s1120
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Land clearing part 3
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s1120
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JerryG
Super Member
Paul,
You can cut all of it except the larger trees. All of the under growth can be brush hogged.
JerryG
You can cut all of it except the larger trees. All of the under growth can be brush hogged.
JerryG
Bird
Epic Contributor
Paul, undoubtedly the best or at least fastest way to clear it is with a bulldozer. And yes, a brush hog will cut the small stuff. I've seen light duty brush hogs cut 2" stuff, but that's not recommended; however they make heavy duty brush hogs that would go through that easily. My concern is that you cut it off and the cutter may shatter the stubble and be OK, or it may leave some sharp stubs that'll puncture a tire the next time you go over it.
Bird
Bird
stevepio
Member
Around here the tool of choice for the big building contractors is a "hydro-axe". Imagine a BIG front end loader but instead of a bucket it has an 8 foot brush hog. It might even be twin blade - I can't remember. Anyways, they basically just drive thru stuff like you pictured and make quick work of it. The trees they still bulldoze and then shred/chip. If I had a lot to clear, I'd either rent one or sub it out.
cowboydoc
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You're exactly right Bird. I ended up with several flats from trees that were bush hogged before I had the dozer make small work of it. That looks exactly like what my 25 acres used to look like and a dozer and some big fires from the brush piles made small work of it. He had my 25 acres cleared, leveled, and all the brush stacked in big piles in less than two days and it wasn't one bit less of a mess than your picture.
OP
s1120
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I don't think I want to go the dozer route. I am not looking for clear cut, I want to keep a few trees.
Bird
Epic Contributor
My cousin's place is much more heavily wooded than yours, and he's had a dozer in there recently clearing it, but leaving the bigger trees. He's just cleared enough that you could drive a pickup around through the trees if you were very careful. A dozer doesn't have to clear everything. My cousin and his wife just went through there tying a ribbon around each tree they wanted left.
Bird
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It depends greatly on the operator if you want this to be a success. Some operators have a CLEAR EVERYTHING, anything left is an inconvenience to me mentality. You'd best ask around to see who has done what with what results before turning a machine loose on your property.
Some of those guys are fantastic, some are not. Some you can't talk to about anything they are all "yeah, yeah" and won't even shut the machine off if you have a question. (for sure BE THERE when work is being done).
I say this as a veteran of both disasters and successes /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif + /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.
If you are planning on leaving a tree, and you want the tree to survive, have the operator stay outward the "drip" line of the tree. With most trees the roots match the branch spread, if rain can drip off the tree, there's probably a root nearby.
I say this as although cutting the tips off some small roots is not a disaster, when they are clearing with the clearing rake down in the ground, they can catch a root and tear the entire thing off back to the stem of the tree.
Each tree is sensitive to one degree or another about the level of the root in the ground. If dirt is removed off of the root system, or piled on it, it can affect things adversly. Try to leave things as they were as each tree has it's own comfort level (determines the roots need for oxygen vs moisture)
Doing this has a drawback, that being it takes longer to get the work done, if the guy has to turn the machine around and gently back drag some brush, and constantly have to think about what he is doing time is lost. I would find a guy you can talk to and let him know you aren't one of these guys that wants a CLEAR IT IN XXX HOURS and stands there with a stop watch or refuses to pay if it takes longer. Sooner or later you'll find a good operator who does clearing, but also has done landscaping for nurseries and builders who build houses with mature trees, those are the guys to grab.
Some guys don't know where there machine is and don't care if they back up to and knock the bark off a tree. A tree can be greatly stressed or even killed depending on the damage to the bark. I was trying a guy out once, went through the drill, the first thing he did was dig up a big stump and then ram it into another tree I wanted to keep. "OK, thank you very much, bye"
You can band the trees, but it will help the operator and you if you band the root area you also want to protect. And put the flags on brush or on sticks high enough for him to see them.
It's so easy to go back later if you want to add to what's removed, and so impossible to undo a disaster.
I find it easier to do clearing with an excavator (or my backhoe) as you can rake the ground with great care, and clean up your mess when done. I was pretty good at not damaging things my first day on a 28,000 pound machine. (except for my own ego and adrenalin glands, but that's another story I've already told! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif)
A new neighbor bought a place up the road and was trying to remove years and years of neglect (massive blackberry vines) over what was previously obviously someone's extensive planting of different shrubs etc.
He was doing it with clippers and having a time of it, when I saw it I drove the tractor down. He was friendly but was terribly afraid I would demolish what he was trying to do. I said I'll go slow and if at any time he says stop, I'll stop. With the backhoe idling I just reached around using the backhoe as my "hand" and pulled the vines out. the blackberry vines are so tuff that after I pulled them out, going carefully around the trees and shrubs I was able to pull out 20-30 foot long vines in to a nice pile we could deal with.
Backhoes make good gentle "weed" machines!
Some of those guys are fantastic, some are not. Some you can't talk to about anything they are all "yeah, yeah" and won't even shut the machine off if you have a question. (for sure BE THERE when work is being done).
I say this as a veteran of both disasters and successes /w3tcompact/icons/mad.gif + /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.
If you are planning on leaving a tree, and you want the tree to survive, have the operator stay outward the "drip" line of the tree. With most trees the roots match the branch spread, if rain can drip off the tree, there's probably a root nearby.
I say this as although cutting the tips off some small roots is not a disaster, when they are clearing with the clearing rake down in the ground, they can catch a root and tear the entire thing off back to the stem of the tree.
Each tree is sensitive to one degree or another about the level of the root in the ground. If dirt is removed off of the root system, or piled on it, it can affect things adversly. Try to leave things as they were as each tree has it's own comfort level (determines the roots need for oxygen vs moisture)
Doing this has a drawback, that being it takes longer to get the work done, if the guy has to turn the machine around and gently back drag some brush, and constantly have to think about what he is doing time is lost. I would find a guy you can talk to and let him know you aren't one of these guys that wants a CLEAR IT IN XXX HOURS and stands there with a stop watch or refuses to pay if it takes longer. Sooner or later you'll find a good operator who does clearing, but also has done landscaping for nurseries and builders who build houses with mature trees, those are the guys to grab.
Some guys don't know where there machine is and don't care if they back up to and knock the bark off a tree. A tree can be greatly stressed or even killed depending on the damage to the bark. I was trying a guy out once, went through the drill, the first thing he did was dig up a big stump and then ram it into another tree I wanted to keep. "OK, thank you very much, bye"
You can band the trees, but it will help the operator and you if you band the root area you also want to protect. And put the flags on brush or on sticks high enough for him to see them.
It's so easy to go back later if you want to add to what's removed, and so impossible to undo a disaster.
I find it easier to do clearing with an excavator (or my backhoe) as you can rake the ground with great care, and clean up your mess when done. I was pretty good at not damaging things my first day on a 28,000 pound machine. (except for my own ego and adrenalin glands, but that's another story I've already told! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif)
A new neighbor bought a place up the road and was trying to remove years and years of neglect (massive blackberry vines) over what was previously obviously someone's extensive planting of different shrubs etc.
He was doing it with clippers and having a time of it, when I saw it I drove the tractor down. He was friendly but was terribly afraid I would demolish what he was trying to do. I said I'll go slow and if at any time he says stop, I'll stop. With the backhoe idling I just reached around using the backhoe as my "hand" and pulled the vines out. the blackberry vines are so tuff that after I pulled them out, going carefully around the trees and shrubs I was able to pull out 20-30 foot long vines in to a nice pile we could deal with.
Backhoes make good gentle "weed" machines!
Bird
Epic Contributor
Good information that I wasn't thinking about earlier, del. And of course you're right. When we built his house, my brother & I killed a couple of big oaks that he had intended to save, and we never touched them; just shock and/or damage to the roots when we cleared around them, and had a lot of big truck traffic very near them.
Bird
Bird