Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions?

   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #61  
Like Creamer said I also suggest and personally use a sickle bar mower. I use a Superior 394 Sickle Bar mower (converted to hydraulic adjustment) for both my hay field operations (in addition to a disc mower) as well as pond damn cutting, road ditch cuttings and tree limbing. I do take off the swath board/skid shoe that is necessary for hay cuttings. I have cut large diameter (3") maple and sweetgums with it. Do not go fast or it can jam and break a tooth and will require some serious effort to replace on an older model like I have. I have replaced half the teeth and picked up a second tooth bar at a farm auction so I can swap between a fully refreshed bar in my hay fields and the older one for everything else.
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #62  
New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?

Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.

Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.

The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.
I purchased this 6' siclebar mower from Amazon back in 2019 for right at 2k delivered. So far it's been great. It went thru 1" brush easy the first timed I mowed the pond edge. It's an off brand Chinese built unit but the blades and a couple other parts are marked Kubota.
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #63  
New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?

Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.

Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.

The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.


i have the same sort of issue with a small stream running thru my fields my MF has a 3rd function remote so i purchased a Hyd tree / post puller from MTL Attachments for less than $1000 and i pull them out of the ground roots and all
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #64  
New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?

Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.

Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.

The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.
You could alway go with a swisher mower it can be offset right or left or center you can pull it with anything that has a ball or pin type hitch such as a tractor,ATV,or UTV you can get up to 44” and they have their own engine, very versatile!!
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #65  
New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?

Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.

Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.

The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.
New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?

Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.

Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.

The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.
Use Diquat about 30% stronger than recommended. Use in full sun so it dries up on leaves. Spray some at the roots. I use a 15 or 30 gallon hand wand sprayer around my pond. Kills all trees. It that won’t do it, then use RM 43 from Tractor Supply and DO apply it to the roots systems direct stream around the stump. That’ll do it too. Wild or planted growth comes back within a year. But that stump will die. I’m gradually cleaning up around my pond as I type this. The more sun the better in the Diquat. It has to dry in the leaves. The second chemical will soak into the ground and kill the root systems. I do it with my 4x4 abs the tank and battery in the truck bed hanging the wand out the door window of my truck. Works quite well for me. I can kill the crap out if a 20 foot shot to a tall tree. Sure you can use arsonac and a mushetti blade but that’s more work.
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #66  
SmokyDog - thanks for your answer and follow up.
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #67  
"Weedkillers don't last." (a treatment vs prevention w/o Imaz) Neither does mowing. My bank slopes aren't flat enough to use a wide cutting mower of any type. Maintaining cleared banks is one thing, removing trees and brush to clear them is quite different.

As for mowing down to the water, what about wildlife buffer if one doesn't need a lot of beach? How do we best deal with fluctuating water levels? :unsure:
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #68  
Get some exercise with a Stihl FS 91 or 111 with a mulching blade. You'll be able to cut a five foot swath safely as fast as you can walk.
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #69  
New tractor owner looking for some advice. I have an issue around my pond with some plant I can't recognize that likes to grow right on the water's edge. They can get quite large if left unchecked. I let them get a bit out of hand last summer and had to spend many hours with the chainsaw addressing the issue over the winter. Now there's small stumps and the freaking buggers are starting to come back again. I'd rather not have to back a bushhog up and down the bank over and over and larger the batwings seem like a bit much for my needs. Anyone have any suggestions? would a flail work well?

Note, my tractor doesn't have remotes or a 3rd function, but I've considered adding them, if needed.

Also, I'm aware of the laneshark, but I'm seriously wondering if it's worth the price. For most of my cutting needs, a bushhog would work very well. I only need something like this for the pond banks.

The pond is roughly 5 acres. Some of the bank edges have a ~1 - 2' drop to the water.
"Depending on how step the banks are, seems it would be a great spot for an offset flail.

I can't speak directly to the quality of this particular unit, but have a look and see what you think. They are less expensive than I thought when I started looking.

48-in 3-Point Offset Flail Ditch Bank Mower

Best,

ed"

Dirttoys' suggestion looks like the the best solution, Deelowe. A 5 acre pond is a lot of bank footage. That $2,000 will seem cheap after going back and forth backing toward the pond a little at a time with your bushhog. That model says it will handle
Depending on how step the banks are, seems it would be a great spot for an offset flail.

That particular model says. "- Ability to mulch up to 3-inch diameter material" If it will mulch it regularly, you won't have to worry about the "trees" growing back.

'Had to do this around one bank of my pond, only the trunks were around 3-4" and I used a pick axe. 'Got the big ones out and now can mow with a Bad Boy. If my pond were 5 acres I'd have a Flail Mower yesterday.
 
   / Saplings and brush around pond banks. Suggestions? #70  
This is off the topic of the particular plant, yet may be of some help.

In the mountain west, manzanita brush is a major hazard. It can grow over 8' high and even green burns like gasoline.

Per local experts and personal experience, we learned that a cat with a brush rake is NOT the solution. Apparently, the seeds are made viable by scarification or the heat of burning, so while the big brush may be gone, many more little plants will soon restart the problem.

The solution, which has lasted for 20 years here, was Garlon 3A and LOTs of manual labor. Cut the plant at ground level. That's hard on your chainsaw. We ended up using a Sawzall with a small portable generator. As soon as cut, use a small squeeze bottle to apply the Garlon 3A with a dye added so you can see what has been treated, to the cambium layer at the bark/wood interface on the stump. This systematically kills the entire plant. Then stack and burn the plants in the winter.

Be careful with the Garlon. It seems to kill anything that is not a conifer, so I'd recommend that you do not spray it.
 
 
 
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