Managing invasive tree stumps in the restoration of legacy chestnut orchards

doi:10.3832/ifor4799-018

Managing invasive tree stumps in the restoration of legacy chestnut orchards

Raffaele Spinelli⁽¹⁾ , Natascia Magagnotti⁽¹⁾, Pietro Gallo⁽²⁾, Marcello Biocca⁽²⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 18, Issue 6, Pages 350-356 (2025)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4799-018
Published: Nov 30, 2025 - Copyright © 2025 SISEF

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The removal of tree stumps is an important component in field recultivation, park management, and land development (or restoration). Mulching the stumps to ground level is a fast and effective solution that minimizes soil disturbance and avoids the burden of rootstock disposal typically incurred when uprooting the stumps. This study reports on the productivity and cost of mulching tree stumps using a light, remote-controlled tool carrier (36 kW) equipped with a dedicated forestry mulcher. The new machine was used for grinding the stumps of invasive alder trees in a legacy chestnut orchard restored to production. Mulching proved fast and effective. The light machine ground over 60 stumps (diameter approximately 30 cm) per scheduled machine hour (SMH), treating a hectare in less than 3.5 SMH. This translated into a treatment cost of 202 € ha^-1. Regression analysis yielded an equation for estimating grinding time as a function of stump volume. Using this equation and estimating the existing number of stumps per hectare, operators can easily calculate the productivity and cost of each given job.

Keywords

Mulching, Grinding, Tool-carrier, Restoration

Authors’ address

(1)

0000-0001-9545-1004
0000-0003-3508-514X
CNR Institute of Bioeconomy, v. Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, FI (Italy)

(2)

0000-0002-2718-7907
CREA Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria - Research Centre for Engineering and Agro-Food Processing, v. della Pascolare 16, Monterotondo, RM (Italy)

Corresponding author

Raffaele Spinelli
raffaele.spinelli@ibe.cnr.it

Citation

Spinelli R, Magagnotti N, Gallo P, Biocca M (2025). Managing invasive tree stumps in the restoration of legacy chestnut orchards. iForest 18: 350-356. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4799-018

Academic Editor

Rodolfo Picchio

Paper history

Received: Jan 21, 2025
Accepted: Jun 16, 2025

First online: Nov 30, 2025
Publication Date: Dec 31, 2025
Publication Time: 5.57 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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