How much land could this thing clear in a day?

[tractorshopper]

Guys that did my property did it in 3 days. Didn't do entire property, so about 2 acres per day.

Was really nice looking, down to mulched ground and sticks basically except the mature trees that I wanted to keep.

Came back up into a thicket quick. Have to stay on top of mowing/brush hogging, or it will go back to nature. If you keep mowing regularly, some stuff will finally stop trying to re-sprout, but it can take a few years or more. Stumps eventually will rot out as well. If I had my pick, I'd have stuff pulled out roots and all with an excavator, then smoothed out. I believe that would give better longer lasting less maintenance results, but that's just a guess on my part.

 

[Cord]

Find a outfit that will rent equipment commercially. Then look into renting a large tracked skid steer and a forestry mower. Yea, it'll be $500/day, but that's still less than hiring it out.

 

[1bush2hog]

I wouldn't even think of cutting or mulching tree of heaven unless you treat it beforehand or immediately after. It will come back with a vengeance if you do. There are various methods for treating this super invasive species depending on the size and stage of growth. Foliage spray, basil bark, hack and squirt, and cut stump. I would NOT recommend cut stump as it seems to produce the most regen suckering

There is no quick way to rid this species from your property as follow up treatments are usually required to treat suckering

The good news is that once the trees are killed they start falling down in a couple of years

Good Luck. You are not alone

 

[roadhunter]

Find a outfit that will rent equipment commercially. Then look into renting a large tracked skid steer and a forestry mower. Yea, it'll be $500/day, but that's still less than hiring it out.

That's a toy compared to the machine the OP referenced. Skid steers struggle running fecon heads, I would never recommend it. Hydraulics overheat and are underpowered.

 

[jeff9366]

If you are going to peck at it with the L4330 get a Ratchet Rake for your FEL bucket and a Field Cultivator for your Three Point Hitch. More than half the de-brushing struggle is transporting detritus to a safe area for burning. Field Cultivator works very well dragging vines and brush while leaving dirt behind.

ratchet rake brush clearing - YouTube

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ement-vine-root-removal-woods.html?highlight=

Your photo depicts "before" land very similar to mine in Florida ~~~~but I do not have Tree of Heaven, I have wild grape vines, wild climbing rose and Yaupon Holly.

 

[Rustyiron]

This might be true if you have a normal or "dirt work" SS. The newer larger machines (past 6-8 years) have an available forestry pkg. that covers all your concerns. Like any equipment, the attachment is sized to the carrier's power output and might only be taking a 60'' cut on a SS or CTL, but it WILL do it all day long. Mulchers can be a $120-130,000 skid steer variety up to almost a half million dollar machine. There are wheeled, tracked, and excavator based machines out there, of all sizes.

 

[Kentuckyfarmer]

The best, cheapest, and fastest way is an excavator. Second is a track loader or highlift. A highlift you can tear up a lot of stuff if your a beginner at operating. Did that type of work several years and I preferred the excavator doing it. Fast and you can dig a pit and burn the brush in it. Then what doesn't burn just bury it.

 

[airbiscuit]

The power companies around here use ASV skidsteers with a similar cutter. They do a great job - it looks like a golg course when they're done.

If the cost is too great, you can do some damage with your own tractor and a rotary cutter. I cut trails through 8' tall hazelnut brush with a 15hp Shibaura and a 4' Kingkutter rotary cutter. Just walk the area first to look for surprises, and use a chainsaw for stems over 1 1/2".

 

[dickfoster]

I have 10-15 acres of overgrown timber/woodland on my property that is pretty useless due to all the brush and especially the invasive Tree of Heaven. I'd like to have the underbrush cleared and I'm thinking of having it down with one of those brush grinder machine services, see picture below.

The questions I have are:

- About how much does one these cost on per day basis; this is a service, not a rental.

- About much land would one of these machine process in one days work?

Obviously, until I can get the guy out here for an informed quote I won't get an exact answer. Right now, I'm just looking for the "best guess" type answers.

Thanks,

I had a couple of them do my five acres in a couple of days but that included felling some large trees next to the house and much of my property is sloping. Mine were on track steers so they probably moved a bit faster than one on a cat could. I had them quote the job, not an hourly rate. That included a hand crew limbing up the larger trees left standing. The masticators or whatever you want to call them ground up the brush piles the hand crew made from thinning the limbs and other stuff.

 

[Kentuckyfarmer]

I'm 62 years old and that's the first time I have ever seen wheels on the front of a 3 point hitch bush hog. Guess it's pretty good keeping it from scalping the ground but you must have to pick it up when you turn. Huh?