Sagebrush Has to go. Whats the easiest way to clear 10 acres?

[Silvic]

Even if you don't do the entire 10 acres soon at least clear a good 150 -200 ft radius form the house site for "firewise"
NFPA - Firewise USA™

The posting above of Scotch broom is in a very young stage. An more mature flowering stage would be like this.

 

[ericm979]

We have broom here. Also coyotebrush. Up to an inch or two the regular rotary cutter can handle it. Over that I cut it with a chain saw and chip it. Yes that takes time. You can buy heavier duty rotary cutters or rotary brush cutters. Those are expensive but cheaper than a PTO forestry mulcher. example: BaumaLight - Brush Cutt 3 Point Hitch Models

the same company makes small 3pt mulchers. But even with your HP those probably will not handle 5" stems. (Baumalight has a chart).

 

[flingwing1969]

We have broom here. Also coyotebrush. Up to an inch or two the regular rotary cutter can handle it. Over that I cut it with a chain saw and chip it. Yes that takes time. You can buy heavier duty rotary cutters or rotary brush cutters. Those are expensive but cheaper than a PTO forestry mulcher. example: BaumaLight - Brush Cutt 3 Point Hitch Models

the same company makes small 3pt mulchers. But even with your HP those probably will not handle 5" stems. (Baumalight has a chart).

Yup - I was on the Santa Clara Co side, between Morgan Hill and Aptos.

 

[lowriderb]

Here's some pics. This is just one of three areas.

 

[hawkeye08]

Re: Scotchbroom Has to go. Whats the easiest way to clear 10 acres?

I was told you cant mow sagebrush with a brushhog I was told my our rental outfit over here. There stringy/dry trees up to 5" in diameter.

In the mid 70s, I mowed 300 acres of sage brush with a Case 400 tractor and John Deere rotary mower. It was near Mattawa, WA (south of you) and our land had up to 6" diameter sage brush and much of it 6 feet tall. It was slow going and with an open station, I wore long sleeves and eye protection. Sometimes the debris would fly a hundred feet when a big piece would go under the deck... I got hit in the back often but we kept at it, dawn to dark 7 days a week until done. We made do with what we had. That new ground grew some awesome potatoes. We didn't have any rocks and the soil was sandy loam.. fond memories of that time.

 

[flingwing1969]

We are having that common name problem here. What Silvic posted may be called "sagebrush" in various locals and would be correct there, but is is an invasive species native to the French Azores commonly called French Broom and is, botanically, Genista monspessulana. It is what I was talking about.

What I showed as sagebrush (top photo) is what we called it when I lived in the Nevada desert near Reno, some people also call it grease wood and it is botanically, Artemisia spp (not to be confused with sage, which is a salvia, as is mint). It also grows in eastern Washington and Oregon.

 

[flingwing1969]

View attachment 546178View attachment 546179View attachment 546178

And yes, that is sagebrush or Artemisia spp. Quite aromatic when crushed. Much easier to deal with than broom - especially since most of the seeds are only viable for a year, a few for two or three years but nothing like the up to 50 year viability of the broom seeds. Once you pull it up, you won't have a real problem dealing with it.

Back to the problem of getting rid of it, the Piranha tooth bar should easily hook the trunk and pull them out. Except that some may break off due to them being quit brittle, especially during the dry season.

 

[lowriderb]

piranha teeth is all I can see working. It would take years to do all these one by one. They do seem to come out. Just not with the bucket or 3 pt rake though. Talk about fire danger. it can rain one day and a day later this stuff still lights up like a torch. It does smell good working around it although there's ticks everywhere in it.

 

[flingwing1969]

piranha teeth is all I can see working. It would take years to do all these one by one. They do seem to come out. Just not with the bucket or 3 pt rake though. Talk about fire danger. it can rain one day and a day later this stuff still lights up like a torch. It does smell good working around it although there's ticks everywhere in it.

For ticks, get some guinea hens - they are pretty wild really but will take to a house for roosting if you train them to it for a month or so before free ranging them - they LOVE ticks.

I do believe you are right on the tooth bar - heck I don't have one but I'm really going to be getting one. We have quite a bit of manzanita on the highway right of way near my house and I think it will work well. I have a 4n1 bucket and use it to pull the manzanita out now, open the jaws wide - put it down over the large plant - close the jaws - do a bit of a back and forth - and pull up. This would not work with your plants as they would snap off when the jaws closed on them and then you'd have to deal with the stumps and roots.

Best of luck to you. I can smell the plants as you talk about them - ah rattlesnake hunting when I was a kid, what fun we had.

 

[Silvic]

We are having that common name problem here. What Silvic posted may be called "sagebrush" in various locals and would be correct there, but is is an invasive species native to the French Azores commonly called French Broom and is, botanically, Genista monspessulana. It is what I was talking about.

What I showed as sagebrush (top photo) is what we called it when I lived in the Nevada desert near Reno, some people also call it grease wood and it is botanically, Artemisia spp (not to be confused with sage, which is a salvia, as is mint). It also grows in eastern Washington and Oregon.

I agree what the OP has, based on his photo, is sagebrush.
The photos that I posted have never been referred to as sagebrush anywhere that I am familiar with and is definitely Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) not French Broom which is different species.
French broom is a Class A Noxious Weed in Washington.
Scotch broom is listed as a Class B noxious weed in Washington.
French broom can be distinguished from Scotch broom by its brown stems, leaves always in threes (some Scotch broom leaves are single), smaller flowers, and seed pods entirely covered by hairs (Scotch broom pods are only hairy on the edges)