OT Clearing Trees

[Tim23]

Alright, here's the deal... I (and the bank) own +/- 12.5 acres. Two acres of this is a field where I've been planting a garden and playing with the tractor for the past couple of years. The rest is wooded. Right now the wife and I have been making it in a mobile home that's seen its better days, but we need to find something else within the next year or so. It sits on the 10.5 acre part of my land and the area around it is the only part that's been cleared off. We have talked about looking for another place and we have talked about building. If we build where we are at I'm gonna have to clear out some trees. I really wanna do this anyways cause I would like to build a garage. I have a good running chain saw, and I can drag the trees out with the tractor.
The question is, what is the cheapest most efficient way to get rid of the stumps? Rent a grinder or pay someone to bulldoze them up? Some other method? I would like to do what I can myself to save money, but I will need to clear a lot of stumps most of which are 12" diameter or bigger, about 75% pine the rest are oak maple hickory poplar. I've been bouncing ideas around and asking advice from ppl I know, I just figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone on here has some good information. Thanks

 

[Royse]

A good operator with a bulldozer would be my choice.
You might be amazed at what they can do in an hour.
He could push the stumps in a pile for you to burn if allowed.
Use the ash on your garden as needed.
Might not work out as well if you were "hollowing out" a spot
in the woods to build in though.

 

[oldtanker]

It may seem cheaper to do something like that yourself but most often when you rent an unfamiliar piece of equipment you spend much more time than if you hire it done with an experienced operator. Guy I know rented a Bobcat to help his church out. He'd never run one before. He spent 2 days and didn't get much done. When he told me what was up I went and ran the Bobcat for him and did everything in about 4 hours.

Rick

 

[L.B,]

This has come up before, beg barrow but dont steal
the money and call in a dozer. Do some good
planning and you may want to leave some trees for
future shade and wildlife plot or whatever your
interests are. What a dozer can do in 30 mins would
take you an insurmountable amount of time and
energy. I would let the dozer do it all.

 

[ericlb]

ive done some of this in the past and for stump clearing an excavator will produce more work done per hour than a dozer will, with half the mess, it can easily dig out and pick up the stumps and stack them in a burn pile, plud fill in the hole an dyou wont end up with as much dirt in the pile as a dozer will push up into it, now when i say excavator, i mean a 30 toner, not one of those dinky mini's although given time, that will work too

 

[JLeus]

You didn't say if you were clearing all the ground
or just getting trees out of the way for your new
structures. I recently purchased the ground I was
leasing for my horses. 6 acres that joins our 4.
The 4 is kept as yard and the 6 as horse and hay
pasture. There were/are trees that need to go and
will certainly be some to clean up as long as I'm
here. I searched until I found one of the walk
behind grinders, found a bluebird brand, money
well spent. I do my cleaning as time and energy
allow. Some will say the walk behinds are "toys"
and yes, you don't want to spend the entire day
behind it, you will feel it for several days
after. Its no speed demon but it will eat it out
of there. Just my stump free 2 cents.

 

[teddy52food]

I would be getting a backhoe before a dozer.

 

[NNP]

at camp, when we were going to make a pond and needed the woods cleared (big trees).
We talked to a heavy equipment guy and he said to just drop all the trees.
Leave em where they fall.
Then he came in with his big bulldozer and very quickly pushed the whole mess out, stumps and all.
Then he made the pond.
I think it took us longer to walk tree to tree with the chainsaw to drop them, then it took him to clear the mess and stumps out.

 

[Anonymous-0]

While this is not very efficient, but I have gotten rid of several stumps by burning them out. If you have a 55 gallon metal barrel, cut both ends out or cut it in half and put it around the stump. Get a fire going with the top branches or sticks you can use for fire wood or anything else and let the fire do the work. I don"t know how many you have to do, but the fire will work its way into the ground enough to get rid of the stump. As I said, it is not very efficient if you have a lot to do, but it is free. Plus a couple cold ones around a bonfire is pretty relaxing too.

 

[8N Ren]

Hire a dozer, get the guy to push trees down stumps and all is what I did for some of it. What would take me a full day with my saw he had at least double that within an hour.
Another option is to cut em down and leave the stumps about 2 feet tall and the dozer can push them out into a pile.
Sure you're going to have holes to fill and level but it's better than dealing with stumps for years ahead.
I did about 1.5 acres with only a saw and a stihl bushcutter, never again.

 

[Gary (Or)]

I hire it out when I cleared a spot for my shop.


Gary (Or)

 

[TheOldHokie]

(quoted from post at 22:31:15 06/05/14) Alright, here's the deal... I (and the bank) own +/- 12.5 acres. Two acres of this is a field where I've been planting a garden and playing with the tractor for the past couple of years. The rest is wooded. Right now the wife and I have been making it in a mobile home that's seen its better days, but we need to find something else within the next year or so. It sits on the 10.5 acre part of my land and the area around it is the only part that's been cleared off. We have talked about looking for another place and we have talked about building. If we build where we are at I'm gonna have to clear out some trees. I really wanna do this anyways cause I would like to build a garage. I have a good running chain saw, and I can drag the trees out with the tractor.
The question is, what is the cheapest most efficient way to get rid of the stumps? Rent a grinder or pay someone to bulldoze them up? Some other method? I would like to do what I can myself to save money, but I will need to clear a lot of stumps most of which are 12" diameter or bigger, about 75% pine the rest are oak maple hickory poplar. I've been bouncing ideas around and asking advice from ppl I know, I just figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone on here has some good information. Thanks

Hire an experienced and established excavator with a good reputation - preferably one with access to multiple types of machines - dump truck, dozer, track loader, hoe, etc. . If you have a tight budget discuss it with him. Tell him what you want as the final outcome. Listen to him - he will get you the most work possible out of your budget. Do not try to tell him how to do it or what equipment to use to do it. My friend Drex and his stable of machines is a woods clearing, road building, foundation digging, eight hour per day cloud of dust and the best investment I have ever made. And I have made it more than once....

TOH

PS> Once the main work is done you can indulge yourself in a little DIY - even rent something like the toy in the last picture and play with it on your own ;-)

PPS> I cut and limbed the trees myself and moved the trunks to my firewood staging area with my equipment. I left the limbs and stumps for Drex to pile and burn. That track loader will push/pry just about any stump out as long as he can get the bucket teeth on it. If it's extremely large it might require a few seconds of actual digging around the root ball....

 

[Tim23]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I gotta figure out what I'm gonna do with the trees and then I guess I'll look for a professional to clean up the rest.