75 acres of timber with house - trails, small garden, invasive control

[ning]

This is the cutter I ordered... Fedex is telling me that it might be here in 3 days (for a total of 11 days from the time I ordered, shipping from China):

Amazon.com : 10 in1 Backpack Brush Cutter with Gx35 4 Stroke Engine Weed Wacker Weed Eater Edger Lawn strimmer Mini Tiller : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : 10 in1 Backpack Brush Cutter with Gx35 4 Stroke Engine Weed Wacker Weed Eater Edger Lawn strimmer Mini Tiller : Patio, Lawn & Garden

www.amazon.com

Hopefully it's a decent machine!

I have been whacking at things with my Pulaski every few days, and I'm not disgusted with my progress... it's good exercise, which is part of what I was wanting in buying a big place. The thickets of blackberry are definitely something I'll need at least the backpack cutter for... but it still begs the question of:
A) how to rake all the cut thorny vines into a big pile
B) what to do with the pile after it's collected in one (or many) spots. Would this be burning with one of those half-million BTU torches I saw at the farm store (I guess it must connect to a grill-sized propane tank?)? Or some sort of mulcher (and which one, I'd guess not a normal "up to 4" branches" type)?

I put out a proto-wildfire a couple weeks ago that my neighbor set by burning a blackberry bramble (big bramble, breezy day, lots of dry grasses that luckily were easy to cut a fire line in).

Those canes burn hot and fast.

They also almost complete decompose in a year left in a pile with no other composting effort - my advice is either make a small pile to burn safely, or make a big pile and leave it be till next year. It won't grow back once you've scraped it off of the ground.

If you scrape blackberries when the ground isn't dry and hard you'll pull most of the roots with the brambles and avoid most regrowth as well. I got a ratchet rake to do this but for the most part I just use my piranha tooth bar and back-drag, it works almost as well and I don't have to take the ptb off and put the ratchet rake on and then get the ptb back on after I'm done...

 

[nmz787]

I pile himalaya berry vines and canes on a pile of stuff that I don't chip, along with old wood and poison oak I pull out.

Vines don't chip well. The woody canes might but with the thorns it's too much of a has

I put out a proto-wildfire a couple weeks ago that my neighbor set by burning a blackberry bramble (big bramble, breezy day, lots of dry grasses that luckily were easy to cut a fire line in).

Those canes burn hot and fast.

They also almost complete decompose in a year left in a pile with no other composting effort - my advice is either make a small pile to burn safely, or make a big pile and leave it be till next year. It won't grow back once you've scraped it off of the ground.

If you scrape blackberries when the ground isn't dry and hard you'll pull most of the roots with the brambles and avoid most regrowth as well. I got a ratchet rake to do this but for the most part I just use my piranha tooth bar and back-drag, it works almost as well and I don't have to take the ptb off and put the ratchet rake on and then get the ptb back on after I'm done...

Definitely don't want to encourage wildfire!!! Leaving them to rot sounds good enough.

I'll have to learn about ratchet rake, piranha tooth bars, and what a "ptb" is!

 

[jeff9366]

piranha tooth bar = "ptb"

 

[kenmbz]

Took all of this minus the big trees out with the PTB. Can walk through here now.
Brush moved to piles to break down a bit. Might use the forks to move to another place if needed.

 

[nmz787]

Well I split my efforts... Hired an excavator/operator for a day with his 10000lb machine and flair mower attached where the bucket would be.

Then I bought an old Gravely 5000 series 2-wheeled tractor with brush mower, tiller, and rotary plow. Had to clean the carb and the implements, and the mower deck needs a little welding... But so far other than getting stuck due to no differential lock and "turf" tires which I'm working on finding some proper R1 tractor tires to replace... I'm pretty happy. Not nearly as scary if I risk toppling the machine as something larger and ride-on. Small enough to get past the orchard into the garden area section for soil prep. Just big enough to clear brush from walking trails.

Not sure if it will do much in terms of being able to doze my trails flat... But we'll see how things develop.

 

[fried1765]

Well I split my efforts... Hired an excavator/operator for a day with his 10000lb machine and flair mower attached where the bucket would be.

Then I bought an old Gravely 5000 series 2-wheeled tractor with brush mower, tiller, and rotary plow. Had to clean the carb and the implements, and the mower deck needs a little welding... But so far other than getting stuck due to no differential lock and "turf" tires which I'm working on finding some proper R1 tractor tires to replace... I'm pretty happy. Not nearly as scary if I risk toppling the machine as something larger and ride-on. Small enough to get past the orchard into the garden area section for soil prep. Just big enough to clear brush from walking trails.

Not sure if it will do much in terms of being able to doze my trails flat... But we'll see how things develop.

The old 2 wheel Gravelys are tough little machines.
Though I don't use it, I still have my Gravely Pro 12 with 30" mower deck.
It has dual wheels,(4 tires) and a steering brake.

 

[Jchonline]

If you are thinking about anything except a tractor, I recommend renting it and using first. You will quickly learn the limitations and uses. I think Jeff has it right. 3000-5000 lb tractor Seems like the right call.

However if you want more of a TLB take a look at the Kubota L47 or M62. Expensive but very well built and capable .

 

[Williy]

RalphPA you have temporary hill mounds now as all
that dead wood will rot and you will have trenches again

willy

 

[fried1765]

If you are thinking about anything except a tractor, I recommend renting it and using first. You will quickly learn the limitations and uses. I think Jeff has it right. 3000-5000 lb tractor Seems like the right call.

However if you want more of a TLB take a look at the Kubota L47 or M62. Expensive but very well built and capable .

The Kubota L47's, and M62's are REAL (mid size) TLB's, not just backhoes added to a tractor!
Wonderful pieces of equipment!