How do we shred/chop up the roots left by a 25 ft of hedges?

Question

My husband, friend, and I have just used a chainsaw to remove about 25-35 foot long row of hedges (combination of osage orange, mulberry bushes, whatever the original hedge was, and hibiscus). The little stumps/roots are sticking up in a row. We were figuring on yanking these things out with a come-along and a truck someday in the future, but I was thinking we may be better off using something that would shred or chip the stuff up in the ground. Is there a power tool that will do this? We live in a city suburb (houses close together, yard a bit short of a 1/4 acre) so bringing in a backhoe-like rig would be overkill - and I don't think I want to drive something like that up our concrete drive which is right by the house and my tiller is good for basic gardening but not chipping up tree roots. Any ideas?

Answer 1

They make a walk behind stump grinder. You can rent one from an equipment rental place. may have to call around though, not many carry it.

If that fails call a stump grinder or tree company. Call several and compare prices. They will vary. See what he will charge. He will have a larger machine.

Next time, if you want to take the roots out, leave part of the stem to use for leverage. We take shrubs out by hand all the time, and that really helps.

TopCatt

Answer 2

Go to your local rent it here type place and let them know what you are going to be doing and they will tell you what you need! Good-Luck!

Answer 3

The rental place will have a stump grinder.  You don't want the kind that you have to manually move back and forth - it's back breaking work and real hard to do in tight spaces.  But they have one that will drive itself up the driveway and then you stand beside it and run the controls to make the cutter head swing back forth and slowly move down.  It's kinda therapeutic actually.  You end up with lots of nice soft well mulched soil.