Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mower

[Tpiton]

Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mower

Looking to keep my hunting road clear. Lots of alder and saplings. Whats best ? brush cutter looks like it can cut anything under it but the flail mower make a nice job and the alders will grow slower after.

Thanks for the replies

 

[plumberroy]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

I think you are getting above what a walk behind with a brush cutter is capable of. I have never used a flail mower. 1 in stuff is the top end of what a gravely with a Bush hog deck can handle, and they are about as tough as any machine around

 

[wesp521984]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

I have both. A 26 in. Berta and a 28 in. Bellon "Super Duty" rotary cutter for my BCS 853 (13 hp Honda). I love my Berta flail, it's very durable and has its place but I would hands down by the 28 in. Bellon rotary cutter for cutting larger saplings.

The Berta will mulch some 2 in. saplings unless they are hardwood but more times than not you'll beat the blades up doing it because they flick back against themselves when they hit heavier material. My Bellon rotary will literally cut anything that you can get under the deck with ease and never slow up (I could cut 3 in. trees no problem but most trees that size are too stiff to run over with a walk behind tractor). It has a really good blade tip speed as well so it mulches the material really good for a rotary cutter. At about $1300-$1400, it's a good bit cheaper than the flail too.

 

[wesp521984]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

I think you are getting above what a walk behind with a brush cutter is capable of. I have never used a flail mower. 1 in stuff is the top end of what a gravely with a Bush hog deck can handle, and they are about as tough as any machine around

I could easily cut a 3 in. diameter tree with the rotary cutter on my BCS if you could bend a tree that size under the deck. It will mow 2 in. Oak saplings like grass.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

Won't your Gravely just push them out? Before i got my tractor i pushed small alders out with an old Craftsman mower. there root structure is pretty basic at the point in their life. My BX pushes over and out 4" alders. We consider alders weeds as they grow everywhere.

Ron

 

[Freep]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

I've done both, and am happy to see a question that I can answer based on experience rather than speculation.

If you keep your BCS in first gear so that you move slow but have flail RPMs high, you can mow over them and chew them up. As noted above, the heavier ones may cause the knives to bounce back out of the way, and the design of the Berta is such that when they do so this in some places they collide with the knives behind them (on the 34" model, at least). So if you don't have too many saplings or aren't too worried about knife condition you can just mow over them. I'm generally become more willing to do this as the knives/sides are nearing the point where I'll need to replace them. If you have an older set lying around you might sharpen them, put them back on, and use them for this purpose.

You can cut them with a brush cutter, but will have to be careful about ensuring that they are cut flat. A pointed sapling stump is a bad thing to have on a road.

Also worth considering: Red alders have notoriously weak and shallow root systems (here near Seattle, at least) and after a good rain you might be able to pull them up or drag them out with a field cultivator or similar. If you have a second set of hands to help, you could put a choker chain around them and pull them out with the BCS. I've pulled out Blackberry roots with my BCS like this, and those buggers are tenacious. You could possibly combine the three techniques to good effect.

 

[wesp521984]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

I've done both, and am happy to see a question that I can answer based on experience rather than speculation.

If you keep your BCS in first gear so that you move slow but have flail RPMs high, you can mow over them and chew them up. As noted above, the heavier ones may cause the knives to bounce back out of the way, and the design of the Berta is such that when they do so this in some places they collide with the knives behind them (on the 34" model, at least). So if you don't have too many saplings or aren't too worried about knife condition you can just mow over them. I'm generally become more willing to do this as the knives/sides are nearing the point where I'll need to replace them. If you have an older set lying around you might sharpen them, put them back on, and use them for this purpose.

You can cut them with a brush cutter, but will have to be careful about ensuring that they are cut flat. A pointed sapling stump is a bad thing to have on a road.

Also worth considering: Red alders have notoriously weak and shallow root systems (here near Seattle, at least) and after a good rain you might be able to pull them up or drag them out with a field cultivator or similar. If you have a second set of hands to help, you could put a choker chain around them and pull them out with the BCS. I've pulled out Blackberry roots with my BCS like this, and those buggers are tenacious. You could possibly combine the three techniques to good effect.

My rotary cuts saplings just as clean as the Berta flail. If your concern is clearing areas of 1-2 in. saplings do NOT rely on a flail mower. I use this machine commercially in a property maintenance business and have put many hours on both cutters. I've noticed unnecessary wear on the tool carrier yokes and rotor as well from trying to cut the exact same material. I can run in 2nd gear in small saplings with the rotary cutter with ease and get a clean cut.

Using a flail mower for this application is way less efficient and causes unnecessary wear on the knives and the unit itself. Do not buy a flail mower for this application. Trust me. If you'd like a reference for what I'm saying, call Richard at Daily's Farm & Walk Behind Tractor or Joel at Earth Tools and they'll tell you the exact same thing.

 

[wesp521984]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

Also if you have more than a couple of saplings to clear like a patch or a trail that you need to clear, grubbing them out with your BCS and a chain might be fun for a few minutes, but is pointless and a big waist of time if you can afford to buy a $1300 rotary cutter.

 

[Diggin It]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

My Beast Brush mower with a 22HP engine and 36" cut width would do that nicely. I've taken down far larger than 1" with little trouble. As noted above, if it can bend them over to where the blades can get to them, they're gone. But also as noted above, they leave nasty Punji sticks that can pay nasty with feet and tires. I've come close to twisting an ankle more than once on those. And you DEFINITELY don't want to fall on one. They tend to rot off fairly quickly though since they're more shattered and battered than cut clean.

 

[Tpiton]

Re: Cutting alders 1" to 2". What's best for my BCS: brush cutter or berta flail mow

thanks for all your answers ! I guess i will go with the rotary cutter since it's mostly alders i will cut with it