Attachment for managing cleared woods

[bearthebruce]

I'm with those that are saying just mow it.

We use a heavy duty zero turn, the deck pulled to highest setting. What we cannot mow with the ZT we do with the tractor's brush hog. What we can't do with the tractor, we do with our walk behind brush hog.

We cleared a lot of land, seeded with a mix designed for low light, and now maintain with monthly mowings. So far it has worked well for us.

Now if we were not on the top of the mountain with steep slopes... we could gitter dun faster...

Leaves? We blow those off the planted grassy areas only.. we leave them in the other areas. As we will plant more grass when we have done more ground leveling and stump removal, the area to be cleared of leaves with increase. We use the ZT and a Billy Goat to clear the leaves.

 

[airbiscuit]

Rotary Cutter

or Flail Mower

 

[cathy liebchen]

We just bush hog it, in a season or two grasses crowd all the woody out

 

[ArlyA]

Happy Holidays!

Recently I had a forestry mulching service clear much of our wooded lot. It looks fantastic! So, in order to maintain it - dig up saplings, weeds, undergrowth, etc. I am looking at a ratchet rake for my John Deere 1025R. I previously had a rear rake but never used it. Other thoughts were the rear dethatcher from Good Works. This seems less ideal but I have a BXpanded tooth bar on my bucket so between the two I might be ok, and the dethatcher would be good for fall leaf cleanup. Any thoughts?

We live in the northern hardwoods which is different than there. On our trails here we mow then once or twice per summer and grasses take over which retards the tree shoots.

 

[snpower]

Can I use a flail mower to mulch leaves on my turf lawn and eliminate my trac vac? I would want to avoid really cutting the grass I am guessing.

 

[Carl_NH]

You could but my gut feeling would be the flail will want to "push" them instead of chopping them up. Just get a set of Gator blades for your JD machines, no need for another mower.

I have a Trac Vac too, and Ferris ZT with Gator Blade and windrow the leaves chopping them finer first, then suck them up - makes for a faster cleanup too. This reduces the volume by 50% or more and means less dumping and better composting.

 

[snpower]

You could but my gut feeling would be the flail will want to "push" them instead of chopping them up. Just get a set of Gator blades for your JD machines, no need for another mower.

I have a Trac Vac too, and Ferris ZT with Gator Blade and windrow the leaves chopping them finer first, then suck them up - makes for a faster cleanup too. This reduces the volume by 50% or more and means less dumping and better composting.

Gator Blades are awesome - I use them now

 

[2515R Dude]

Looks like my yard, the best and quickest option we have found is a good zero turn mower, hands down, we have 6 acres.

We did use a landscape rake to pile up a lot of the mulcher shreddings, and now just mow it.

This is one of a few mulch piles we have, and we are 2 years post mulch, things are starting to break down and a decent compost is forming. Maybe another year or 2 and it'll be great for the garden, for now, the dogs like it.

View attachment 834405
Grass is starting to fill in the areas that get enough light. As above, we've found zero turn mowing is the fastest and easiest to get around the trees. Unless you want a golf course, just mow the leaves a time or two and they'll be gone for the most part.

View attachment 834406

100% agree,

 

[nyone]

I would also just mow it. No reason to spray things you can get to with a mower.

 

[leonz]

Can I use a flail mower to mulch leaves on my turf lawn and eliminate my trac vac? I would want to avoid really cutting the grass I am guessing.

Yes, you can easily use a flail mower with 2, 3 or 4 rows of side slicer knives to do this.
The cup, scoop or hammer type of flail mower knives will not recut the grass and leaves
as they cannot create the amount of suction lift required to do this.

If you would like help in buying the flail right mower for your use I would be more than
happy to help you with your search for the right flail mower.
Please send me a PM so I can help you with this.