Clearing Old Cutover / 150 acres

[D7E]

Are you sure on the nitrogen thing?

Sureley it's the same as straw or crop residue in a field for the first year it takes nitrogen from the soil to start the process then once it has begun to decompose then it produces nitrogen . I would prefer to see it burned particularly if it's pine / fir etc .

 

[redprospector]

Hahaha. Man this is worse than one of the Ford VS. Chevy VS. Dodge threads I've read elsewhere. :laughing: Those that have a dozer want to doze it, and those with a mulcher want to mulch it. :laughing:
I think the op needs to do some looking and talking to local land owners who have had this type of work done. Take a look at some done with a dozer, and some done with a mulcher. To be fair, try to find jobs that have been done about a year. See which one suites your expectations best and go from there.
I'm looking for some pictures of some stuff I did, about a year or so after completion. Problem is I don't do much clearing, it's mostly thinning. But around here native grasses usually grow back in less than a year after mulching.

 

[7879fordman]

Hahaha. Man this is worse than one of the Ford VS. Chevy VS. Dodge threads I've read elsewhere. :laughing: Those that have a dozer want to doze it, and those with a mulcher want to mulch it. :laughing:
I think the op needs to do some looking and talking to local land owners who have had this type of work done. Take a look at some done with a dozer, and some done with a mulcher. To be fair, try to find jobs that have been done about a year. See which one suites your expectations best and go from there.
I'm looking for some pictures of some stuff I did, about a year or so after completion. Problem is I don't do much clearing, it's mostly thinning. But around here native grasses usually grow back in less than a year after mulching.

It's defiantly ford . Lol


All I know is the guys that bought munchers . All went out of business . And all I see took years for grass to grow .

All the dozer people have been in business for years and years and are still here and not going anywhere . After doz'n you have grass as fast as grass can grow .



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[Egon]

That's what I have been told by agriculture and forestry consultants, silviculturist's, and others more educated than me.

Do a google on mulch and nitrogen. Then find some new advisers!

Wood Mulch Pros and Cons:

Initial application can rob some nitrogen from the soil; you may need to supplement nitrogen for your plants. Since wood itself contains very little nitrogen it helps itself to N already present in the soil to break down its carbohydrates. When the decomposing process is complete the nitrogen will then be returned to the soil. See organic soil amendment chart for sources of nitrogen. A surface mulch of wood will only take nitrogen from the top of the soil surface whereas any wood mulch worked into the soil will readily consume the nitrogen.

Avoid aspen, black walnut, and black locust in wood mulches.

You do not want mulch that comes from diseased plants. This should be thrown out.

Wood mulches can sometimes harbor insects and rodents i.e.: watch out for borers (very destructive bugs) and mice. Here again it is best to keep mulch pulled back from the plant base to make it unattractive for rodent nesting and burrowing.

Hard to clean leaves and garden debris out of wood mulch.

Retains moisture very well.

Keeps the soil cool during hot weather and warms it in early spring.

Wood mulch is very appealing. Looks great when used around evergreens and perennial plantings.

Cedar makes for a superior mulch as it has insect repellant properties.

Some good choices: cypress, cedar, redwood, willow and pine.

 

[t320pilot]

I've been in the mulching business for 6 years. Every job that I did a year ago is 3 or more feet tall with all kinds of vegetation. Unless the landowner has kept it mowed down.
Every customer was very happy with the results. Most of them also say they wanted it mulched because they were concerned about losing the topsoil and did not want to have huge piles to burn later.

 

[crossroadsd]

I would say that preserving the soil is a big issue for me. We don't have very good soil in our area to begin with. The last area we had dozer work done took years to produce adequately. Another issue is rocks. If we clear the land with a dozer we are going to bring up a ton of rocks that will have to be cleared.

The dozer with shear blade sounds interesting but you would still have all the burn piles to deal with and then follow up with the grading.

If it were mulched we have a 15 ft bush hog to control regrowth.

If prices were equal it would seem to me that mulching would be the way to go.

 

[crossroadsd]

Right now the only way I can see us affording to do this is if we purchase the equipment and do it ourself, whether it is a used dozer or mulcher.

When looking at used mulchers on some of the equipment auction sites it seems like some of the big equipment might be cheaper to buy. I saw some older Hydro Ax with mulching head sold for $50 - $60 thousand. These were older auctions so something might have pushed the prices down; economy, timing, season. They could have been worn out. I don't know.

What type of production can you get out of one of the larger pieces of equipment like a Hydro Ax?

I know there is a lot to consider when buying used equipment. But that applies with whatever you buy.

I know you have to look at equipment invidually but what hours of use does it start to concern you for the different types of equipment? When is a skid steer type worn out? What is high hours for a Gyro Trac GT25 or equivalent? Probably hard to say. So much depends on what type of work each is doing.

 

[ralanb]

I know this is beginning to be a touchy thread. I had a past customer to tell me yesterday that his son in law hired a dozer to clear an acre and a half of woods. Charged him $3400! I walked the property with him yesterday and the largest tree in the pile was 7-8". Maybe 10 or 12 of them. Now the county will not let him burn cause of churches and elderly near by. So you either bury it and it cave in a few years later, haul it off, or back to mulch it. From my work experience in the past, I have mulched property and 2 days later there is a mobile home on it and grass a year later not weeds, grass. This other property can't move a home on it cause the soil won't hold up. Opinions are like but holes, everyone has one! That is mine. What's easier for your cattle/tractor to walk/drive over the fastest and smoothest.

 

[ralanb]

It really depends on the equipments operator. If he is a owner or an operator. Also there are some dealers that will service a used machine and give you a quote on warranty a year at the time. That's worth looking into to save you some money and down time.

 

[ShearHeadMS]

The way I look at it isn't which is faster and better at clearing land, both have their places. What I'm concerned with if he buys a mulcher that somebody abuse the heck out of!! Most of the used mulchers come from guys who ran the tar out of it, they come through with a MIG welder and fix the cosmetics and make sure it will at least crank up and run to get on the trailer! When you get your machine home and start mulching and say "hey! This machine is fantastic!!" It blows a lift pump or if its a gyrotrac the undercarriage need all new hubs and bearings!! I just left a job were their GT-25 would only run for 5 hours and be down for 2 days for repairs!! That's alot of $$$$ to throw on a dead horse. All the guys who run mulchers right keep them! The ones for sale half the time are ones a owner had and his " professional" operator ruined and he's trying to pay his repair bills by selling it. A dozer to me may not be quicker or cleaner, but you have real dealers local and can get parts right off the shelf, not call halfway across the country to have a rep tell you he doesn't have it or it'll be a week or two. I like mulchers when they are new, not when you buy somebody else's problems!

As far as replanting goes, the last 250acre job I did we had milliet growing on it in 2 months, a shear blade floats on the ground or a little deeper and gets everything, then you rake it and roll the dirt out of the piles, since you said you have rocks, a heavy duty carbide tooth mulcher is all you could use, unless you wanted to replace teeth every time your planer head mulcher touches the ground, you would leave more stobs and stumps higher off the ground either way.

And one last resort is a drum chopper pulled by a rented dozer, won't be as clean, but I won't destroy the dirt and bring up rocks, with a few years of burning and letting cattle stomp it down, it will look pretty decent