cedar root/stump removal

[kam]

When the weather gets warmer, I hope to cut down a 20ft. tall 8 inch dia.
cedar (not sure of exact species). I want to cut it at 5 ft height leaving a 5' stump, then give the
stump a LIGHT tug with a Caravan. If the soil or roots give a little, I will cut/chop more of the root, till
I can remove it. If it does not budge, then I will cut it close to the ground and leave it that way.
Would the root system be small and shallow enough to pull it out?
Any comments or suggeestions?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I can picture you with two black eyes after the airbag deploys.

Seriously, if you can use a come-along, not your car, to apply steady pressure as you chop at the roots with a root axe, you might have some luck. You will find each time you hit a root it will give a little, then you can crank the come-along a click or two and repeat.
Or hire an arborist for about $20 to grind it out.

 

[geofore]

pull it out

A light pull with the Caravan--- Been there, seen that, not a pretty sight. Harold, the fellow who lived on the ajoining farm to mine, tried to pull a small pine over with his John Deere. Placed the chain around the trunk, put it in low gear low range and tightened up the chain, as the chain tightened up some more the front of the tractor reached for the clouds because the tree was not going to give an inch. By the time he got the brake on the tractor was strait up and down and the tree stump didn't move.

He decided to cut a few of the roots before he tried that again, another inch and he'd have been under the tractor and the tree did not move. Cut some more roots and it came out the third try.

I can see the Caravan bumper laying on the ground and you buried under the airbag thinking you're having a bad day. Dig out and cut the roots first and use something besides the Caravan for removal. That was more than 30 years ago and it still puts a grin on my face. Cut the roots first!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I was helping a landscaper remove some yew stumps, useing a 5 ton dump truck and a tow strap. We attached the strap to the front bumper and then the stump. The first pull wasn't enough so he really gave it, well, the stump popped out and flew right up and through the windsheild.

 

[cam76034]

I've taken out several stumps by burning them with the help of charcoal and a gas powered blower.

Pile the charcoal on the stump and keep feeding it periodically. The trick is to use the blower to get the coals white hot, this will get the stump burning, all the way down into the roots below ground level.

If you're in a neighborhood with restrictions on open burning, simply have an ice chest full of beer and some hot dogs handy, after all, it's just a barbeque!

 

[Toddppm]

I'd have paid to see that Mike! One of the few stumps we ever tried to pull out with the vehicles was a teeny weeeny yew, man that thing had some deep roots and didn't want to give up! If it can't be ground out out we hand dig them.

 

[kam]

Thanks for replying.

Cam76039...burning is out of the question, its in the middle of the city.

Mike... I can't imagine an arborist or a stump
grinder making a house call to cut/grind a
stump for $20. Do you work that cheap?

Mike and Geofore... I did stress "light tug".
I wasn't intending to pull the stump in one
shot, ( The Caravan transaxle is marginally designed and I would not want to overstress).I planned on just a few light tugs to loosen the soil and expose the roots for further cutting.

I was hoping that someone more familiar with
cedars would confirm that the root system is
shallow enough to do this.

If this fails I'll cut it close to the ground.

 

[Jumper]

Cedar removal

Grinding out cedars is not that big a job, and the roots tend to be shallow around here. Do not use a vehicle! (for all the reasons listed above)Cut it as short to the ground as you can, and then if you want it cut further they can be dug/cut out by hand. You might want to check with City Hall about whether you need a permit or not to remove a tree that large-the granola munchers have taken over. My parents live in Agincourt, and the locust they had removed last fall was just under 8 " diameter, thus no permit required.

 

[Menchhofer]

True, the root system of a heathly cedar is relativley shallow but it is still strong. I doubt your van will be able to do anything.

I wish I could have seen the shrub fly through the windshield also..


If you find someone to grind it for $20 jump on it for I do not grind any stump for $20.00 unless I am already there.

 

[NeTree]

Or...

If you're not really in a hurry, cut it flush with the ground, bore a few holes in it and fill it with stump-B-gone.

My usual 2 cents,
Erik
[email protected]

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Originally posted by kam
Thanks for replying.


Mike... I can't imagine an arborist or a stump
grinder making a house call to cut/grind a
stump for $20. Do you work that cheap?

Mike and Geofore... I did stress "light tug".

No I don't work that cheap, especially with over a thousand miles travel time. There are guys around here who do grind stumps for $1 per inch. One guy that I'm thinking of does it part time, after work, for beer money. Twenty bucks is not out of question.

My point about the car pull is that it works best to put steady pressure on the stump, then chop at the roots. Jerking with the car won't work as well.

 

[geofore]

cut roots first

Imagine if you can a 50 mph wind on the tree loads the roots and can not torque the roots out of the ground. You are going to pull it out with a Caravan? Tie high, tension the rope or chain, lock brakes of Caravan and walk back to see which roots lifted and cut them. The danger here is if the rope snaps and comes flying back to slap you. Go look for the roots that lifted but don't step in line with the rope and risk getting slapped. Go back to the Caravan and back off a little tension before you cut the roots that lifted. Repeat the process until the roots let go. Then next time you will remmember how difficult or not it was to do and from there you can decide if you want to just cut it at ground level or pull it.

If you decide to cut at ground level go one step further and dig around the stump and cut below ground level so you are not cursing when you hit the stump nub with the lawnmowwer come spring. This stump is small enough to dig around with a shovel to get below ground level with your cut.

 

[treeguy347]

couple years ago, we had a 10" stump that had a 6-7" hollow cut 4' above ground. We thought a good tug with a 6 wheel drive flatbed tuck loaded with cinder blocks could do it. Oh man were we wrong. Hooked a length of 3/8" transport chain, snapped that easy without 6x6. We grabbed more chain, doubled it and locked in the rear ends on the truck, all 4 back tires just spun. put the truck in 6 wheel drive, double low, snapped both my chains I got my revenge on the stump and all it's roots with about 3 days of good hot fires.

 

[Kevin]

That's a common cause for forest fires here.
The fire goes deep into the root system and can come up several feet away from where the fire was originally set.
I have seen it happen.

 

[treeguy347]

I know it... I've seen fires that were buried by people still hot 2 weeks later. This particular stump was right in the middle of a garage addition that had footings dug 60" all the way around it.

 

[Stephen Wiley]

lots of laughs

Kam,

What is your reason for removing the stump?

Construction? Landscape? Garden?

Have you thought of a raised bed, as adding soil over this conifer stump (min. of 12inches) will cause it to naturally decay. And will further be out of sight.

Depending upon your soil composition, the roots may or may not be deeply embedded. Caution always assume that they are.

Cedars are one of the easiest species to identify, visit Canadian forest centre on the internet.

Use your vehicle with care, if you so choose. If you have a friend with a backhoe and availabilty to manuver the machine you could easily dig it out. I know around here operator/equipment hourly is another solution.

However, on your 8" tree, probably overkill!

The answer to your root question is simple; to many variables exist in soil type, water table, severe weather inclements, existing fungal influences, soil disturbances. Just to name a few!

Again, if your looking for the most economical means, fill the stump. Unless they're live trees to close which would suffer from fill. In which, case I would not recommend grinding or pulling.

 

[Dan F]

Another word of warning about burning the stumps. If the soil is very high in peat/organic matter, the soil can burn too!

This type of soil is not real common, however, there are pockets that do exist.

A few years ago in Northern Indiana this happened. I don't remember the cause of the fire, but a couple of acres were burning under the surface. The only way to put this type of fire out is to put thousands and thousands of gallons of water on it and hope for the best.

However, if the make up of your soil is mostly clay, you should be OK.


Dan

 

[stump grinder]

Price to have the stump ground $20
Big strong rope $25
Watching someone destroy their mini van/stump remover...priceless!


Stump grinder