How long hardwood stumps exist

[livemusic]

Hello, I have some Louisiana land that I could buy and have a question. Upon walking the land, I was majorly disappointed that the huge hardwood trees I remember as a teenager 45 years ago are not there. The tract has some pretty large, mature trees, yes, but the trees I was expecting would be huge. They were large back then! I see oaks and other trees maybe 20-24 inches diameter. No huge trees. I don't know if an oak can grow to 20-24 inches in 40 years; the tract may have been logged 40 years ago? If so, this surprises me, as the owner at that time was adamant about saving the trees, especially the large beech trees. He even instructed the subsequent owner that a condition of the sale was not to cut them. My late dad would know because he lived nearby but he's gone, can't ask him.

Walking the land, I saw a few small stumps but no large ones, and only a handful. If the tract was cut 40 years ago, would the stumps still be visible? I would like to clear up this mystery, as the current owner is not aware of the tract being cut. (It is family land.)

If they did cut it long ago, that would be surprising because it didn't have many (any?) pines and pine is what brought decent money back then.

Yep, disappointed the trees are not huge, but nothing can change that now!

[WDH]

I don't know if an oak can grow to 20-24 inches in 40 years; the tract may have been logged 40 years ago?

They can on a good site in the South where the growing season is long. 

[Magicman]

As a general rule, hardwood stumps on my property will be rotted and gone within 10-15 years.

Logging Oak down to 16" and the other lesser species down to 12" is fairly common here, although I hate to see it.  I prefer to only see select cut on hardwood timber tracts.

[YellowHammer]

How long do they last?  10-15 years seems like a good estimate, but there are exceptions.  I have some hickory stumps still in good shape in my pasture that I cut 15? years ago that my bull scratches his head against every day.  Many years ago, I was Kentucky deer hunting on my grandfathers farm and was describing the stump I had been sitting on when I took the shot.  My dad told me that he used to hunt, leaning up against the very same stump, when he was my age.  I don't know if the stump is gone now, but the memory remains....

[Kbeitz]

Our farm was bought in 1926. The North side hills was never timbered off as
long as it was in our family. I still see signs of stumps from when it was cut.
I have no idea when that was.

[Ron Wenrich]

You might be seeing chestnut stumps.  I remember coming across some that were nearly 70 years old.  But, that is more of a rarity. 

[SwampDonkey]

Cedar stumps is what lasts up here. On most any thinning block I have been on after a 12-15 year ago harvest the stumps are mush except for hardwood that sucker like red maple, red oak and basswood. Pine, hemlock and spruce last 15 or so. Rock maple, beech and yellow birch probably 10. That's in the woods, but lawn tree stumps last longer and stay hard a long time. I was 20 years picking away at old box elder stumps on the lawn. Have a 36" rock maple stump on the lawn still as hard as a table top after 4-5 years.

[trapper]

In the 60's we still had stumps from the great Peshtigo fire in 1871.

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen 90 year old cedar stumps with burns. 90 because of a fire that far back.  ;)

[Roxie]

Good question, and welcome to the forum, live music! 

[gspren]

   I've got a cherry stump in my pasture that is about 6 years old and right now it's smoldering from the fire I had on it today, I'm tired of mowing around it.