3-Point Hitch CT2040 + the Woodland Mills WC68 6” Chipper

Torvy · Jul 26, 2021

Thanks, oosik. It sounds like we would have similar uses. I've used stand alone gas chippers (my folks had one) and I have a small electric one in town for 2" or less branches (less hassle than bundling for waste pickup). I think you have sold me on the idea of a PTO driven one. That may be a later purchase. I think in the short-term I can stack/pile the trees for later chipping...but that can only be done for a year or two at most. My place is only about 14 acres of trees, but they have not been managed well, so I am going to need to thin the pines and remove 'volunteer' trees that are mixed in.

Do you feed the chipper output directly on the ground or can you go to a wagon or something to move it. I suppose I could feed to the ground and then use the bucket to move the chips where I want them. I guess my other option would be to have a dedicated place nearer the house to split wood and do all of the chipping. Then I would need to haul the thinned pines to that location. My goal would be to preserve the chips for our use and/or donation or resale (depending on quantity).

On a side note, y'all have some beautiful country up there. I found it interesting along I-90 how the crops were labeled for people to know what they were. I grew up rural and can tell a lot of the basics apart, but y'all have a lot of crops I had not seen before.

oosik · Jul 26, 2021

Torvy - Every spring I will thin eight to twelve stands of small pines. There can be upwards of 120 to 150 small (1" to 6" on the butt) pines in each stand. My eventual goal - all stands thinned and only 6" or larger pines remaining. I fell and chip 900 to 1200 small pines every spring.

I go thru these stands and identify any weak trees, close doubles, etc, etc. When I'm finished with a stand of 150 there may be only 15 to 20 still standing. I've fell the others. It looks like a giants game of Pick-Up-Sticks.

Then comes the NIGHTMARE. I drag all the fell trees to a pile. One pile for each stand of trees. Not only is it difficult to drag these trees - you are trying to drag and stay upright while navigating over, around and thru all these fallen trees. My size limit for cutting - 6" on the butt or smaller. A 30 foot pine- 6" on the butt is not a light thing. I've learned how to fall and, mostly, not hurt myself.

Then comes the FUN. Back the chipper up to each pile and chip all the trees.

This annual project usually takes me a month to month and a half. My son will some times come out and help. But ONLY when it's time to chip. He's helped drag. He hasn't learned how to fall and not hurt himself. So ..... this is most usually a project done by myself.

BTW - I've tried gathering these fallen pines with my FEL mounted grapple. Things are too close - no room to navigate - spend all day with the tractor and only 1/4 done compared what I do by myself.

A picture of my lake - taken off my front porch.

Torvy · Jul 28, 2021

Beautiful. What do you do will all of your pine chips?

oosik · Jul 28, 2021

Torvy said:
Beautiful. What do you do will all of your pine chips?

I've only used the chips for one thing. Like gravel on my mile long driveway. It's really nice. Makes the driveway "soft" and cuts down on the dust. Blow the chips into my farm wagon. Get my son to come out and help. Ha - he drives the Kubota, I get to shovel the chips out of the farm wagon.

Otherwise - I just blow them into great, long piles and they rot down. And they DO NOT rot down very fast. There are still piles that I chipped ten years ago - out and about on the property.

Torvy · Jul 28, 2021

Interesting, I never considered that, but it makes sense. I appreciate your I sights!

oosik · Jul 28, 2021

Torvy - a parting thought. I see that GoldenAcres has a grapple on the front of his tractor. A picture of the normal way my Kubota is set up. My grapple is indispensable when doing property maintenance. Land Pride SGC 1560 on the FEL - Rhino 950 on the 3-point.