Stump Questions

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Jarred525

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Giles Tennessee
1.) In an area that I am clearcutting and planting pine, would it be beneficial to go ahead and treat the stumps with herbicide now or should I wait and do a hardwood elimination treatment after one or 2 years?
2.) What size stumps can a good size bulldozer handle pulling out of the ground?
3.) For an area that I plan on making a food plot out of one of these days (not immediately), should I go ahead and treat the stumps with herbicide? Or would it be better just to get a bulldozer to clear out the stumps. The trees in the area vary in size, up to around 30 inch DBH.
4.) What mix do you recommend to kill stumps? How long after they are cut can I wait before treating them?

Sorry, lots of questions :)
 
A good size dozer will get them up,. but it takes them more time to get them out,. which time is money when it comes to dozer work.

I had some stumps left in one of food plots,. been there for 5 years,.. this past year the 30 horse kubota with a front end loader knocked them right out of the ground,.. and i never treated them or put stump rot on them.
 
As deerchaser007 mentioned, If you can work around the stumps for food plot development, eventually the stumps will rot enough to pull them out with a chain or front-end loader.
 
Thanks, in some places it will probably be more of trimming/bushhogging with a small bushhog as the stumps will be close together. I was wondering if the sprouts might get out of hand?
 
Football Hunter said:
Jarred525 said:
Thanks, in some places it will probably be more of trimming/bushhogging with a small bushhog as the stumps will be close together. I was wondering if the sprouts might get out of hand?
Click to expand...
They will if you dont spray em
Click to expand...

Should I spary now or wait and see what sprouts and spray then? What do you recommend spraying?
 
Jarred525 said:
Football Hunter said:
Jarred525 said:
Thanks, in some places it will probably be more of trimming/bushhogging with a small bushhog as the stumps will be close together. I was wondering if the sprouts might get out of hand?
Click to expand...
They will if you dont spray em
Click to expand...

Should I spary now or wait and see what sprouts and spray then? What do you recommend spraying?
Click to expand...

If you wait until the sprouts appear, you can kill the stump easier (round-up).
 
The problem with mulchers is they only cut down to the ground surface. That stump is still there under the surface and can reak havoc on tilling equipment. I prefer to know the stump is there!
 
BSK said:
The problem with mulchers is they only cut down to the ground surface. That stump is still there under the surface and can reak havoc on tilling equipment. I prefer to know the stump is there!
Click to expand...
Seems like your an expert havoc reaker on equipment HA!
 
Guy that did mine cut stumps down just below the surface. I just disk over them and planted. Now I do have a heavy duty Ford offset disc, not something like you see at Tractor supply. Some of my plots are about five years old now and the stumps are all about rotted out, but I still would not pull a plow through the ground.
 
Most of these areas I am going to have as shooting lanes. The dirt is not great for food plots. So I am hoping maybe he will cut the stumps low enough that I can simply run over them with the tractor and bushhog (set high). Going to ask him to anyways.
 
If you are gonna leave the stumps and work around them,. why not leave the sprouts? I've never really understood why people spray stumps in these types situations,.. sprouts = deer browse. In my plots with the stumps the deer browsed the crap out of the sprouts,. it may not be the best deer browse,. but deer will eat what deer want at certain times of the year. Fresh woody browse at certain times of the year are a good thing IMO.
 
Football Hunter said:
BSK said:
The problem with mulchers is they only cut down to the ground surface. That stump is still there under the surface and can reak havoc on tilling equipment. I prefer to know the stump is there!
Click to expand...
Seems like your an expert havoc reaker on equipment HA!
Click to expand...

Oh, the stories!!! :(
 
deerchaser007 said:
If you are gonna leave the stumps and work around them,. why not leave the sprouts? I've never really understood why people spray stumps in these types situations,.. sprouts = deer browse.
Click to expand...

Depends on where that plot is located, but as long as that stump is alive (living sprouts) it is draining moisture out of the soil from the full spread of roots (which can be a huge area). Soil moisture can be so limited on ridge-top plots, I don't want anything draining it away from the food plot plants.

I provide plenty of browse in my timbered areas.
 
Id rather just get a D6 in there to knock out the stumps. Be best if the logger had a dozer, most here do, push the tree over whole, cut the logs out, then push the top and stump out of the way. Be time consuming for them though so they may not do that, at least not on a 50/50 deal.

If they do leave the stumps then a good D6 operator can either push or dig them out, runs anywhere from 85-100 an hour in my area, actually can be had cheaper right now in this crappy economy, lots of guys have no jobs going.

Or just treat the stumps with Tordon RTU, but you need to do that right after they cut it. And of course they would have to be cut low in order for a bushhog to go over them.
 
BSK said:
deerchaser007 said:
If you are gonna leave the stumps and work around them,. why not leave the sprouts? I've never really understood why people spray stumps in these types situations,.. sprouts = deer browse.
Click to expand...

Depends on where that plot is located, but as long as that stump is alive (living sprouts) it is draining moisture out of the soil from the full spread of roots (which can be a huge area). Soil moisture can be so limited on ridge-top plots, I don't want anything draining it away from the food plot plants.

I provide plenty of browse in my timbered areas.
Click to expand...


Plus if you dont kill then they will never rot out,
 
I am hoping maybe I can get him to cut the stumps really low in the shooting lanes where I can access them with the 4 wheeler and sprayer and keep roundup on them. They are not feasible for food plots, too much rock.

I think I have him talked into a loading area where I want the food plot, so free stump removal there :)
 
My experience is the loggers don't want to cut low to the ground. Hard on the back and more dangerous. I have some stumps 5 yrs old that have not rotted out yet. Depends on the wood, ie bowdock. never will rot . As BSK said , I sprayed some of the sprouters , after they sprouted , with roundup. Killed them all . Some of the stumps are still hard as a rock though and my frontend loader cannot pushem out. Also remember the bigger they are the larger the hole left in the ground by the dozer. Doesn't matter as much if you are not planting , but still can be difficult to navigate over and around.
 
Don't know the right terminology for it but he has a cutter that looks similar to a skidder. It has a wheel on the front that cuts the trees. So it is able to cut most everything. He only has to cut really large trees by hand. In the place that he has cut so far, he has been able to get pretty low. onlt about 3 or 4 inches of stump above the surface. I am hoping he can do that in the shooting lanes. Would be nice to be able to run a 4wheeler right through these areas with roundup :)
 
I have food plots with over 50 stumps total in a 4 acre area. Oak and Hickory and one thing is for sure, after 5 years they as hard in the center as they were 5 years ago. Sure the outer couple of inches is giving in a bit but they would be there a long time if I did not grind them out. I rent a stump grinder and do it on the weekend. That way I only do a one day rental but grind all weekend. If the teeth are sharp you can grind 50 pretty good size stumps(12-18inch) stumps in the weekend and that changes your food plot life substantially. I have a weekend planned for that purpose in two weeks, but boy will it be worth it.
 
8p or b,

we have been able to get it for about 200. We pick it up on a friday afternoon and return it monday a.m. Money well spent if the teeth are sharp and the machine is in good shape. We have rented from Sunbelt at Lowes and also at the Sunbelt in Murfreesboro.
 

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