Cheapest way to dispose of 2000 medium growth pine stumps?

[Dixon700]

I have a small part of my property probably a little more than a half acre that's thick pine. Biggest one is probably about 16"  most are around 10". I'm returning all of them to nature. They aren't big enough to sell, I don't have a wood stove at all anymore, my grandfather has an indoor and won't burn pine, and I'm tired of looking at them.... so I'm spreading them out as fill about 10' tall as fill down by my power line then will cover them up with dirt. So im really hoping the township cleans up our road this year. I really need the fill. Lol

[Brandon1986]

I deal with between 100 and 200 acres of stumps a year doing the excavation side of our business (this will be year 18 for us so we have a little experience).  Where I am located there is some real nice gravel which we usually need for the site we are working on, so we bury them.  Depending on the material in your neck of the woods you can bury them not have a massive sink hole later, and have a nice product to show for it (I.E. clean gravel). When I built my personal house nearly 10 years ago I buried about an acre of stumps and debris, and now I have a sink hole of MAYBE 6" (I could fill it back with a pickup) This saved me most likely thousands of dollars in gravel import.  The way to accomplish this is not just dig a hole and shove the stumps in there that's how you wind up with 3' sink holes.  First and foremost when you pop the stumps do your best to shake all the dirt out of and off of them (an energetic hoe with a thumb is a great way to go preferably in the EX200 size). Once you have a pile of clean stumps and wood (no duff or sod) dig your hole all the while sorting sod from soil from gravel (this will be important for a nice finish). Once your hole is dug put about 4' of stumps in it flatten it off and trickle some gravel in the voids between stumps until it is full or mostly full then take a bucket full of gravel and spend about 5 min (this depends on the size of your hole) and bucket pack that lift.  (If you don't fill the bucket it terrorizes pins and bushings and if you don't shake out the dirt out of the stumps you wont have voids for the load bearing material to fall into) repeat this process until you are about 6' from ground level put your duff in until its about a foot low, bucket pack, then your save soil bucket pack grade off and rake out.  In 10 years you MIGHT have to put half a yard to a yard of material back into that sink hole.  There are a lot of contingencies on this depending on where you are at soils type water table ect, but it will dispose of your waste and bring to the surface a possible usable product for other projects.  There's my $.02 for what its worth
Brandon

[BEEMERS]

The material sifting in to the voids is just the first faze.As the stumps start to rot down those holes will sink..by several feet. Ive got some subdivisions around here where everything was buried in the front yards and the are still sinking..50 years later. Weve been at it for 51 years and no we didn't bury those stumps.
Sometimes I get a call after a propane truck went to its axles in the shallow hole,,,Ive been filling them in all my life.and it doesn't really seem to be slowing down.
If you've got a valuable product coming out of the ground that's a different story..as long as it is valuable enough to offset all the work filling tamping etc. Im sure a nice gravel would make it worth it but don't think the volume of the stumps wont decrease by 80 or so percent..it may take a 50 or more years.Id think the volume of ash after burning would be roughly the volume of soil theyd become after they aren't woodmass anymore.

[Magicman]

Stumps that were ground off and backfilled 25+ years ago continue to rot in my yard and regularly need backfilling. 

[Jeff]

In the sub division next to us, they routinely buried the stumps cleared from the building sites under where they would put the driveways.  I'm guessing these are some of the ones of which Beemers speaks.  many of these driveways were black topped or paved, and they failed. The only way to fix them right was either to move the driveways or dig them out and fill them back in.

Oh, and we live ON a gravel pit basically here, so its not the ground settling the 3 feet, its the stumps rotting down leaving the voids.

[chet]

Back in the early 70's a new roadway was built around the south end of the lake I live near. The logs were salvaged but all slash and stumps were buried under the new roadway.  : Now every one wonders why new sinkholes keep swallowing up the blacktop.

[BEEMERS]

I was referring more to cranberry lake subdivisions Jeff. Every cabin has a sinkhole in front yard but im sure your  area has them too...also On the North west of Arnold lake..Woodshaw estates...they buried the stumps on the sides of the right of way for the road..but not far enough..that was like 40 or more years ago? every few years the edge of road and a bit of the road in several spot falls a few inches..They call a paving company to biuild the asphalt back up and I come in and gravel the edges here and there to build back up to the new asphalt..and a few years later the do some new spots and do the old ones over again because the sunk again..and it seems to be increasing if anything..
BUT...for the advocates of burying..if the material displaced is valuable..and if the area sinks..its an area that will never matter..then why not? Im sure that's the case for a lot of bury situations..AND..there may be burning restrictions in some places..
AND..if you put all those scenarios together and theres no place to take them..and NO allowance for anyone to pay to have them hauled away...Im with ya.

[Clark]

FYI - On four acres I would estimate 500-800 stumps, based on the size you give.

If you're cutting the trees and turning it into pasture I'm trying to figure out why you need the stumps out at all? I've never heard livestock complain about stumps in the ground but I'm no farmer.

Clark

[Brandon1986]

Once again I would say that depends on location. Where I am at the ground temp is 37 deg. in the middle of summer.  Not much rot happens at that temp. I have dug up stump holes from the mid 70's and evidenced no rot from 40 years ago.  90% of settlement occurs from voids filling and no compaction. I bet the rotting would be increased as the ground temp comes up tho.

[beenthere]

Maybe the OP will come back on the Forum and help us help him out.

[BargeMonkey]

 We are fighting the stumps on this last 4 acre clearcut, probably 7-800 total. They don't go thru a grinder to well unless they are clean and split. Buying a few isn't bad but NYS will come after you for running a "stump dump" if you add enough of them. I would clean them off, pile them up root ball up and burn them in a yr. A grinder big enough to eat stumps has been costing 3k a day, not counting 2 excavators and the loader, not cheap.

[petefrom bearswamp]

If you are just making pasture. dispose of the tops seed the rest and let momma nature do the stump removal.
regarding burning here in NY it is a problem.
I have an edging pile about 15 ft high x 25 wide and 25 long which may spontaneously combust this december

[SuzannaDWilcox]

Disposing pine stumps with the help of blacktop seems to be risky instead you can dig the stumps.You can take help from various DIY blogs regarding disposing of pine stumps.Otherwise taking help from some professional is also a good idea.After removing the stump fill in the hole and cover it with driveway paving. You can also take help from driveway paving in Nassau County, Queens or any other places contractors near you.

[danbuendgen]

I do a bit of land clearing with a buddy. We always burn it. As you stump it, make piles of brush and stumps with a excavator. The brush helps the stumps burn. Stumps don't burn well alone. Wait for a rain day or snow and burn it all. Use a hay bale soaked in diesel or waste oil to help get it going. Trucking stumps and paying disposal fees would be a ton of money and very time consuming. Just my .02

[BEEMERS]

I like the diesel soaked hay bale idea..but most of us here have a couple ( at least ) old tires that could disappear........of course,I would never suggest this because its bad...I guess...but hypothetically ...it would really get a big fire going very very well..and big truck tires....in theory would work even better..
If this was to be done ,..which it shouldn't be...do it on an overcast day where the black smoke blends with the fog,clouds and after the fire is ( in theory) raging the smoke clears up and away you go!
This is not a suggestion ,just something I thought up just now..oh well,nevermind its not a good idea..

[WildlandFirefighter912]

Hercules buys fat lighter stumps down here. $$$

http://www.pinovasolutions.com

[Ox]

Beemer - why, whatever do you mean, burning tires?  ;D  But you're absolutely right - it's the best darn thing to get something to burn.  Sometimes it's best to wait until dark thirty to set off a tire for the whole smoke thing.  Hypothetically speaking, of course.  I wouldn't know anything about this.  :D

[BEEMERS]

yes,hypothetically of course. ;) ;)

[teakwood]

Dont feel bad guys. Here a lot of people still burn they trash. Sometimes whole landfilsl of trash burn out. Every dryseason lots of farmers burn they fincas, which is illegal,  to get rid of bad weed and make room for pasture.

[Claybraker]

Hercules buys fat lighter stumps down here. $$$

http://www.pinovasolutions.com

I think it's just slash and longleaf. I've seen a few trailer loads of stumps on the highway that I assume were headed that way. Glad to see somebody (folks out of Canada) bought that plant and upgraded it with a new product mix, spending money on R&d, etc. As a reloader, I sorta wish they still made gunpowder, but I don't see that happening.