Pull 3” saplings or Bush Hog them?

[Hay Dude]

I have replaced 2 sets of PTO clutches. Its a decent size job in terms of time and cost.
3” saplings with a bush hog are tough on a 45-55HP tractor with a small PTO box.

 

[Torvy]

^truth!

Chainsaws are fine for a handful of trees. Clearing a 7 years+ overgrown 15 acre field is another matter altogether.

Flail mowers will eat the smaller trees and not leave the same stump problem, but 3 inches you are asking for trouble. It's not just the size, but the lack of flexibility.

 

[Hay Dude]

^truth!

Chainsaws are fine for a handful of trees. Clearing a 7 years+ overgrown 15 acre field is another matter altogether.

Flail mowers will eat the smaller trees and not leave the same stump problem, but 3 inches you are asking for trouble. It's not just the size, but the lack of flexibility.

Yep.

I am able to cut 3-4” trees with my CX-15 as long as it’s attached to a tractor with a big a$$ on it.

You guys would be shocked to see how small your PTO clutches are.


A Tree Cutter actually cuts the tree down whereas a bush hog “hacks” it down. A tree cutter is much easier because you are backing a rotary blade squarely into the tree to cut it down.

A bush hog pushes the tree over, then hacks it to pieces, which is great, IF you have a large/heavy built tractor.

 

[Dunno]

Here they are. I went through with my BCS sickle bar cutter on one edge as much as possible and as mentioned, did leave a lot of punji sticks. I will have to avoid that area now. I will also be dealing with some large stump piles to move later that have been there for years but still hard. Based on your advice I will not be tackling the small trees with the BH, too much risk of damaging it and tractor. So, will instead look hard at the tree puller. I’d considered the forestry mulcher but expensive to buy. Better to rent, but this will be a long term removal. Thought about a flail mower, but nothing in my price range to be able to take down larger stuff. I will think about it for a bit, and maybe hire someone to do the initial re-clear with proper equipment and then maintain with BH. Good info, much appreciated.

 

[nyone]

Have you thought about renting a mini Ex for a few days? 3in trees you can swipe around the bottom of the trunk with the teeth and grab it with the thumb while plucking them out. Then just make a row of trees to clean up with your machine later.

Yes 15ac is going to be alot but I guess leaving it for 7yrs was a bit to long. If you want easy then wight a check and pay someone.

 

[DarkBlack]

3 “ diameter is valuable firewood in my opinion.
I’d chainsaw and buck up the 3” trees and use or sell them as firewood.
When you get the bigger stuff out, then brush hog the remaining saplings

I don’t see bashing your tractor and brush hog over those bigger ones as worth the potential damage to your machinery.

 

[ruffdog]

If it were me, I would save the hassle and have someone run a mulch head through there. It will look like a flail mower went over it. Then you can mow it every couple of years.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'd get prices to have it mulched by a forestry mulcher. They can grind them up to where they won't be a nuisance. A rotary brush cutter really isn't designed to do that and you could tear up your tractor in the process.

 

[Carl_NH]

Agree on the mulching approach - however from the pictures it looks like you could do a lot of the areas of brambles and smaller stuff with the BH leaving the trees and shrubs for the mulcher.

Of course if you don't know what's out there (bigger stumps or rocks lurking in the underbrush) mulching the entire field area may be lower cost than damaging your BH.

 

[4570Man]

3” saplings are hard on a tractor mower. If you had a heavy duty skid steer mower it wouldn’t be so bad. But a rotary mower won’t grind stuff that big very cleanly and you still have stumps in the ground. A skid steer mulcher will grind them finer but you still have a mess of mulch plus the stumps. I’d go with the puller approach. A CTL with a puller will make fast work of 3” trees.