Digging stumps

[woody paul]

I had a 1.5 digger on site years ago digging trenches for hedges and had an afternoon spare on hire for it and asked customer was there anything else they needed doing with a digger, can you get that old sycamore root out it had 4 stems about 18 inches across well after a lot of digging and head scratching I had it moving the only way I got it out was hook a chain on it and drag it

[digaholedumper]

Right this stump your digging out,

We removed a complete eucalyptus tree about 3 years ago, she was 28 - 30ft tall & measured about 30" across the trunk, the stump was a monster of a thing, the ground had been built up around it about 10 years earlier, we brought it down starting at the top & once we had a stub about 8 ft long we stopped cutting & started digging, we used a Neuson 2503 mini digger with a 12" bucket ( 2.5 ton ) if you start with a wide hole right around the tree ( the roots are smaller further out ) then just pick the soil off what is left, ( undoo the root ball by pulling it to bits ) keep pushing & pulling on the 8 foot trunk, once the stump breaks lose stop digging & finish the sawing off, then work & roll the stump in the hole to get as much soil removed as you can ( this will make it lighter ) a 2.5 ton digger should do a fair job if you are patient ( just take your time & think about it ).

 

We moved a 15 year old willow with the same digger, we dug & dug & then dug some more, we ended up with a hole about 22 foot across & to find the end of the tap root we were 12 - 14 foot deep, we lifted it out with a 9 meter telescopic handler moved it about 20 yards to the left & re-planted it in a new hole 12-14 foot deep, as we filled it back in we burried a short length of hose pipe leading to the tap root, the tree was kept well watered every day & she lived, we are told the tree is now about 30 years old & we have cut it back twice to date.

[Matthew Storrs]

Few years ago when I had a 1.5 ton digger I had a massive macrocarpa stump about 1 meter DBH to dig out- it had Blown over in a storm, still took a hell of a lot of digging to get the other half of the root plate free,, eventually I got it lose, put two tractors on it to pull it out of the hole, all 8 wheels were spinning- not a chance, there must have been a massive riot going down underneath or something, by now the 2 meter hole was filling with water, Rather than waste further time trying to get under it through the water to the root if was decided we would just make sure it was dug outb enough and sit it back in its hole, where it sits to this day with the stump at ground level looking like it had just been felled.

[drinksloe]

It should do it but it might depend on the soil conditions, but really a 2.5T is as big a digger as u can get without getting into some serious haulage charges.

 

Some pretty good advice so far, if u can leave the stump long so u can get a bit of leverage on it later on when u've broke a few roots.

Just start wide and dig a trench with a small toothed bucket or ripper tooth and just work ur way round smashing roots as u go.

U might have more trouble lifting it but u could mibee save some the the stem/ramps and push it up into ur trailer/tipper or if u can push it of a banking et.

 

I've pulled a few decent sized stumps out with 2.5 and occasionally 1.5T machines, just take utr time dig round the edges and a longer stem does make a massive difference for leverage once its looser.

Got a 5T machine on the job now and it makes short work of most stumps but got a few 3-4ft stumps to pull out over the nex few days will test it

[Ian Clarke]

Just a thought for getting it on to a trailer /van if you can put it on an 8x4 sheet and the pull/push/slide the sheet of ply up ramps or strap up the root plate put blade down on digger lift up root plate and then reverse trailer/ Can under. Prob thought of it already.

[Vespasian]

Just for the curious, I watched this a year or two back... surprised what can be done with a few bits of equipment....

 

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years back when I did a big root removal for the first time, all I had was a bow saw, axe and a few trench spades... spent a week digging round and under it to get it free.. then a local farmer dragged it out with his tractor...

 

Looking back I'm shocked I didn't kill myself digging under it to undermine it..... It looked like a FWW trench system in the making LOL.. never again!!!..

[digaholedumper]

Just for the curious, I watched this a year or two back... surprised what can be done with a few bits of equipment....

 

 

years back when I did a big root removal for the first time, all I had was a bow saw, axe and a few trench spades... spent a week digging round and under it to get it free.. then a local farmer dragged it out with his tractor...

 

Looking back I'm shocked I didn't kill myself digging under it to undermine it..... It looked like a FWW trench system in the making LOL.. never again!!!..

 

Very impressive video clip, would have never thought that could have been possible, will use ropes & snatch blocks next time

[Stefan Palokangas]

Why bother ? Use a stump grinder

 

 

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[Stumpy Grinder]

Why would you even considering hiring a machine and digging it out?

You'll just end up with a big hole and a huge stump to get rid of, as well as a day's hire. A stump grinder would smash that out in a fraction of the time for a lot less money and all that is left is some woodchip to fill the hole.

SG

[dumper]

But you have got to get the machine to the stump