Brad, you should consider buying a farm jack if you do a lot of these. You can lift it out vertically and cut the roots as you go without worry about one person in the truck and one person at the root ball.
Love the Fisker shovel. Ironically I bent mine prying on a crepe myrtle root ball. Eventually it broke but they replaced it under warranty. Welded it back and now I have 2.
I have another option. Don't cut the trees down, use the Sawzall and stick it in the ground about a foot out from the trunk and cut off all the roots. Pry back and forth on the trees to locate any additional roots and take the entire tree out in one piece. I did this with six such trees in my yard about one month ago. some of the trees were 25 ft. tall. It worked great!
This right here. I started to use this technique and while it will absolutely destroy your blade per bush/tree you remove. It is ABSOLUTELY worth the time and energy saved. You'd have this same tree out in half the time or less doing the techinque you said. It works great. Although, I'll give Brad the benefit of the doubt as he did say there's irrigation nearby, so he was playing it really safe.
Good tip! I really didn't want to stick the sawzall in the ground with the irrigation, though. That aside, you aren't wrong in anything else. I would have got a lot of leverage for sure!
Brad, long time watcher here. I basically have the same kind of solo business as you. Let me say first off, awesome beard man! Second, I have a San Angelo bar, I’m not sure if you know what that is, but essentially it’s a 7’ long piece of hex steel with a spike on one end and a chisel on the other. It cost like $38 at Home Depot. You stab it into the edge of the root ball like a spartan, and since it’s solid iron and 7’ long you get a tremendous amount of leverage. If you have roots to cut, you can flip it around and use the chisel side to chop them. I have removed trees far bigger than the one you’re working on in under 5 minutes using this method. Because the roots are wet under the ground, when you stab the spike side into the ground near the holding roots and pull/push it left and right perpendicularly to the roots, they just snap and then the whole trunk will just come out as one piece. Bonus tip, if you get the bar under the root ball and it’s too heavy to lift, you have someone(or yourself) stand on the bar and roll the root ball out of the hole and onto the ground outside the hole. I appreciate everything you do and love your videos so I felt obligated to mention this. I know you’re a pro and everyone has their own way of doing things but this method is so simple and the tool is so cheap I feel like everyone should know about it. You should see clients faces when I remove a dead boxwood in 30 seconds with the method mentioned. Beware, they may get mad when they see how easy this was for you. Thanks again for all the time and wisdom you’ve shared with me over the years. Particularly the echo mid reach attachment has been my go to for trimming shrubs for years now just because of you. Keep being awesome sir!
Brad we have to collaborate soon. I just ordered a cmp hydra bucket for my Bobcat MT 100. I plan on using it to scarify grass on resod jobs and grading some gravel lots I’m maintaining.
Something I find speeds things up when removing tree stumps is, while prying with the shovel, shove pieces of wood, like 2x4s, under the stump so it won't retreat back into the ground as you reposition the shovel. Each time you pry more, reposition the wood deeper.
I don’t know if you’ll read this, but a Mattock tool works a lot better than a shovel. Just from experience, you still gonna use muscle. Wish I had machines to due it to make it easier. You can cut the roots and then pry on the trunk and root ball right up with a smaller hole
Hello, I have removed a crape myrtle stump a little bigger than the one you removed in this video. There were some long thicker roots that I left after removing the stump. Will those roots produce new sprouts?
Brad, you should consider buying a farm jack if you do a lot of these. You can lift it out vertically and cut the roots as you go without worry about one person in the truck and one person at the root ball.
Good tip, thank you! I will look into them. If they are cheap might nab one. Don't do this super frequently, though.
Love the Fisker shovel. Ironically I bent mine prying on a crepe myrtle root ball. Eventually it broke but they replaced it under warranty. Welded it back and now I have 2.
Lol multiplying shovel hack!😁👍
I have another option. Don't cut the trees down, use the Sawzall and stick it in the ground about a foot out from the trunk and cut off all the roots. Pry back and forth on the trees to locate any additional roots and take the entire tree out in one piece. I did this with six such trees in my yard about one month ago. some of the trees were 25 ft. tall. It worked great!
This right here. I started to use this technique and while it will absolutely destroy your blade per bush/tree you remove. It is ABSOLUTELY worth the time and energy saved.
You'd have this same tree out in half the time or less doing the techinque you said. It works great.
Although, I'll give Brad the benefit of the doubt as he did say there's irrigation nearby, so he was playing it really safe.
I agree with not cutting the tree. You can use the mechanical advantage like a lever.
Good tip! I really didn't want to stick the sawzall in the ground with the irrigation, though. That aside, you aren't wrong in anything else. I would have got a lot of leverage for sure!
Enjoy watching and just subscribed,small stump and firewood business from Illinois
Hey what saw did you use to cut? (the yellow saw) Im still new to this so sorry if I sound ignorant.
Thanks for the lesson, I enjoyed it.
Brad, long time watcher here. I basically have the same kind of solo business as you. Let me say first off, awesome beard man! Second, I have a San Angelo bar, I’m not sure if you know what that is, but essentially it’s a 7’ long piece of hex steel with a spike on one end and a chisel on the other. It cost like $38 at Home Depot. You stab it into the edge of the root ball like a spartan, and since it’s solid iron and 7’ long you get a tremendous amount of leverage. If you have roots to cut, you can flip it around and use the chisel side to chop them. I have removed trees far bigger than the one you’re working on in under 5 minutes using this method. Because the roots are wet under the ground, when you stab the spike side into the ground near the holding roots and pull/push it left and right perpendicularly to the roots, they just snap and then the whole trunk will just come out as one piece. Bonus tip, if you get the bar under the root ball and it’s too heavy to lift, you have someone(or yourself) stand on the bar and roll the root ball out of the hole and onto the ground outside the hole. I appreciate everything you do and love your videos so I felt obligated to mention this. I know you’re a pro and everyone has their own way of doing things but this method is so simple and the tool is so cheap I feel like everyone should know about it. You should see clients faces when I remove a dead boxwood in 30 seconds with the method mentioned. Beware, they may get mad when they see how easy this was for you. Thanks again for all the time and wisdom you’ve shared with me over the years. Particularly the echo mid reach attachment has been my go to for trimming shrubs for years now just because of you. Keep being awesome sir!
Love it, thank you! Will research that tool!!!
how about you leave one stout trunk as long as possible to use as a lever to rock the root ball?
Brad we have to collaborate soon. I just ordered a cmp hydra bucket for my Bobcat MT 100. I plan on using it to scarify grass on resod jobs and grading some gravel lots I’m maintaining.
Something I find speeds things up when removing tree stumps is, while prying with the shovel, shove pieces of wood, like 2x4s, under the stump so it won't retreat back into the ground as you reposition the shovel. Each time you pry more, reposition the wood deeper.
Great video!
I’ve slowly switched all my hand tools to fiskars because of the lifetime warranty. I got tired of my wood handles breaking or dry rotting.
I don’t know if you’ll read this, but a Mattock tool works a lot better than a shovel. Just from experience, you still gonna use muscle. Wish I had machines to due it to make it easier. You can cut the roots and then pry on the trunk and root ball right up with a smaller hole
Hello, I have removed a crape myrtle stump a little bigger than the one you removed in this video. There were some long thicker roots that I left after removing the stump. Will those roots produce new sprouts?
Correction "Crap" myrtle tree
😂
Winch would probably work too.
Agreed!