clearing sapplings

[farmerpsv]

have any of you ever used your tractor to clear thickett? i just bought 32 acres with nice old growth and alot of sapplings in between. want to clear about 10 of it. i've always had open pasture, so this is new to me. lots of 1 to 3 inch sapplings i want to clear. i have a 4wd NH TN65 w/FEL. don't suppose the fel would work to great for clearing, maybe a front blade? do they make such an animal? is this crazy and really requires a dozer?
thanks
paul

 

[EddieWalker]

You got a big enough tractor with plenty of power to run a serious shredder. Just mow them down.

 

[KENB]

You might want to get a toothbar for your FEL. I find it works well for clearing Yopon bushes.

 

[Tdog]

Ditto on the toothbar. I've only got a 22 hp BX22 & get good results clearing yaupon, at least the small ones.

If you are in a hurry, yeah, get the dozer in.

 

[texbaylea]

I am doing a lot of brush clearing now. I have a Hy-Reach Tree Shear on my FEL and can cut anything up to 8" at ground level. The with a grapple on the FEL bucket, it is easy to pick it all up and pile it for later burning or chipping or shredding. A toothbar on the bucket gets out th small stuff.

Country Home products has what is called a beaver blade - 8 inches in diameter with a chain saw edge that fits on the larger weed eaters. Works great for cutting clumps of small stuff that you can't reach with the tractor.

Vernon

 

[Egon]

One or two forks attached to the bucket will work. Straddle the tree and dig in the forks - then curl the bucket to break roots and lift out the tree. The forks will also work for stacking the removed trees. Doing this should remove a lot of roots and stumps. Makes it much easier to work the land afterwards.

Egon

 

[farmerpsv]

thanks everyone for your input.
what are "yopon"? i was out fooling around with a chainsaw yesterday, gave me perspective /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. i have some great trees, the 3" go about 12 to 15 feet, straight up, mostly oak, my solice is that i'll leave 22 acres and let em grow. should be nice by the time it's ready to cut the old growth. i've seen the dr beaver and considered it or a front end cutting device, the mix is such that a bush hog would be a bit overwhelmed, this is thicket with heavy growth and i think i would fry a few clutches in the process. any of you used a harley rake? would that work on the left over stumps? i'll just have to get out there and try the fel (tractor is not on site yet) and play around with it, maybe try it in conjuction with my box blade
paul

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Check out this thread from the archives. I think it will do exactly what you're looking for.

Sapling puller

 

[farmerpsv]

pitbull,
yeah! that's really great, i can see where that would work great and it's very simple.
thanks
paul

 

[farmerpsv]

Hey Pitbull,
i did a search on "brush brute" and came up empty handed. do you happen to know a resource for such an implement?
thanks
paul

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Here's a link to their website: www.brushbrute.com

They're kind of pricey, I'm sure that is one reason why TraderMark made his own.

 

[1bush2hog]

A heavy duty rotary cutter worked for me, even on locust saplings. I used a 'crawfish' approach, backing up and slowly lowering rotary cutter into saplings, privet, etc. and mulched away.

If you go this route, wear hard hat, safety glasses, and ear plugs. A thick piece of plexy or wire mesh added to the back of your ROPS, or safety chains on the front of the rotary, are good ideas too. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Highbeam]

You need a brush shredder. They make them as attachments to either skidsteers or on the 3 pt of the tractor. It is a rotating drum that grinds the material down to nothing. If all you have is 1-3" diameter undergrowth on relatively smooth ground then I would rent the SSL and brush shredder. The machine looks like it moves through relatively quickly. Within a few days the brush would be mulch on the ground. Then a nice heavy disc.

I have heard that if you can run it over, the rotary brush hog will chew it up. The big FEL will allow you to lay down the saplings before mowing them. On the larger ones that don't lay down you can jump out and chainsaw them close to the ground.

If you avoid pulling the stumps then the amount of material do get rid of drops substantially.

I have the same type of sapling/brush problem but I have a small dozer to do the knock down.

 

[MMM]

A HD cutter will work quickest and you'll have an implement that is still useful after it's all done. You might have some resprouts, but continued cutting will destroy them. I've cleared over 10a of 3-4" saplings with my cutter and keep it cut regularly with same tool. My .02.

 

[bgott]

I don't cut 'em if I'm going to use the tractor to clear 'em, I don't like leaving stumps. They have a tendency to be a pain if you decide to work the dirt or dig a trench at a later date. The tree helps lever the stump out of the ground if it is more than the loader can handle. I dig down in front of the root ball, working the bucket roll and dump to cut roots. Then I raise the loader as high up the tree as I can and reef on the tree. Make sure the tree isn't rotten, you don't want it to snap and come back on you. If it doesn't go I dig down into the root ball some more. The guy I had helping me the last time I cleared some dirt told me the tractor had the front end so far down in the hole that it looked like a terrier digging for a rat. I was digging out 12" to 14" diameter trees at the time. Once it starts to go you have quit pushing and back up and get another bite on the tree, you can roll the root ball up under the tractor. I've done that without any damage but you never know what you might destroy. It could lift the front end enough to dig the box scraper into the ground and then you are stuck. I got to backing out of the hole and filling it with dirt once the root ball was cut loose and the tree was ready to come down, that lets the loader hit higher up on the tree. I did blow a steel loader line while doing this once, but I went right back to the same tree and finished the job once I got the tractor back and the second line held. It must have been a bad part. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[JimR]

A toothbar will pop them right out of the ground.

 

[MMM]

Sounds like he's clearing a thicket. Clearing 10a of 1-3" saplings with fel would really take some time. I used fel to pile up what diddnt get completely pulverized by cutter and burned whole mess. Stumps that size rots in no time and aren't reallymuch of a disc or trench problem. I guess it depends how much seat time you can afford.

 

[farmerpsv]

BGott and MMM,
yeah, i am clearing thicket, very dense. the challenge is that i want to work the soil, so i don't want alot of stumps or trash left behind. also trying to make the smallest impact on the top soil. maybe cut them and rent a harley rake. never used one so not sure it would work in this application.
paul

 

[plants4u]

Paul,
I was cruising when i came I came across your post and you asked "what are yopon"? If it's still any interest, yaupon are a type of holly, native to the southern states. They are tough and hardy.

Clem