I was in Czechoslovakia in 1974. That was the way they did things there, all the time. But I don't think anyone reported anyone. The government looked at it that if it is a communist country, I have as much right to use the government's equipement as any one else, and I have a right to build my own home with it as much as do government work. They'd take materials too.
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The problem trees in the DC area (for me anyway) are the Tulip Poplars. Weak trees that skyrocket. I had multiple TP's lose major limbs, or the whole tree, at my last home. The few Oaks I had stood proud even in the biggest wind storms.
My latest gripe are the Black Walnut trees at my new home. Very pretty wide spread branching, but messy as hell. I wish they were Oaks or Maples.
What was the point of the trench? I've never heard of this.
Bob
Unless you are talking about a really small tree, which you woudn't do this for, you just want to dig out enough under the stump (or use a powerwasher too) so that air can get to the charcoal. no way you are going to burn the stump out, but you can burn/seriously weaken the roots holding it all in. Let it burn good for a day and then you should be able to pull it with a tractor or truck...maybe even pry it with a large bar.
Years ago, I cleared my building site with a '64 GMC 1 ton. I wrapped a boomchain around the back axle, easier on the frame that way, but watch the brake line, eh? I had about 50 feet of wire rope/cable, what loggers call strawline. With one end tied off to a bigger tree or stump, I wrapped the cable around the tree ( 14'' diam hemlocks they were), up as high as possible, about 10' up using the ladder. Then hook up the truck and slam on the cable till the tree falls over, roots and all.
JK
I don't really know. I was 9 years old.
I'll admit that I think I've only seen one other in my whole life, and I'm not sure that one was actually dug. By the time I saw it, it was at ground level on one side, and may have just been the way the ground was, without any digging.
I guess my mother wondered if she really had to do what he said, and I'm so happy it didn't make things worse, that I'm assuming it was good advice.
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I have a two story great room in the back of my house. Two story window looking out the back. And I see a dead tree taller than my house right out my window. Behind this dead tree is another 50-100 trees which are alive and further away, and down a hill into a creek bed.
So I decided to move the tree line further away from my house. I took down about 15 really small trees, about 15 feet tall and maybe 4" in diameter. A few of the trees were bigger, but some of them were dead. I now have a backward large enough for me to put in a deck, and still have 50 trees between me and the soon to be backward neighbor (that lot has not been sold yet).
In addition I want to plant some shorter trees because the 50 tall ones are higher than my house, and it's easy to look into my great room from the back, so I plan to go to other side of creek bed and plan some evergreens for more privacy. Let's see houw this turns out, a profile of my backyard. I removed trees on flat portion by back of my house.
back of my house| plant evergreens here lot ends here back of my house| _____________________________. back of my house| / back of my house|______ lots of tall trees / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ on slopes / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ limbs are higher / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ than my house/ dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ creek bed / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\________/
almost- I own up other side of creek bed and need shorter trees to block view into windows on back of house.
back of my house| plant evergreens on back of my house| opposite slope back of my house| x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x_____. back of my house| x x x x x x x x x x x x x / back of my house|______ lots of tall trees / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ on slopes / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ limbs are higher / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ than my house/ dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\ creek bed / dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt dirt\\________/
Stumpgrinders and heavy equipment are good, of course. I've had some limited success with stumpkillers and fire, but that takes time.
Another trick to try is to get the biggest, fastest drill bit you're willing to use, and make swiss cheese out of the stump. Then, whack this swiss cheese layer to pieces with an axe. Drill up and whack down another layer. Repeat until you get the stump below ground level. Bury it, and let it rot.
the bury it situation is a reasonable one. Any guidelines on how deep?
I need to knock stumps down ( I left 3-5 foot after cutting trees down), then I could bury when my yard gets graded.
It depends. If you don't plan on doing a lot of digging in the area, it might only be necessary to leave 5 or 6 inches of dirt for an aerator or plugger to operate. If you never plan on doing that, just make sure it's deep enough that you won't be tripping over it if the dirt settles.
The worms, bugs, fungus, and bacteria aren't too picky about soil depth.
Hey, I like it! a 12" stump has ~100 sq in, so if you use a 1" bit, figure
1 minute per hole, yer probably done in two hours. I have been going at my stump for two years!
I had a pretty good sized stump and some guys offered to get it out for $100. I was expecting some fancy equipment, they just used an axe and a shovel. They just dug and chopped until it came out with a chain on their truck. It took about an hour.
I shoveled and cleaned a 18 inch stump once then spent time every evening chaisawing at the thing. by nite 4 it was a goner and I covered it with dirt.
stump was cut flush with ground, I wanted it to disappear since I was selling the house
The last stump I removed was done this way. I first dug out a "ramp" under the main saddle of the root ball. I then slid a 1' x 2' chunk of 3/4" plywood down the "ramp" and rolled my floor jack down on the plywood under the root saddle. I then jacked the stump out. Block it up when you reach the jack's limit, move the jack in the direction of the 'resisting' roots. Repeat as needed.
Bob
My vote is for stump grinding since it is fast and relatively hassle free. The only caveat is that there may still be roots or stump still in the ground if the grinder doesn't go deep enough. This can be a problem later if you want to build on the area or pour concrete there. Over time the underground stump will rot and the ground will sink.
John Churchill Builder and Cont. Ed. Instructor at Emory University Author of
If stumps are not big, say more than eighteen inches in diameter, then removal of those trees without a tap root is easy. I have done quite a few. All you have to do is dig around the stump to uncover the roots and cut or chop through them. The roots tend to go perpendicular to the tree so you shouldn't have to dig more than a foot or so to get to them. Once you cut the root, they are easy to pull out. I just put a chain around the stump and hook it to the trailer hitch. Trees with a tap root (such as pines are another deal). You would have to dig down enough to get access to the tap root and then cut it.
Big trees, call the stump grinder. I had two ground and it was the way to go.
why would I chopp off at the root, then pull the stump? if the root were cut, wouldn't the tree trunk fall down?
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