Clearing Eastern Red Cedar Trees from 12 acres

[k0ua]

The puller would be ideal. The chain hooked down low will work, but it is very work intensive for the "groundman". It just wears him to a frazzle. You can just push over and uproot a lot of them unless they are too small. But yes the puller on the skidsteer would be the best. I still have a couple of flush cut cedar stumps in my yard, that were there when I bought the house in 2002, and I suspect they were cut in 1992 when the house was built.. They are as good today as they were in 1992. If they rot, at all they rot very very slowly.

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah, my puller works good on a tractor. But put it on my Brother's T300 Bobcat and it's heaven. You can see it so much better. I cleared 100 or so trees for our neighbor last year with on the T300. Took me just under 2 hours. Neighbor used my M9540 with Grapple to pile them. It's definitely the way to go if you have access to the equipment.

Oh,,, I've been the chain guy. It ain't pretty...... Will test a man's patience in the first 10 minutes or when the first needles go down the back of your neck, whichever comes first.

 

[Western]

Robert,I still think you would be best to rent a skid steer with a tree grubber attached. It is much quicker than you think and it will be done and clean. Use your tractor to transport the cedars to "piles" and save on rental fees. Or just use your tractor FEL for free.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Buying a stump bucket for the FEL whether it be for your tractor or a skidsteer is likely the cheapest way to go and would give some good results I think. It would leave a lot of holes to file in, but likely to have them with anything you use.

 

[ovrszd]

I built a stump bucket/spade before I built my puller. Although it was an improvement over digging them out with the FEL bucket, it never gets used now.

If you pick the right conditions you can shake most of the dirt off the roots when using the puller and you don't leave much of a hole. With the bucket or spade you don't have that luxury and take a lot of dirt.

 

[EddieWalker]

Robert,I still think you would be best to rent a skid steer with a tree grubber attached. It is much quicker than you think and it will be done and clean. Use your tractor to transport the cedars to "piles" and save on rental fees. Or just use your tractor FEL for free.

What would be the difference in cost of renting a skid steer compared to an excavator? I've seen quite a bit of land cleared with an excavator and I've done a fair amount with my backhoe. I've tried clearing with my front bucket and I've tried with my dozer. Nothing works as good as the excavator, but the backhoe bucket gets it done a lot faster and clearer then the other options.

Eddie

 

[ovrszd]

Eddie, I don't know if there would be a different hourly rate for a SS versus Mini-Ex. But if the SS has a puller on it, the time difference would be more than double. Especially if the trees are scattered. The SS is soooo much faster on it's feet. The puller is soooo much faster than dipping with a bucket.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not familiar with a puller. Is that a winch? If the trees are spread out and there are not very many of them, I can see where something faster to get from tree to tree makes sense, but don't understand how that's faster getting them out of the ground? Nothing is faster then sitting in the seat and either pushing them over, or quickly cutting the roots and pushing them over. Getting in and under those branches on the cedar isn't any fun, and having the reach of the hoe stick will make a huge difference after just a few trees. Same with climbing in and out of a skid steer. Something that gets old very quickly!!!!

It's not that I hate skid steers, I just dislike them very much. They are painfully uncomfortable, and everything they do, something else does a lot better. They are handy at doing a lot of different things and easy to transport, but not something I ever look forward to operating and never something that I would want to own.

Eddie

 

[ovrszd]

I'm not familiar with a puller. Is that a winch? If the trees are spread out and there are not very many of them, I can see where something faster to get from tree to tree makes sense, but don't understand how that's faster getting them out of the ground? Nothing is faster then sitting in the seat and either pushing them over, or quickly cutting the roots and pushing them over. Getting in and under those branches on the cedar isn't any fun, and having the reach of the hoe stick will make a huge difference after just a few trees. Same with climbing in and out of a skid steer. Something that gets old very quickly!!!!

It's not that I hate skid steers, I just dislike them very much. They are painfully uncomfortable, and everything they do, something else does a lot better. They are handy at doing a lot of different things and easy to transport, but not something I ever look forward to operating and never something that I would want to own.

Eddie

I posted pics in post #40 of my puller but here's another.



Put that on the front of a SS and there's nothing, I mean NOTHING, that will remove cedars faster, including pushing them or quickly cutting roots and pushing them over. I'll shoot some video this Summer. If you've never saw one in action you'll have a whole new opinion of a SS. And you'll be wanting a puller. Also works awesome to take out old fence posts, steel or wood.

As I mentioned earlier, I removed 100 or so in less than 2 hours in the AC cab, listening to tunes with our T300 Bobcat.

 

[Western]

What would be the difference in cost of renting a skid steer compared to an excavator? I've seen quite a bit of land cleared with an excavator and I've done a fair amount with my backhoe. I've tried clearing with my front bucket and I've tried with my dozer. Nothing works as good as the excavator, but the backhoe bucket gets it done a lot faster and clearer then the other options.

Eddie

What ovrszd said. I could do it much faster with the same surface damage, using a Skid steer. A dozer would be overkill unless it is a cedar thicket. If you ever try a skid steer with a grubber on it, you wouldn't bother with an excavator on cedars.