The age old.."what's the best land clearing technique" question again

[crazyal]

Go to your local rental store and see what they have. Most will tell you where to go if they don't have what you need. Since you know what's around you, not us, you should be able to find out the options available to you. My advise is to do it yourself if you have the time. You'll save a few bucks (most likely) but what you will get is a lot of experience. You're always going to make mistakes, better to make them now and learn how to deal with the loss of topsoil now than after your house is built. You'll also learn a lot about your soil. If building a house you'll need a road and possibly septic. Even if you don't do either yourself it's much better to have some experience when talking to a contractor. If you have that Deer caught in headlights look a contractor will know it. It doesn't mean they will take advantage of you but he'll quickly learn not to ask you questions so you will end up getting what he thinks you need. Once you have a few options on what you can rent let us know and people will chime in about how well each one works and how difficult they are to learn and use.

 

[Furu]

Most of the trees are around 3-6" range with some nice bigger ones in the mix. All I want to do is thin it out so the bigger healthy ones can grow better and make all 5 acres look nice. Roots are not too deep at all from what I can see.

A lot of folks always write/post about the stumps rotting out and cattle/horses breaking legs.
As you have quoted trees in the 3-6 inch diameter range for removal and then let the bigger healthy ones grow; I just don't think the stumps from 3-6 inch trees are going to be much of a problem as they rot. Just my opinion. You know more what you are planning to do.

 

[N80]

I cleared 2 or 3 acres around my cabin with my own 45hp 4wd Kubota with just the FEL a light duty rotary cutter and a box blade. All told it took a few weeks and was without a doubt, hard on my tractor. I would not do this with someone else's tractor.

I mostly had young pines, some up to 8 inches, and then a lot of scrub and brush. The pines are quite simple if the soil is not hard and dry. You drive up to it in a low gear with the bucket height at about 6 feet and simply push. Some go right over and the root pops right out with it. Most of the time, though, it leans a bit and the roots on the tractor side of the tree pop out of the ground a little and won't go any further. Then you back up a little, drop the bucket and get the edge of the bucket just under the popped up roots. Ease forward while curling the bucket and the whole thing comes out. Moving the felled trees without a grapple is a little fussy but doable. I pushed the trees into nearby ravines and washes or piled them up and burned them. With trees gone, go to work with the box blade to level things up. Mow as needed.

The area that I cleared is stump free and smooth enough to mow comfortably and in the spring looks like a lawn. It is a lot of work, takes some time to master and is most certainly not what a small tractor is made for, but it is quite doable.

 

[kthompson]

I said up front I like the mulcher but do not forget the stumps are still there. I still think that is the quickest and seriously the lowest cost method when you compare the time factor and at least here the pros with those machine cut many an acre in a day.

If you want the job done where you will have little look back will strongly suggest you dig the trees out and fill the holes to begin with. I have done a few acres of this with all size trees using a 5 ton Mini Excavator (with thumb and you must have a good one) and the 3 inch normally a gently pull to get the tree and stump out. Not much in a hole to fill. Even up to say 8 inch tree normally just a few minutes to dig a little and as stated push it over for the stump to almost pop out the ground. As stated do this before cutting the tree and then cutting the stump off after dug. If you are burning the trees and you can lift the full tree with the stump I would not cut the stump off. Dig and let lay for the dirt to dry a few days and then pile the full tree and stumps. With any burn pile you will have to re-pile at least once but a word of advice, you be careful working a machine around a fire, if a hose burst and prevents the machine moving it is hard to pull a track machine in a hurry away from a fire and from someone who knows spraying hydraulic oil onto a fire is a flame thrower!

Then how do you fill the holes, my suggestion is to haul dirt in and with blade pull dirt over the holes. If you are trying to save other trees you do not want to damage their roots to fill these holes with bulldozer blade or such.

But there is not single right way to do this job, you have been given very solid thoughts and options. You need to look at what you have equipment wise, what is most important to you on this: total cost, time allotment, any help I may need and any help I can get from friends or family. If you have not ever done such before trees are hard work on a machine, if you look at logging equipment it is built heavy for a reason, the normal tractor will not win a battle with a tree.

 

[topbuilder]

"A lot of folks always write/post about the stumps rotting out and cattle/horses breaking legs."

Different areas and soil conditions may act differently. I can tell you my experience on 20 acres and close to 600 stumps ranging from 10" to 40" that were cut and then ground, I never had that problem. I also had cows.

 

[N80]

Agree with kthompson about burning. In fact, having done this a few times I would not do it again. I was very diligent clearing a wide area around the piles and I burned when conditions were right. But, the heat from these piles was staggering. If something had gone wrong you cannot easily approach them to stop the problem and the fires launched burning ashes really high and far even with minimal breeze.

As far as stump holes, in my area large cut pines leave large stump holes. I've gone up to my knee in them before. Having said that, no horses or cows have been injured from this on my property (some horse traffic, occasional cow traffic) or my neighbor's (high cow and horse traffic). Regardless it is a potential issue if the stump is large enough. The smaller pines, say, less than 10 inches really don't leave much of a hole.

I have also found that with medium sized pine trees (10-12 inch) leaving the stump 3-4 feet high seems to make them rot faster and within a year or so they can be easily pushed over, sometimes by hand. It is unsightly while they are there but easy to manage after a year.

 

[Piston]

"A lot of folks always write/post about the stumps rotting out and cattle/horses breaking legs."

Different areas and soil conditions may act differently. I can tell you my experience on 20 acres and close to 600 stumps ranging from 10" to 40" that were cut and then ground, I never had that problem. I also had cows.

+1

I see a lot of posts about the stump hole issue and rarely comment. I just figure I guess I'm "lucky" or have special stumps in my area but have never had a problem with sink holes.

I find that grinding the stumps leaves far less of a mess than pulling them. I'll dig them out of the customer prefers but I always recommend grinding. It's not only cheaper and faster, but also helps with soil erosion and doesn't disturb the topsoil nearly as much.

My father buried tons of giant pine stumps when he cleared the land for the house I grew up in, 35 years ago. There isn't even the slightest depression there, but he supposedly packed them in good and tight.

 

[sixdogs]

+1

I see a lot of posts about the stump hole issue and rarely comment. I just figure I guess I'm "lucky" or have special stumps in my area but have never had a problem with sink holes.

I find that grinding the stumps leaves far less of a mess than pulling them. I'll dig them out of the customer prefers but I always recommend grinding. It's not only cheaper and faster, but also helps with soil erosion and doesn't disturb the topsoil nearly as much.

My father buried tons of giant pine stumps when he cleared the land for the house I grew up in, 35 years ago. There isn't even the slightest depression there, but he supposedly packed them in good and tight.

Same here. I clear cut 8 acres years ago (Maine) and after the wood and slash was gone went back and cut the stumps flush with the ground. Then we had a bulldozer come in and pop out a few stumps and push dirt around to cover most of what remained. We put cattle in, they browsed the tree suckers and pressed the grass seed I put down into the ground. (I didn't know about painting the stumps with Roundup back then). We moved but 30 years later the place looks great and no holes anywhere. Looks like it's always been that way.

Anyone who thinks land clearing is easy or there is some magic way is in for a surprise. Even a few acres is multiples harder than what it appears to be and vast amount of labor are required for miniscule gain. When the job looks done you're only halfway there. Take the easiest way out and even that will be way more work that it appears to be.

I've seen many projects get started and unless big equipment is involved and money willing to be spent, the plan usually peters out about 10% of the way into the job. Just my personal opinion having been there and done that.

 

[N80]

I actually enjoyed the clearing that I did. Again, only a few acres but it also involved filling in some ravines and managing water runoff etc. There is not a single stump remaining and in fact, one year I plowed most of the upper terrace to plant corn and hit nothing at all. I plow the lower terrace every year and it is clear also. For me it has been very gratifying and I'm very pleased with the results. No erosion. Looks like a lawn most of the year. Plan to start mowing most of it with a finish mower rather than rotary cutter soon.

Make no mistake, it was a lot of work but for me it was fun. My tractor did take a beating and had a branch through the radiator at one point.

As mentioned, when this place has been logged it leaves stump holes. A woods road through the pines that the kids road horses on is riddled with them. I found most of them and filled them in. It helps a little. One horse stumbled in one but there has never been an injury. But, you cannot see them at all, they are covered in leaves and pine straw.

 

[PatrickS2222]

A dozer isn't too bad at clearing it it has the right blade so it leaves the dirt behind.

From:
Gallery | Mesquite Clearing

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Bruce

I was reading the first few posts and picturing exactly what you've shown :thumbsup: best option I can think of, then work it down with smaller machinery - you'll still have some considerable work picking up stones, bits of wood etc, but after it's seeded and grass is established, it will then look like a park too!