Ive operated an older skid steer back in my days ( mustang with T-bar ) havent really used the newer model skid steers since 2004 with joysticks for about a day working with the water dept. My question and concern is... we recently bought 5 acres and moved, I need to clear a large section for a garden ( mostly cedars and overgrowth ) Ive seen the skid steers with the mulchers just plow through and leave a nice clean field but I have no experience with this machine and just wonder how easy or difficult it would be to do myself? In videos, just push the tree over with it and grind it down to nothing.... looks easy enough but my gut says I dunno old man ! I just want to clear it for the garden to have it ready for next season, my neighbor has a tractor and will plow it for me, I just need to figure out how to get it cleared? Ive cut down a bunch of small stuff and had a nice fire going for 3 days to burn the brush and debris but still too much to do by hand ( measured with a wheel and its about 75' X 200' ) plus wanting to clean up along the drives and a few other small areas. Debating renting a machine to try it or just find someone with the equipment and hire for the job? Advice....
experiences with skid steer mulchers?
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4570Man
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I’ve been working on a job now that was previously mulched. It’s a mess. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you just want to hack it down to continue bush hogging the area. If you have further development in mind I’d recommend getting an excavator and digging and burning the trees.
oosik
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A twenty acre parcel was sold two years ago. It's down the road about a mile. They had some type of VERY LARGE hydromulcher clear about eight acres of aspen, popular, quaken asp & birch all mixed together.
The safety notice on these machine is an understatement. That machine threw large chunks of "crap" all over the property. It certainly took care of knocking down the trees. It MOST DEFINITELY left a real mess to clean up.
The idea that something like I saw was going to turn everything into sawdust or chips is a farce. It left large sections of tree trunk and limbs all over the eight acres. It did do a swell job of winding up about a quarter mile of old barbed wire fence - all three strands.
The safety notice on these machine is an understatement. That machine threw large chunks of "crap" all over the property. It certainly took care of knocking down the trees. It MOST DEFINITELY left a real mess to clean up.
The idea that something like I saw was going to turn everything into sawdust or chips is a farce. It left large sections of tree trunk and limbs all over the eight acres. It did do a swell job of winding up about a quarter mile of old barbed wire fence - all three strands.
These mulchers don't remove the stump. They just lower the growth to ground level. If you want a garden I would use an excavator for at least that area and any area you want to build a road or put a building on.
Removing the rootball of a tree is very easy when the tree is still on it. You can push very high up on the tree after loosening the dirt just a bit and the whole rootball comes out.
Removing the rootball of a tree is very easy when the tree is still on it. You can push very high up on the tree after loosening the dirt just a bit and the whole rootball comes out.
grsthegreat
Super Star Member
We had a guy with a 100hp machine and mulcher do 2 acres of my place, and i thought it did a tremendous job. It would have taken my 2 years to do what he did in 4 partial days. He stacked all the trees, limbed x 20’ lengths and mulched all the roots. Mind you this is just turn out for horses, but he got rid of a lot of junk.
that saying...no one in my parts of the woods rents out the mulcher head.
that saying...no one in my parts of the woods rents out the mulcher head.
JCoastie
Platinum Member
We recently had about 4 acres cleaned of pines and scrub brush with a forestry mulcher, it left a nice mulched finish. As other noted, the stumps are left at ground level, so it wouldn't be great for planting a garden without removing, or at least grinding the stumps down several inches. We used a landscape rake to remove the mulch from places we wanted down to bare dirt. We took out many large trees, so we had many areas where the mulch was 4+ inches thick. It get actual mulch and not large sticks everywhere, you need to go over the areas a few times, it isn't a once and done if you want a decent mulch, of not, yeah, you'll have large pieces everywhere, it needs to go through the mulching head a couple times.
nybirdman
Super Member
Had about ten acres cleared with a SS and FECON head;I had a lot of clean up after but a great job all in all.I struggled for about ten years with various tractors/bush-hogs;he did more in four days than I had in ten years.Money well spent.
Hay Dude
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It’s very easy to do. I do quite a bit of skid steer mulching. Takes about an hour to get used to it and a few days to have somewhat of a semi-mastery of it.
it will do a decent job of grinding stumps down close the ground if you repeatedly go over them.
Just make sure you get a mulcher, not a front bush hog.
it will do a decent job of grinding stumps down close the ground if you repeatedly go over them.
Just make sure you get a mulcher, not a front bush hog.
I have never used a mulcher. I do believe they have their place in the land clearing world and I would like to try one sometime should the opportunity arise. However, I do quite a bit of grubbing work with my skid steer. I use a sheeps foot grubber on my machine and can take out a large mesquite tree in just a few minutes. If you intend to plant a garden in this space, you really need to get the roots out. A mulcher can only grind the stump down so far so that if you plow the garden, you are likely to hit a root possibly damaging the plow.
Cedars (at least the ones we have around here) don't have large tap roots like a Mesquite so they should pop out rather easily. If I was going to clear a 75'X200' garden, I figure it should take less than a days work with a skid and grubber to get the trees out, then use a front mounted mower on the skid or a tractor mounted shredder to get rid of the under growth. You might want to use a grapple rake to pile the trees.
You can likely rent a medium to large skid steer with a grubbing tool for a few hundred dollars per day. A front mounted mower would be another $150-$200/day and a grapple rake to move the felled trees another $100. All of this equipment is easy to operate and, for me at least, quite enjoyable to run.
I am far far away from you but if I was close, just going by your description (not having put an eyeball on it), I would charge $600-$800 to do that days work.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck and have fun
Tim
Cedars (at least the ones we have around here) don't have large tap roots like a Mesquite so they should pop out rather easily. If I was going to clear a 75'X200' garden, I figure it should take less than a days work with a skid and grubber to get the trees out, then use a front mounted mower on the skid or a tractor mounted shredder to get rid of the under growth. You might want to use a grapple rake to pile the trees.
You can likely rent a medium to large skid steer with a grubbing tool for a few hundred dollars per day. A front mounted mower would be another $150-$200/day and a grapple rake to move the felled trees another $100. All of this equipment is easy to operate and, for me at least, quite enjoyable to run.
I am far far away from you but if I was close, just going by your description (not having put an eyeball on it), I would charge $600-$800 to do that days work.
Whatever you decide to do, good luck and have fun
Tim
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