DIY Land Clearing
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Eagleview
Veteran Member
No , not a patch on a flail mower with hammers . A flail will suck up most of the remaining sticks and saplings and turn them to confetti , a hog won't and it will leave sharp stakes to puncture your tires .
This is a before and after of the same area I did last week . As you can see , there were thousands of smaller trees amongst these keeper Gums . Don,t expect a result like this as I can pluck a tree straight up out of the soil and then smudge the hole in the ground with the root system (using it like a big paint brush) . But you can see how tidy the flail leaves the site . As you can imagine there was a birds nest of leaves and sticks left on the ground after the tree extraction , but the flail sucked them all up and mulched it all . Pushing them over will leave divots in the soil but a bit of back blading with your rake will smudge them to an acceptable level . Don't forget , there are other options that others have suggested which may work well for you , but i think this would be your cheapest route which will also leave you with some handy equipment .
This is a before and after of the same area I did last week . As you can see , there were thousands of smaller trees amongst these keeper Gums . Don,t expect a result like this as I can pluck a tree straight up out of the soil and then smudge the hole in the ground with the root system (using it like a big paint brush) . But you can see how tidy the flail leaves the site . As you can imagine there was a birds nest of leaves and sticks left on the ground after the tree extraction , but the flail sucked them all up and mulched it all . Pushing them over will leave divots in the soil but a bit of back blading with your rake will smudge them to an acceptable level . Don't forget , there are other options that others have suggested which may work well for you , but i think this would be your cheapest route which will also leave you with some handy equipment .
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Dcara
Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2009
- Messages
- 36
- Location
- East of Dallas TX
- Tractor
- Ford 2810, Komatsu D31S-16; White 2-105
I'm recently started clearing 27 acres with a Komatsu D31 loader (14000 lbs). Alot of Bodark, honey locust, post oaks, etc. Some of the trees are up to about 2-3 feet in diameter. The big ones I take down by driving the bucket into the ground about 1 ft or so close to the tree to loosen the soil. Raise the bucket to about 6-8 feet for leverage and over it goes, root ball and all. Driving the edge of the bucket down onto the ball breaks a lot of dirt off that I use to back fill/drag a good bit of the hole. I can also lift the trees higher onto the burn pile. Tall burn piles I think burn faster and take less pushing together than low spread out ones.
Reasons I got this loader
1) My little 40hp tractor could only push over trees up to one foot dia or so using same technique.
2) I wanted to be able to load dirt to carry to other parts of property and sell to local folks for their own purposes. ($10/pickup, $20/trailer load made me a few hundred this past spring from Craigs List from a previously dug tank)
3) At 14000 lbs I can put it on a 5000 lb trailer and still be under the 20k lb tow limit of my F250 so I can take it to the shop if I have to, or to other properties for whatever.
Note that the loader leaves way more bare/heavily disturbed ground behind than the tractor and so takes longer for the worked area to re-vegitate. If I hadn't lost my camera last month I'd post pics.
Reasons I got this loader
1) My little 40hp tractor could only push over trees up to one foot dia or so using same technique.
2) I wanted to be able to load dirt to carry to other parts of property and sell to local folks for their own purposes. ($10/pickup, $20/trailer load made me a few hundred this past spring from Craigs List from a previously dug tank)
3) At 14000 lbs I can put it on a 5000 lb trailer and still be under the 20k lb tow limit of my F250 so I can take it to the shop if I have to, or to other properties for whatever.
Note that the loader leaves way more bare/heavily disturbed ground behind than the tractor and so takes longer for the worked area to re-vegitate. If I hadn't lost my camera last month I'd post pics.
scoutcub
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2008
- Messages
- 2,286
- Location
- Ohio
- Tractor
- Yanmar LX4900//Cub 7532//Cub Yanmar SC2400//Komatsu D38//Cub Volunteer//Cub SZ60/CAT 289C/CAT 308
I just started clearing land with a Komatsu D-38E. I can get any of the trees down (up to 3-4 ft in diameter) by angling the blade and cutting out the roots, then start pushing up high. Stumps is a bit harder, they logged the best (and biggest) trees before I bought, so I have to go around 3 sides of the root system and then start diggin.....lots of extra work. But it's doing it, and some great seat time
One of my dilemma's is piling up the brush/rootballs.....I've got a compact with forks, which I'll put all the logs/firewood on to haul out, but moving and piling these stumps with the brush is a major pain thus far.......an excavator would be ideal, but I can't swing another nice piece of yellow gear right now!
Some great info/ideas here on grapples, flail mowers, and the like......always learnin.
O' course, if I had the $$$ I would get that awesome rig that Iron Horse owns and do some serious damage quickly....!!
One of my dilemma's is piling up the brush/rootballs.....I've got a compact with forks, which I'll put all the logs/firewood on to haul out, but moving and piling these stumps with the brush is a major pain thus far.......an excavator would be ideal, but I can't swing another nice piece of yellow gear right now!
Some great info/ideas here on grapples, flail mowers, and the like......always learnin.
O' course, if I had the $$$ I would get that awesome rig that Iron Horse owns and do some serious damage quickly....!!
Eagleview
Veteran Member
When you guys say your pushing over 2 , 3 and 4 foot diameter trees with these machines my mind boggles . A 2 foot diameter tree is as big as a 50 gal drum , a 4 foot diameter tree is D7 Cat size . Do you mean circumference and not diameter ? The tree below is around 2 feet in diameter and was quite a handfull .
Dcara
Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2009
- Messages
- 36
- Location
- East of Dallas TX
- Tractor
- Ford 2810, Komatsu D31S-16; White 2-105
I am talking diameter. But I haven't actually put a tape around one and calculated the dia from the circumference. The Bodarks are the big diameter ones and they have fairly shallow root balls. Rootball depth probably a little less than the diameter and the soil is sandyloam, not much clay. I had the county come out to clear about 1 mile of heavily over grown road easement to about 50 ft back from the road. The guy used a 60k lb New Holland dozer (don't remember the model) and he did more clearing in a day than I could do in a week. As we all know, Size Does Matter. But then I suspect I could only afford about 1 days worth of fuel per week for that thing.
scoutcub
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2008
- Messages
- 2,286
- Location
- Ohio
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- Yanmar LX4900//Cub 7532//Cub Yanmar SC2400//Komatsu D38//Cub Volunteer//Cub SZ60/CAT 289C/CAT 308
Ahh sir I believe you have caught me in a grievous miscommunication. I've always been confused on diameter, circumference, radius, etc. so my humblest apologies!
My biggest trees are no bigger than a 55 gallon drum, perhaps close but certainly no bigger. Some of the root balls are simply huge, I believe bigger than in your pic. I am going down this weekend to do some more damage, will try to get some pics.
Sorry for the mistook...
tlbuser
Veteran Member
Maybe we should stick to radius measurements to eliminate confusion
P.S. I never get tired of seeing pictures of your tree grabber.
Eagleview
Veteran Member
It's definitely a beast , my customers have nick named it "Tree Hugger"
Redbug , I'm sorry I overlooked your question as the page has turned .
The area was last logged about 30 years ago , it is now part of a National Park . I have a contract with the Department to keep the fire trails open and clear .
Redbug
Veteran Member
Iron, Only 30 years, wow. What a great contract! And to think you also get paid to do that kind of stuff in such a great place! Ain't life great!
