getting rid of blackberry thicket

[Taylortractornut]

Dave a tooth bar should hepl, the long teeth on my rake helped hold a large pile as the blackberried had run wild for 10 years. and it was easiers to move the piles. I ran a few trackloaders for a company clearing and the toothed edge was a blessing. A wick wipers is a chemical tank on a tractor that puts herbicide in foam or carpet pads so it applies the poision to the taller weeds and not the crops. I made a mount for one a few years ago for a company that does weed controll. Ive patched a few together for use around the place to wipe out jonson grass. and leave the normal grass.

 

[bgott]

Like chainsaws are going to be any better? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

 

[NewTexan]

I think you all may be missing the big picture here. If he gets rid of all those blackberry vines where are all of the bugs that live in them going to go????? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
I know Ca does not have them but if he was cutting them down in the south he would be up to his eyeballs in those microscopic red vermin aka "chiggers". /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Slamfire]

Well I think you missed the post I made about the scythe. It has a nice long handle so you can reach out and a good blade to cut the stems. The european model is made to be used in just that manner.

Just a little off topic question. Since the town requires you to disobey the Patriot Act, do they provide you with an attorney?
/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Docsknotinn]

Well I tilled The Blackberry "thicket" for my neighbor saturday. It was pretty small stuff. I just tilled right through. most of theese clearings are reminants of stageing areas from logging operations. In my field I find Traps, axes, chain, way too many beer bottles. In my neighbors field the hardest part was unwinding a 3' section of re-bar that wrapped around the tiller shaft twice before I could stop. Just a small dent in the tiller, but I spent an hour upside down rollin in the dirt to straighten it enough to get it out. LOL. No chiggers but the field was infested with frogs. It was a good weekend. Beautifull 65 degree days, blackberrys are ripe and the Black bears are out on the road eating them /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Dave

 

[Currmudgeon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( In my neighbors field the hardest part was unwinding a 3' section of re-bar that wrapped around the tiller shaft twice before I could stop)</font>

I did that with some heavy fencing the previous owner left on the perimeter. I ended up cutting it away from the mower blades with the angle grinder.

 

[R_squared]

This past weekend my wife and I cleared around 2 acres of overgrowth so that we could use our new finish mower. About half an acre was blackberry bushes and they grew up to 6 feet in some areas. We went over the 2 acres with a landscape rake before mowing. The rake dredged up rocks, bottles, bricks, sticks, and a 26 inch copperhead snake. It also stripped the blackberry bushes down to the stalk. We pushed the rake tines clear with a shovel and piled the overgrowth up using the FEL. We'll burn the piles when they dry. We did it this way so that we did not have to buy both a rotary cutter and a rear finish mower. The rake worked very well and we were able to walk off the cleared area to pickup any dislodged rocks before mowing . They were tossed in the FEL bucket. The rake shaved down most of the areas that would scalp with a RFM. Little or no grass grew where the blackberry patch was. I set the finish mower height up to max and it did not hit a thing. We spent around 6 hours raking and 2 hours mowing. It was working a*s backwards, but the area is now clear and safe to finish mow.

 

[Soundguy]

Yikes! 6 hours for 2 acres!! I think I would have bought a cheap 4' or even 3' rotary cutter used somewhere.. and rough mowed it in an hour, then finish mowed it in a higher ranger in less time... if needed.. Heck... rough mowing often yeilds an almost lawn look.

I would still havebeen afraid of overworking that finish mower.. even with the material stripped down.. they just aren't made to cut stalks of large weeds like a 6' briar can grow.... that is rotary cutter teritory.

Soundguy

 

[R_squared]

Not really. We still would have had to rake the 2 acres and would have probably destroyed a cheap rotary cutter in the process. We ended up with a small pile of bricks. The First Choice/Sicma RFM is built like a tank and handled the stalks with ease. Nothing left to do now but mow with it.

 

[Docsknotinn]

Sound guy, you should have seen me last year. You would have had a real good laugh ! I was tilling an acre with a walk behind. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif LOL. I just got a Chain harrow. After I tilled my plot this past weekend I raked it with that. I bet I lifted 10 yards of roots and junk. All the way home I was tyhinking, Man do I love this tractor stuff. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Dave