How much land could this thing clear in a day?

[Snowback]

I have 10-15 acres of overgrown timber/woodland on my property that is pretty useless due to all the brush and especially the invasive Tree of Heaven. I'd like to have the underbrush cleared and I'm thinking of having it down with one of those brush grinder machine services, see picture below.

The questions I have are:

- About how much does one these cost on per day basis; this is a service, not a rental.

- About much land would one of these machine process in one days work?

Obviously, until I can get the guy out here for an informed quote I won't get an exact answer. Right now, I'm just looking for the "best guess" type answers.

Thanks,

The best answer for immediate satisfaction may be to crawl through the scrub brush and mark out a couple of trails, (interior/exterior), then have this machine come and blast through to open up access and connect those trails for you at a minimal cost. THEN - you can keep the access points brush hogged and start to hunt and peck with the tractor. That will give you time to decide on other specific clearing attempts as time/budget allow.

I contracted those Forestry Mulchers on my two acre town tract, (Skid steer type), and a 16 acre tract up north, (like the one you show here). Very pleased with the time and cost results both times. Good luck!

 

[Gary Fowler]

If the cost to mulch is too high then you will need to tackle it with bush hog, chainsaw and 2-4D. From what I read about ToH, mulching will just spread it like wildfire anyway.
I would start with a chainsaw getting down the small unwanted trees that are too big to bush hog. Cut the stumps really low so they wont interfere with mowing. A grapple on the FEL would make getting the brush into a burn pile much easier. Once the larger unwanted trees are down, you can bush hog around the rest and keep it cut low. 2-4D application to the new growth of ToH after mowing might do wonders to killing the roots. Other than ToH, cutting the tree at ground level and application of 2-4D to the stump should kill them out the first year.
As for Tree of Heaven, digging out the stumps with a backhoe or excavator would be my choice since I have a backhoe. Renting of an excavator might not be too expensive to get in and remove the larger ToH and smooth up the hole. You will still need a ship load of 2-4D and Glyphosate to kill all the sprouts and roots.
It sounds like you may be at this for a few years but diligence will prevail eventually.

 

[bluestem99]

If you can't afford to have the whole 15 acres done all at once why not have him come out for 2 or 3 days this year and the same over the next several? 15 acres of resprouts is a bit to manage. Spreading the aftermath over a longer period would probably give you a better end result. I manage about 6000 acres of natural area for a county conservation agency in northern Illinois and have seen people bite off more than they can chew and end up having to start all over.

Just a thought.

 

[kevin37b]

What is the tree of heaven ?

 

[FTG-05]

Both good points Gary and Blue.

My next step is to talk to my sawyer. He's going to be out in a couple weeks to take down a big standing dead hickory (that's close to my front gate; hence why he's taking it down) and see how much he charges for one day with a bulldozer.

Some of it I can use the tractor and bushhog, but the rest of the ToH is too big and too dangerous (to the tractor) to tackle. My main fear is radiator damage (possible engine damage) and then tire damage due to the punji stake syndrome.

Thanks for all the comments!

 

[FTG-05]

What is the tree of heaven ?

Ailanthus Altissima: Ailanthus altissima - Wikipedia

Basically an invasive species that is very difficult to get rid of. It spreads by both seeds and tubers/runners. Worse, it reacts to damage (i.e. chainsawing a tree) by sending out more runners. To kill the tree, you need to cut it down, then douse the stump with full strength Roundup (glysophate) - within 15 minutes or so. The tree also emits a foul smell that inhibits/retards nearby other trees diminishing their growth so ToH can take over the area.

All well and good - if the tree was worth a crap. For firewood, it's way worse than poplar and probably more like balsa. Strength is crap as well - there goes making lumber out of it.

 

[breadtrk]

Get a rotary cutter and use it, resprouts are a non issue and all will die in a couple seasons of regular mowing.

I'm in middle Tn, guy came out with a normal looking bobcat and did 7 acres in one day in a 25 year neglected overgrown field. Trees, vines, rabbits, snakes and all.

 

[Cord]

Controlled burn?

 

[FTG-05]

I haven't had any success in getting rid of it by just mowing but maybe I'm not mowing it short enough or often enough as I'm using a bush hog to mow my pastures. Sprouts always come back on me unless I hit them with Remedy or a mix of Remedy and diesel. Most of what I am battling now though is in wooded and/or steep areas where I can't mow at all

Not,sure what part of TN you are in but if you are close to Western NC mountains you can come over and see first hand the results of my war on TOH

I also hired mulchers to come in a mulch certain areas without treating and you can see the after effects of those areas too

An operator on a larger tracked skid steer cost me $150/hr 3 years ago. They did an awesome job and were very efficient operators.

Goats won't touch TOH either in case you are wondering

Sorry if I didn't answer this before. I'm in SC TN, about 10 miles north of the border and 10 miles east of I-65 (i.e about 45 miles NW of Huntsville AL).

So followup since I last posted here on this thread: I had a land clearing guy come out a couple weeks ago that had one of those mulching head skid steers. He was supposed to work for one whole day but only did 4 hours worth of work (debatable by one other land clearer) but was sidetracked by equipment issues, losing a track, having to change out the head and a recalcitrant FF connector that wouldn't let go.

In any event, some before and after pics:



Overall, I'm not too happy about the job but for reasons that not under the control of the bulching head operator/owner:

- The land cleared was left with some 4-6" high stubs (pungi stakes) from the smaller trees; I learned today from another operator that that is normal unless the operator is running carbide teeth due to all the rocks in the soil. Fair enough, don't want people ruining their equipment.

- The "road" (trail) I wanted built is way too steep in terms of sideways lean. Very uncomfortable driving over it, which by the by, misses the entire point of one of my most important objectives for this cleared land: a new better access road/trail to this part of my property. Again, not the fault of the mulcher.

So I had another land clearing mulching head operator out today to give me another estimate. After reviewing the property and my goals for it, what he recommended was getting a bulldozer service or renting a bulldozer rather than a mulching operation. He said, for my road, I'm going to need a bulldozer anyway since a mulcher won't move dirt (duh!). Plus, the dozer would take out all the pungi stake stubs and even stumps.

So now I'm investigating renting a bulldozer for a week and doing it myself. From on line searches it appears that I can locally rent a Case 400 series (70 hp class) for about $1600/week vs. $1200/day for the mulcher service. This would not include diesel, of course, so I don't know how much a dozer uses in a day.

So new question: Has anyone here rented a dozer before, what was your experience like and what are some good tips and tricks I should know about beforehand?

Any other comments and suggestions are welcome as well.

Thanks!

 

[airbiscuit]

Thanks for the update. Your new plan might make sense. You can do a lot of damage with a dozer. By that, I mean you can either really muck things up, or really get a lot done. It depends on how proficient you are with a dozer. I've only played with them a bit,and it's tricky to know what's happening in front of the blade because it's not visible to you.

If you put me on that rented dozer, I would likely dig up a bunch of stuff, but I'm not sure how smooth it would be and heaven knows where the organic material would be. Last fall, I had to have some road work done, an they came with a new 100 hp dozer. I was worried about the cost, but it is amazing what a skilled operator can do with high capability equipment. It was a hydro with refined hydraulics, and a skilled operator that made every move count. I think he knew where that blade was within 1/2".

My point is that you might get as much done in one day with a great operator and a new dozer as I could do in a week with a rented dozer. That plan doesn't work if you get Bubba with a 10 year old dozer.

That said, I am excited for the property taming you are doing, and appreciate your updates.