw grinder and learn how to sharpen chainsaws.

Just throwing ideas out there...

 

[hammerlogging]

Agreed, if inexperienced, get help or at least some good (not to be confused with "supposedly good") training from someone while they help you for a day. My suggestion was a method for burning out stumps. I don't think you need the vent hole in the bottom (of bottom's side up) so try iot like this before you put the big hole in it. A low cost option.

You can rent a stump grinder for probably around $200/day and could grind about 20 15" dia. stumps if they're all right next to each other-- the wood would still be underground, but not as troublesome, especially if its a handtool garden.

 

[secureland]

I'm just thinking........... Damn the guy who planted these Scotch Pine here 50 years ago when this was pasture land (not really, but come on!)

The rest of the trees are smaller naturally seeded white ash and some maple.



It will be a hand tool gardens. But yes it would be alot quicker to move some stuff with equipment. Thanks for the burning suggestion, but I'd still have the roots to contend with, and they're more of the problem then the stumps . I wonder what it would cost to have a D6 come in and do this. Then I would have to loosen the soil so probabaly more equipment. Mayb I'll just clearcut and garden around the stumps and roots. Afterall I had the soil tested at Cornell last year and it's not bad, also there's no sod to break up because it's under the trees.

 

[Bushler]

You could do the job nice with a small dozer, a D-4 would be adequate, and wouldn't require an expensive haul in. A D-6 may require low boy move, and that's expensive.

Have the dozer push as many trees over as he can...that gets the stumps out. On the ones too big to push, use a choker and pull them. Climb up on the canopy of the Cat and hang the choker as high as you can reach from there.

Buck all the rootwads off the pulled/pushed trees and pile them seperately. Knock all the dirt out of the rootswads that you can with the dozer, and let them dry for a year or so, then pile them tight and burn them...use a big fan if you can get power to site. Or get a gen to run the fan.

You should be able to clear an acre like that in about three days. If you can run saw you can do all the ground work. Maybe there's a small payday in the wood from the bigger trees, maybe. At least you might be able to off set part of your equipment expense.

Not sure what D-4 would rent for, w/operator and haul in, but probalby not more than $100/hour. Say 24 hours equipmnt time...plus haul...you should be able to get it done for $3K.

 

[Mike Van]

Being in new england too, here's what I'd do - Figure out the size of the garden you want, then go back another 40 ft or so to let the sunshine in. If you don't, nothing much will grow, plus the trees that are left will start to crown into that open space, you'll be all shade in a few years. Being a wood cutter/burner/seller, I'd take care of the trees & burn the brush right there. Rather than a dozer, I'd hire a medium size excavator to rip stumps. Everyone around here seems to have one, they're more common than dozers are here. Those size trees, one swipe with the bucket, the stump is out. Have the guy push all the stumps into a pile in a corner of the lot you aren't going to use and forget about them, 10 years they'll be compost. Do the same thing with the brush if you can't burn. Some towns in Ct. can burn some can't, depends on the population. They will not like you burning stumps, as here the fire can only be in daylight hours.

 

[Zodiac45]

I would find out who has the eqiuptment that you need and put a bug in his ear about what you want done.

I have a guy who has a gravel pit close too where I live. I told him I wanted my dirt driveway resurfaced (I do it every 4-5 years) and was in no hurry, just whenever he was in the area to go for it. I waited 2 months but never called and then one day, bingo there he was. Had a job up the road a bit and dumped 5 loads of bank gravel and dozed it on. Sent me a bill for $250. Had I not waited and asked him to come he'd of done it but it would have cost double that easy.

If you can't do it that way you should fall and clear the area as you mentioned and maybe rent a stump grinder at the rental place. Depending on what you want to garden and what it's for (Just fresh produce for your family) you could grind the biggest stuff and garden around the rest as you slowly hack them out.