Stump holes

[livemusic]

Not sure when it was... maybe 20 years ago... prior owner of my woodlot harvested the pines. Most of them still have a stump remnant sticking up. Some are totally gone but it leaves stump holes. I have had several what seem to be dangerous falls from stepping in one that I did not see due to leaves. On over 40 acres of woods, that's a lot of holes, hard to fill them all, lol, but near or on my trails, considering filling them. I have a John Deere Gator side by side. That's a lot of shoveling dirt into the Gator bed then going to the trails and fill a few in from time to time. That'll take awhile! Anyone know of another method? I thought of just sticking sticks and logs in there but that'd rot and you'd be back to where you started before too long.

Side note... I've heard of it being illegal to bury a stump. Why? If you are clearing trails, do you think it is best to pull/dig stumps and pile up the stumps or just cut them close to ground and leave like that? I guess you could hire a guy with a mulcher and it would leave the trail flat but the roots would still rot. What to do!

Another side note... I was raised on a farm and stump holes would occasionally show up (collapse) decades later and it was very dangerous to us driving vehicles and also livestock.

[Tacotodd]

I've got some like that on my deer lease and I've always put gravel in that's close by. It's always worked well for our trail. Maybe someone else will chime in.

[mudfarmer]

On well used trails if you cut stump close to the ground like suggested and leave it there, the soil will compact around it and it will be sticking back up again before long. Just something to think about, you can always cut them off again later or break out the pulaski and get to work.

[Bosco]

We got a ton of stump holes due to a recent wild fire!, It is going to be real dangerous to livestock, hunters and trappers!

[Texas Ranger]

55 years ago I stepped into a stump hole that had burned out.  In going down I pulled a hernia.  We will have less of those stump holes now that we have gone to lawn based plantations, tap root not big enough to burn out and leave man traps.

[Ljohnsaw]

How big/deep are the holes?  Small enough that you can push dirt in from around it and just have a 3-4' diameter depression rather than a small, deep hole?

[Iwawoodwork]

First  that I heard about being illegal to bury stumps, Have buried many thousands  of  fir stumps in my logging road construction days. my experience is that if stumps are buried with several feet of dirt over them you will not notice any issues for many years  as the lack of air/oxygen seems to slow the decay process.

[bitternut]

I have never heard before that burying stumps was illegal. When our main logging road was constructed there were quite a few stumps buried alongside the roadway.
The road construction was done by a local well-known contractor and supervised by our forester. Pretty sure it's not illegal in NY State.

I have noticed the same problem as mudfarmer, of small stumps in a trail popping up a couple inches in height over time. This has occurred on atv/foot trails that I cut small trees flush with the ground and now have popped up. The trails are not heavily used and are multiple tree varieties. I was thinking that it might be caused by frost heaving.

Anyways that's all I have to add to the subject.

[Old Greenhorn]

x2 on eh rising stump phenomenon. They just get taller, or the ground drops, hard to say which. I take a mattock to them when I have tripped as many times as I care to. ;D
 As far as the legality of burying stumps, never heard of such a thing. If that is the case, every time you cut a tree you are in violation because the stump is buried. :D I mean, isn't that the natural habitat of the stump? ;D Perhaps this came from some construction code about burying stumps for fill on job sites or something. Beyond that, it makes no sense. Would like to find out more about that.

[Old Greenhorn]

I stand corrected, seems there are a lot of stump burying laws around the country. In general it appears they are mostly in and around cities where buried stumps can cause sinkholes over time leading to building compromise or collapse. I could not find anything about rural burying practices. 

[Runningalucas]

I've got a ton of stump holes, I dug them out, but the dirt put back in settles over time. I'm planning on planting field grass this next Spring, and either taking my box blade, or straight blade across the open areas to try to at least get the craters leveled out.  The problem here is the winter time water table, even though at the base slope of mountains, is only like 6" underground, so in the Winter is when working around the holes can be bad, as my machine will just sink in, but with the snow, you just can't tell quite where until you hit one. 

[Magicman]

I've got a ton of stump holes, I dug them out,

I dug my stump holes out too but I am running them through my firewood splitter and selling them for fence post holes.   :   ;D

I had an Uncle that told about buying abandoned oil well holes and sawing them into post holes.  Much less waste than using stump holes.  :D

[livemusic]

55 years ago I stepped into a stump hole that had burned out.  In going down I pulled a hernia.  We will have less of those stump holes now that we have gone to lawn based plantations, tap root not big enough to burn out and leave man traps.

What is a lawn based plantation? Please explain, curious.

[livemusic]

How big/deep are the holes?  Small enough that you can push dirt in from around it and just have a 3-4' diameter depression rather than a small, deep hole?

Well, they are pretty bad, some a couple feet deep. Your idea has merit, might try it.

[Texas Ranger]

55 years ago I stepped into a stump hole that had burned out.  In going down I pulled a hernia.  We will have less of those stump holes now that we have gone to lawn based plantations, tap root not big enough to burn out and leave man traps.

What is a lawn based plantation? Please explain, curious.

Lawn based plantations are the current model in the south, plant them, come back in 10 -12 or more years and mow them, replant.

[livemusic]

55 years ago I stepped into a stump hole that had burned out.  In going down I pulled a hernia.  We will have less of those stump holes now that we have gone to lawn based plantations, tap root not big enough to burn out and leave man traps.

What is a lawn based plantation? Please explain, curious.

Lawn based plantations are the current model in the south, plant them, come back in 10 -12 or more years and mow them, replant.

That is really interesting. You talking about southern pines? Loblo-lly? It's odd that I cannot find a single link doing a search for "Lawn based pine plantation" or "lawn based plantation." Would like to know more. Instead of thinning, they just clear cut? Is it sold as chip or pulp? Where would you say this is common?
How the heck can I type a word with l-o-l in it without it generating a smiley face?!

[Tristen]

A tractor with a loader on the front (fill with dirt) and a 3 point landscape rake on the back.  Dump the dirt in the hole, drag the landscape rake over it to level it and move to the next.  The rake may even pull up a piece of the old rotten pine stump if you are lucky.   

[SwampDonkey]

Up here we complain about spruce roots around them big stumps when we are using clearing saws. If you didn't wear good chaulk boots, weeeee saw and all. You gotta unhook that contraption to get up.  :D One guy last fall sprained his ankle on one of them slippery roots. No chaulks on. Nice big fat ankle. Still worked. :

[Runningalucas]

I've got a ton of stump holes, I dug them out,

I dug my stump holes out too but I am running them through my firewood splitter and selling them for fence post holes.   :   ;D

I had an Uncle that told about buying abandoned oil well holes and sawing them into post holes.  Much less waste than using stump holes.  :D

That should've read, "I dug the stumps out", lol, back to English studies

[Magicman]

No, first you dig the stump out which leaves a stump hole.  Then you dig the stump hole out which you split up into post holes....Then....... smiley_dizzy 

[Southside]

Magicman - you just mentioned the world famous Posthole.  I wonder how the old goat is doing.   ;D