More Blackberries

[California]

Highbeam described clearing blackberries in the Northwest. About the same time, I happened to be clearing some blackberries as well. I thought I would share my pictures.

Before. First we picked the berries.

 

[California]

The location is at the back of the orchard where it transitions from a gentle slope to actual terraces. Here is the last spot I can drive down, as the bank between orchard rows becomes steeper.

In this photo I have already brushhogged the lower terrace to clear a pioneer trail but look what remains - streamers of thorns hanging out of the trees to snag you as you drive by. While I was dodging one that was threatening my ear on one side, a vine on the other side snagged my gloves from a rigging bag behind the seat. I only found a single glove later in the day.

 

[California]

There is a whole row of mature apple trees along that bank between the upper and lower terraces.

Here I am pushing vines down the slope. This is may be the third pass in that spot, the first pass is the compressed wad at the bottom.

The danger of operating on a slope was the main thing on my mind. Mitigating measures included:

*All of this was done at idle in the lowest gear. A ground speed of maybe 12 ft per minute allows time to watch and think.

*Absolutely no side angle. Each pass was straight down the fall line for stability. I never had to use the diff lock to back up the slope, so I wasn't near to losing traction.

*I kept the bucket near the ground for balance and set the front edge in the ground while I shifted to reverse.

 

[California]

Here is what I found under the berry bushes - whole mature trees we hadn't seen before. That 2 x 6 brace looks like grandpa's effort since he was a professional engineer, and 50 years ago he reinforced many overstressed limbs this way. He died in 1963. This tree may have been buried under blackberries ever since then.

Along this steeper bank I couldn't push bushes from the upper terrace all the way down to the lower terrace so I had to snag what I could from the lower terrace. In this spot, after pushing from the top I could only use the side of the bucket to drag stuff down, because the lower terrace was too narrow to turn facing the slope.

 

[California]

The finished product. A row of big apple trees is exposed.

I shredded the removed canes with the brushhog to clear the terraces.

 

[Mavrik02]

Thanks for the pics! I have also found a few surprises when clearing out the brush. Good thing you were taking your time and going slow because hitting that tree with any speed would have been ugly /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

The slope in most of the pictures doesn't look too bad although in the last picture it looks a little steep. It's hard to tell. My property is all hills with virtually no flat ground so I'm either going up, down or sideways. At first I was unsure about what angles the tractor could safely work at but after the first week of running around my yard I felt pretty comfortable. Like you said you have to be careful...I always use my seatbelt and always have the ROPS up. I don't intend to flip it but given my terrain I would be stupid not to expect it.

 

[1bush2hog]

Nice!!!

Now you get to prune the apple trees /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[California]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Good thing you were taking your time and going slow because hitting that tree with any speed would have been ugly )</font>

Thanks for the comments!

For that tree 0 mph wasn't slow enough. Working from the terrace above the tree and probing that jungle with the loader I discovered that big horizontal limb, the one with the brace, by ripping off a loader hose.

For the 'curl' hydraulic cylinders I wish Great Bend had used hoses entering on the side rather than on the front edge.

But repair was simple. I was down a little more than an hour to get and replace the $5 elbow between the hose and the curl cylinder. I bought a second elbow to carry in the toobox - this probably isn't the last one I'll break.

 

[Jimbrown]

I been trying to grow black berries for three years and you are cutting them down. Makes me cry.

 

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I been trying to grow black berries for three years and you are cutting them down. Makes me cry. )</font>

I know what ya mean. There's no danger of my thornless blackberry plants taking over! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif