Stump grinders

[Pedalbiker]

I've tried searching the forum for information about stump grinders and either they haven't been discussed much or I couldn't find them so I'll ask.  Does anyone have any experience with stump grinders?  Brands, things to watch for, tips, tricks, etc......

Thanks,

Pat

[Murf]

There seems to be two basic schools of thought on stump grinders.

The first, held by people who want to charge you for grinding up your stumps, is that it is the best way to deal with a stump.

The second, held by people who have had stumps ground up on thier property, is that it is the worst possible way to deal with a stump.

Unfortunately I have to deal with a LOT of stumps in the course of my work. 100's of acres worth of them every year.

IMHO, there is only one satisfactory way to deal with stumps, a big excavator with a thumb on it to rip them out of the ground and fix the remaining hole, and huge tub grinder to turn them into mulch.

In a suburban environment, you just have to scale things down a little, a mini-ex or TLB and a dump truck to haul the stump away.

[Scott]

 I saw my first stump grinder yesterday actually. City works was using it on a stump uptown, I agree with Murf, they aren't a good way of dealing with the problem. In the woods around here stumping is done with at least a 15/20 tonne excavator or a D5/6 dozer. For urban stituations I'd recomend a decent sized backhoe to dig the stump out.

[rebocardo]

I have ground a few stumps using the Veermer grinder they rent at The Home Depot, it works pretty well for what it is. A normal 16 inch wide stump takes about 40 minutes to grind two inches under the dirt. It has to be about 12 inches or less in height or you have to tip the grinder back too far.

So, a rental will cost about $45 for one-three stumps (four hour rental) and a whole day rental is about $80 (8 stumps).

If the the tree had bricks or stones put around the tree because they thought it was cool or the builder needed a place to get rid of excess building material, then that has to be moved with a long pry bar before you set the grinder's teeth to it.

If you had a lot of stumps to do, getting a grinder with powered wheels would be worth while if you are buying one. They sell for about $3000.

An effective solution low cost solution to a fair amount of stumps spread over a wide area (1 acre) is to have someone with a Bobcat stump grinder to come in and do a lot for a daily rate. Usually $300-$500.

If you have a huge tree (say 48 stump) or it has been uprooted, the best thing is to have a Bobcat come grind it or have a big piece of dozer come pull it out of the ground.

[Jeff]

There are times for the homeowner when stump grinding is the only feasable way to go. Many times the stumps are to close to underground utilities, or inaccesable to other heavy equipment.

[DanG]

I used to have a stump grinder. Mine was made by the Stumpster Co. and mounted on the 3pt hitch on my tractor. I made a bit of money with it, and it made a lot of people happy.

Stump grinders, like everything else, are not the answer to all problems, but they have their place. For shallow-rooted stumps in a landscape environment, they are just the ticket. For a bunch of pine stumps in a horse paddock, they are bad news.  Stumps that have a big tap root are the biggest problem. The grinder will only go so deep, mine would grind to 8", and when the tap root rots out it will leave a very deep and very sudden hole. They're great for breaking ankles and dislocating knees, and such.   On species that don't have a tap root, however, the grinder is the quickest, neatest, and cheapest way to go.

Those little grinders that you rent and push around by hand ain't much.  Don't bother with them if the stump is bigger than your head.  The big ones that you pull behind a pick-up, or mount on a tractor will make mush out of the biggest of stumps in a skinny minute, though.

I think you can still see the one I had at  www.stumpster.com
They have a pretty nifty little tree harvester for your tractor, too.

[ScottAR]

I've looked at several of these mostly as a curiousity and I like
this one the most.  Would take somthing a little bigger than the average compact though.  

Shaver makes some nice ones as well.  They are also sold as Woods and Worksaver units I think.

[Dennis Penton]

Does anyone have any experience with a Tree Hog by stumpster tree cutter?

[goose63]

Woodland Mills has a 3 point stump grinder and from watching the video it looks like it is doing a good job