Land Clearing ~ 30 acres

[Redbug]

Thank you Cbturf! You answered the things I did not know and was wondering about. I am planning ahead much like Tim, and looking at the different options for developing and clearing an area. I think if you have patience and three years or so, keep the stumps killed off so they will rot, mulching is a good way to go since there is less disturbance to the soil, and probably much cheaper.

 

[maxton]

The very first thing to do would be contact timber consulant to sell your timber. He will "cruise it" (estimiate the value), and then you can proceed from there. He will usually charge 10%, but what he will do its put it out for bids. Most of my past bids (from my previous 2 sales) have varied as much as 60% difference from one buyer to the next. Hard to say how much value you have, but it will be well worth your time. THis will take out the large stuff and hopefully give you the capitol to clear the rest.

Use a track hoe on the stumps, and a loader to push up the rest into burn piles.

 

[LBrown59]

Good questions Tim. Interesting thread. I do not want to seem like I'm hijacking your thread, though. I have wondered about the mulching vs a dozer for land clearing and making fields/open areas. I plan to buy acreage in the near future and will follow a route much like Tim, eventually building a house following retirement.

A couple questions to the group about mulching if you don't mind... I know that if a dozer or track hoe comes in and cleans up, you can burn the debris to get rid of it. Stumps and all. With the mulcher, it lays and rots. And you can bush hog it immediately. If you want to make pasture, after the land was mulched...won't the tree stumps sprout back up? How deep will a mulcher grind? Would a person be able to disk or till the land after it had been mulched, and raked out? Or
do the stumps have to be dug anyway?

Wouldn't these be hard on a tractor and plow if you didn't?

 

[LBrown59]

The cheapest option is to just grind the tree off to ground level and keep the regrowth cut and it will eventually die and decompose this is the cheapest option but also takes a few years.

I grubbed/cleared .6 acre here a couble of years ago.
Do you think the roots and stumps have
decomposed yet ?

 

[john_bud]

Depends on the wood, the weather and the soil. Moist soil, warm temps and soft woods will go quick. Oak roots will last a long time

You can speed the process up by adding some lime and high N fertilizer. That will feed the bacteria that munch it down.

j

 

[LBrown59]

Depends on the wood, the weather and the soil. Moist soil, warm temps and soft woods will go quick. Oak roots will last a long time

You can speed the process up by adding some lime and high N fertilizer. That will feed the bacteria that munch it down.

j

Thanks.
Hard to tell what the decompsure stage is now.
It's all burried.

 

[tjkadar]

Planning ahead... I started this thread back in 2008. Five years later the woods are being clear cut in preparation for putting in additional pastures. What cannot be converted to pasture will be replanted in pine. Talked to a few people about mulching and the rough consensus I've heard is the stumps are too big. Some of the stumps are 24" to 36" in diameter (trees are cut off as close to the ground as feasible). Some folks are talking excavator. Others say a big dozer is faster. One guy has a Morbark 4600XL for shredding stumps others are saying windrows. I've heard prices ranging from $1,200 an acre (dozer out of TN) to $3,000 per acre (excavator and burn piles).

Now I need to find a competent contractor with the right equipment at the right price.

 

[tonyoz]

Someone in your neck of the woods has gotta have a big HP stumpgrinder. It's far better to use these than digging stumps out then prosessing them either by carting to heaps and burning or mulching. To give you some idea our stumpgrinder on a Rayco C140 can grind over 100 stumps an hour that range in size from 30" down and were 12" high with nothing more to do than run a chain harrow over the job.

 

[Egon]

Look for a fellow with a larger dozer with a ublade and root rake. Then follow up with a breaking disk or plough. That will put you in shape to work the land and get pasture started.:thumbsup:

It ain't cheap.

 

[tonyoz]

Look for a fellow with a larger dozer with a ublade and root rake. Then follow up with a breaking disk or plough. That will put you in shape to work the land and get pasture started.:thumbsup:

It ain't cheap.

Then whatcha gunna do with do with the stumps?????