Processing of locust trees

[greystone2]

Thanks to all of you for the thoughts on the locust removal. It sounds like I might be able to use a chipper/shredder if I use the smaller plates for the discharge. Those of you that have had success with destroying the thorns with chipper /shredders -what size discharge plate were you using 1/2", 3/4", 1"? Alternatively, I might get by with a slow feed of material into a chipper as PKS suggests, as I was planning a slow deliberate approach as well. Do you think I could simply hand feed the material slowly and have the same effect? Also, I was wondering if you had experienced the need for increased sharpening of knives, as was suggested, with such a hard wood. I understand that burning may take less energy and effort but I was hoping to clear them and use the material for bedding or mulch (without putting the tire guy's kid through college /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

 

[chilibit]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I have a lot of those thorny locust trees on my place. The best way I have come up with to safely get rid of them is to use the chainsaw and cut a ring all the way around the tree, and then just wait a couple of years for it to die. The thorns then dry up and become brittle. When you step or drive on them they just break up in to small pieces. I still can get thorns stuck in my tires or boots but they are just not as tough after they dry out for awhile. Then I burn everything and just rake the whole area around the tree, right onto the fire. Any smaller trees in the area I just cut down green and throw them on the fire too. )</font>


I too have a few. But they are 40+ feet high and 2 feet in diameter. I have been puzzling over it for a bit. I was leaning toward a heavy bulldozer but worried that the operator could get killed even in cage. Do the thorns start dropping as the tree dies? It would be like a minefield 60 feet across. How deep was the cut?

 

[Birdman]

chilibit
Some of my trees are big too. Yes some of the thorns do drop as the tree dies and of course a lot of them come off when the tree is cut down and hits the ground. The cut is not real deep, maybe one or two inches deep, depending on the dia. of the tree.

 

[LBrown59]

1* <font color="blue"> pasture was allowed to grow up in trees over the past few years.
</font>
<font color="purple"> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ </font>
1*Same bad mistake I made - but it taught me brush hogging or mowing is a lot cheeper quicker and easier than tree grubbing.



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