L3560 - pine rows

[Sixmaxwells]

Hi all,

I’ve got 20 acres in northeast FL and most of it is thinned out pines. I am getting a L3560 next week that I’ll primarily be using for gardening and bush hogging but was wondering if there were any attachments that would allow my tractor to “flatten” the pine rows To create more of a pasture? The pines were thinned about 3 years ago so the stumps are still fairly solid in some areas.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

A tractor is of little use in getting rid of stumps unless you have a backhoe to dig them out.

I would suggest renting a mini excavator to pop the stumps out, then the tractor can do the work of moving them, and then leveling the ground.

A grapple will be real handy for this if you have a lot of them to do!
It will also work on small trees that are still in the ground.

 

[jpf]

maybe a stump grinder?

 

[BigG]

I think that 20 acres worth of pine stumps would call for a pay loader or dozer with a root rake. Then you would need to spend your time cleaning up their mess. A root rake grapple and a lot of time to clean up the remainder of the debris. A box blade or a dirt leveler to smooth it all out. You are looking at a good deal of time to make it pretty again.

 

[Tarmy]

As mentioned...this...


That bad boy has dug out huge stumps and hundreds of very large boulders...

 

[BigG]

Just so you know the kind of work this 20 acres might entail check this out. https://www.uaex.edu/publications/PDF/FSA-5023.pdf

So a planted field of 25 to 40 year old trees spaced 10 x 10 = 435 trees per acre. 435 x 20 = 8070 trees. I do not think it would be practical to do this job with such a light tractor. Maybe if you are only clearing a spot for a house or barn then you could do it but not the twenty acres.

Such planted fields are common in that part of FL. So I am only guessing as to the conditions the OP is looking at on his twenty acres.

 

[G.rid]

If you want it done quickly without beating up your tractor, maybe consider hiring someone with the right equipment. It sounds expensive upfront, but considering how long it could take you with a backhoe (plus the cost of the hoe if you don't already have one). But then you still have the clean up and leveling. If your only planting a small garden, then I could see digging out a few stumps in that area. If the majority is just to clean it up so you can brush hog, then consider something like this.

https://youtu.be/O5jJbP7MC4M

Because your trees are already gone, I'm guessing that they'd be able to knock down those stumps fairly quick compared to mulching the whole tree.

I have no association with these guys, I just did a quick search on YouTube. There's tons more on there if you have hours to kill, which I guess a lot of use do now thanks to self isolation.

 

[johnjk]

That's a lot of stumps. Gonna start your own Fatwood business?

 

[Tarmy]

As mentioned...what you need is a guy with a D8...

 

[shiraz627]

As mentioned...what you need is a guy with a D8...

Correct answer! Those SYP stumps are tough. I had five of them ground over the winter.

 

[Captain13]

https://www.pinovasolutions.com/sell-your-pine-stumps

Pinova has a plant in Brunswick, GA that buys the stumps and removes them for you. Give them a call. Hope this helps solve your problem.