XmasTreeGrower
Member
Wow! More interest out there than I thought in Christmas tree farming. Good to see I have some other company on the board. Answers to some of the questions posed:
Mathey, regarding your and your FIL's operation; looks great! Our operation tends to get complicated in the mountains with the varying degrees of slope. Mowing is an easy task the first few years, but as you note, your choices get slimmer as the trees get bigger. I have used the following equipment to mow when the tree are smaller:
Kubota B1700 HST with a 42" Bushog- predecessor to your FIL's B7500N. Works OK unless you have to go across a slope, then the narrow width and high track gets tippy in a hurry. I just got tired of being scared: up on three wheels too many times.
Yanmar 1100D with a 36" Bushog- much safer and lower center of gravity than the Kubota. You can set the wheels on this to less than 31" width. Still when you get it up on a sideways slope, the weight of the Bushog tends to drag it downhill, ultimately nailing a couple of trees along the way. Works great on flat ground though.
Hustler ZTR Mower- fast on flat ground, but I lost count of the number of tree I damaged from sliding into them on the slopes. Don't even think about getting on one of these in the mountains when it's wet!
Steiner Tractors- distant cousins to the Power Tracs. These are great choices for our mountainous terrain; great stability, out front decks, and a fabulous front mounted stump grinder. I can get these comfortably down the tree rows until they are about five years old. My current "ultimate" Christmas tree tractors.
Still having gone through every mowing option out there, the fastest, cheapest, and longest lasting solution for me has been a $99 Solo back pack sprayer and the weak Round Up solution. I use a wide fan spray nozzle that covers the entire 60" row width with no bottom branch spray contact, and I only walk down each row once. I use our Kawasaki Mule with a 50 gallon solution tank in the bed as a "mother ship" for refills as needed. Mrs. Xmastreegrower is my support staff, driving the Mule, refilling my tank, and refilling me with some fluids, as we go. We can knock out the whole thing spraying in about six hours vs. two days mowing. Spraying also lasts about six weeks vs. three weeks mowing.
Scotty, you mentioned the stump removal question. Definitely a problem in a choose and cut operation. I am paranoid about customers tripping over previously cut stumps. People are absolutely not looking down at the ground when they are wandering the fields, looking for their perfect tree. I paint the stumps with day glo orange paint, then hit them every day with the Steiner stump grinder attachment. Here is one of the Steiners in action:
And the final results after about thrity seconds of grinding. Note the beefiness of the Steiner stump grinder:
Snowridge, thanks to you for the UF link, I hadn't seen that one before!
Rox, thanks to you for the hosting link, a web site is my project after spring planting.
And Matthew, politically correct or not nowadays, every customer gets a firm handshake, a sincere "Thank You", and wished a hearty "Merry Christmas" from me personally!
Thanks
Bill
Mathey, regarding your and your FIL's operation; looks great! Our operation tends to get complicated in the mountains with the varying degrees of slope. Mowing is an easy task the first few years, but as you note, your choices get slimmer as the trees get bigger. I have used the following equipment to mow when the tree are smaller:
Kubota B1700 HST with a 42" Bushog- predecessor to your FIL's B7500N. Works OK unless you have to go across a slope, then the narrow width and high track gets tippy in a hurry. I just got tired of being scared: up on three wheels too many times.
Yanmar 1100D with a 36" Bushog- much safer and lower center of gravity than the Kubota. You can set the wheels on this to less than 31" width. Still when you get it up on a sideways slope, the weight of the Bushog tends to drag it downhill, ultimately nailing a couple of trees along the way. Works great on flat ground though.
Hustler ZTR Mower- fast on flat ground, but I lost count of the number of tree I damaged from sliding into them on the slopes. Don't even think about getting on one of these in the mountains when it's wet!
Steiner Tractors- distant cousins to the Power Tracs. These are great choices for our mountainous terrain; great stability, out front decks, and a fabulous front mounted stump grinder. I can get these comfortably down the tree rows until they are about five years old. My current "ultimate" Christmas tree tractors.
Still having gone through every mowing option out there, the fastest, cheapest, and longest lasting solution for me has been a $99 Solo back pack sprayer and the weak Round Up solution. I use a wide fan spray nozzle that covers the entire 60" row width with no bottom branch spray contact, and I only walk down each row once. I use our Kawasaki Mule with a 50 gallon solution tank in the bed as a "mother ship" for refills as needed. Mrs. Xmastreegrower is my support staff, driving the Mule, refilling my tank, and refilling me with some fluids, as we go. We can knock out the whole thing spraying in about six hours vs. two days mowing. Spraying also lasts about six weeks vs. three weeks mowing.
Scotty, you mentioned the stump removal question. Definitely a problem in a choose and cut operation. I am paranoid about customers tripping over previously cut stumps. People are absolutely not looking down at the ground when they are wandering the fields, looking for their perfect tree. I paint the stumps with day glo orange paint, then hit them every day with the Steiner stump grinder attachment. Here is one of the Steiners in action:
And the final results after about thrity seconds of grinding. Note the beefiness of the Steiner stump grinder:
Snowridge, thanks to you for the UF link, I hadn't seen that one before!
Rox, thanks to you for the hosting link, a web site is my project after spring planting.
And Matthew, politically correct or not nowadays, every customer gets a firm handshake, a sincere "Thank You", and wished a hearty "Merry Christmas" from me personally!
Thanks
Bill
