Going from timber to grass.....

[PBinWA]

I had 54 trees removed a week ago. Mine were a little bigger than 6 feet tall though but not big enough to be "marketable".


Before and After: 4MB JPEG File

4MB Before and After Picture

Video of a large tree being plucked by a 45,000 pound excavator: 125MB AVI Video

125 MB Huge Video File!

I still have some roots though and my little Mahindra 2615 has a hard time trying to rip out the big roots but I'm only turning this into pasture so I can let the roots rot for a year or five before I do any deep tilling.

A Dozer with a root rake or some scarifiers would be nice but that will have to wait (if it happens at all).

If anyone is in the Portland/Vancouver area and wants some firewood (you cut and limb) just send me a PM.

 

[EddieWalker]

Pines that small should be easy plucking for a small dozer with a rake. The rake has teeth that extend below the blade and into the soil just a bit, or you can lower it a few inches and get the roots of the tree and break up the soil at the same time. The rake isn't for larger trees, but yours are small enough that it wouldn't be an issue. Have you looked into buying a used dozer? After your finished, you can sell it for close to what you paid for it.

Shredding them with a heavy duty bush hog should work also, but the little stumps will take a few years to rot and if you plan to disk before planting the pasture, they will need a very large disk to cut them up.

Which might be an good option. Shred, then disk.

 

[1bush2hog]

Not sure what type of grass you plan on having in the end (pasture, lawn, etc.), but if a pasture is the goal, a HD rotary cutter and 50-75HP tractor will take care of the pines. You will have small dia. stumps left over, but considering these are pine, they will decompose in a few years. I have a Brown 484 rotary cutter and have run over 4-5 in locust saplings, though not recommended by mfg.

Whatever method you decide on to use in converting, you may want to also consider doing sections at different times. Mainly to control erosion. 100 acres is a lot of soil to disturb at one time. Then again I don't know the type of terrain you have either.

What part of GA are you located?

 

[Highbeam]

Nice place PB. We always like pics.

A typical brushhog that is the right size for the tractor can mow over and through anything smaller than your forearm. I suspect a pine tree that is 6 feet tall falls within this category. If you can knock it over you should be able to chop it up. If not, try renting one or hiring it out for a day, then you need to go to a clearing machine.

A dozer and a trackhoe can make relatively quick work of that young forest. The dozer will knock everything down by running around with his blade slightly off the ground. He will then put on the root rake and push all of the knocked down debris into rows or piles. The trackhoe will then stack the debris high and tight for burning. The piles are going to be massive. Expect 30 foot tall heaps. While the trackhoe stacks and burns the dozer goes back and smooths everything out including remnants of the burn piles. Then they leave. I Expect this to cost about 2500$ per acre in the NW, with maybe a bulk discount for the huge area in your case.

So now you have a grubbed site. Go through with various smoothing and tilling implements as needed depending on the soil. I have found that grass will grow on bumpy, rooty, ground just fine so don't worry about the grass but worry about how hard it will be to mow in the future.

 

[KennedyDiesel]

It's a shame to waste all those trees, but I would think they would pluck easily. You may even be able to do it with a large farm tractor and a chain. This will get most of the roots out, but the root rake or a sub soiler may be in order to get the rest.

The excavator/trackhoe option is also a good one. Personally, I'd want them plucked and gone roots and all rather than grinding the roots.

Could also look at cutting the trees off and having a dozer with scarifiers pluck the stumps/roots.

I'd suggest chipping the trees and burning/composting the toots/stumps.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Okay, this is a tangential comment, but I have to ask, <font color="red"> Why? </font> Why would you want 100 barren acres? If you're going to put cattle on it, then create rotating pastures with corridors of woods left between them (but protected from the cattle by fencing). Same goes for hay fields. Deforestation takes out not only the trees and their benefits but also the wildlife that depend on the cover and food provided by the forest. I suggest you contact your state conservation department. I assume that Georgia's would be similar to Missouri's -- they can offer you advice and guidance on developing your property so that it profits you and also benefits the environment. In fact, they may be willing to pay part of the cost of the development if you are willing to follow some guidelines. I am returning 5 acres of fescue yard to native grasses and wildflowers and the MDC is paying 75% of the cost.

We all have to live on this planet....let's work at it a little.

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome to TBN. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

100 acres is a huge piece of land. Just how many trees are on it? One person mentioned clearing it for $2500 an acre... that's $250,000. YIKES! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

We have 2000 trees in a 4 acre area that we planted. We have another woods that is about 10 acres and the forester estimated 10,000 trees of various sizes.

With our 4 acre example, we have about 500 trees an acre. If I spent only one minute on each tree, that would be 500 minutes per acre. 100 acres would be 50,000 minutes, or 833 hours.

So, you need to ask yourself a few questions...

1. Just how many trees are we talking about?
2. How much time do I want to spend on the project?
3. What size machinery will do the job in the time that I have specified in #2?
4. Can I afford that machinery?

Then, adjust #2 and #3 until you can answer yes to #4 and see if you still want to do it.

Good luck with this massive project. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Highbeam]

Really... that is huge. I wonder how your state likes controlled burns? Let's do some more math.

If you had a 8' wide grinding swath with the big monster grinder machine, the guy would have to travel 103 miles assuming no overlap. If the machine runs at a half mile per hour it will take 206 hours or 26 working days.

You can bet that the machine will run at least 200$ per hour so that's 41,200$ for straight grinding.

Do you think the machine can travel at 0.5 miles per hour? and bill at 200$ per hour? Both of these numbers seem optimistic but there are some very impressive machines out there called forestry mowers.

I would think that you should leave some areas with forest on them for variety but I also believe in clearcutting. Trees can always be regrown and your other desired land uses can be undone.

 

[Egon]

Partsman:

Thats what the root rake is for. It seperates the tree, roots and soil. You get the wood material in a pile with no dirt!

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Partsman2]

Egon,

I agree completely!

I actually have one that I just bought for the front of my JD 4710 which is a 48 HP tractor. Here is a link to my post with pics last week. Grapple pics

I used it about 10-12 hours last weekend and I am impressed with what I can do with it. I can raise the grapple full open and roll it down and push a 4 - 6" tree down. Then I go back and dig the roots out with the rake, snatch them up with the grapple and pile it up.

chrishet - It could be an option but I don't know your time frame. This would take a long time to do 100 acres. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Get a BIG cooler. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif