Thinning out pines

[TNTractor1]

I have a section of my property that is overgrown with small pine trees... probably half an acre. The trees are right on top of each other. It's so thick you can't walk through it. Tree height ranges from 3 ft to 10 ft tall, with the average being 6 or 7 ft. There's a lot of them! I'd like to thin them out quite a bit, but am not sure of the best way to do it. The only tools I have are some big limb loppers and my JD 2520 with FEL. I thought about just doing it by hand with the loppers. I'd like to end up leaving one tree about every 10 feet. Appreciate any advice.

 

[vic4news]

I suggest that you add a small chainsaw to your tools. It will come in handy down the road as well.

Vic

 

[TNTractor1]

Actually, I failed to mention I do have a chainsaw, but it has a 20" bar, so it seemed like overkill for these green saplings. I also want to cut them as close to the ground as possible or pull them out? Thanks

 

[PossumHound]

I don't think you need to root the pines out completely. Generally speaking, pines do not send up shoots from cut stumps or roots. If your loppers are massive enough to cut the 10' trees then it would be a good tool for cutting the trees level with the soil, but I suspect you'll need to use the saw for at least some of the larger trees.

PH

 

[redsox1]

I'd suggest using your tractor w/ a chain and "brush grabber" type tool (see Harbor Freight) and pulling them out roots and all. Pines that size will pull right out. If you have a helper then you stay in the tractor seat and he/she can keep reattaching to the next tree after pulling. It'll go much quicker then you might think and then you won't have to deal w/ stumps and/or roots in the future. I bet you could do a 1/2 ac in one day. Good luck w/ it!

 

[smstonypoint]

Another alternative -- a brushcutter equipped with a brush or chisel-tooth blade, depending on the diameter of the pines you are cutting. You can cut the pines close to the ground without stooping/kneeling. Here's a recent discussion of the relative merits of various brands:http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...-beastly-brush-cutter-tanaka.html#post2431523

Steve

 

[MossRoad]

I have a section of my property that is overgrown with small pine trees... probably half an acre. The trees are right on top of each other. It's so thick you can't walk through it. Tree height ranges from 3 ft to 10 ft tall, with the average being 6 or 7 ft. There's a lot of them! I'd like to thin them out quite a bit, but am not sure of the best way to do it. The only tools I have are some big limb loppers and my JD 2520 with FEL. I thought about just doing it by hand with the loppers. I'd like to end up leaving one tree about every 10 feet. Appreciate any advice.

You should be able to push over those trees and pop them out with your FEL if they are that small, I would think.

Just make a row through them, leave a row standing, make another row, leave a row. Then go back on at a 90 degree angle and make perpendicular rows, like a checkerboard. Eventually, you will end up with trees 10' on center.

 

[clemsonfor]

Forget the tractor unless you do like moss road said. I would rent a big @$$ weedeater, those massive stihl ones and get a bever blade for it. This is what the pros use to pre-commercial thin (which is what your doing). The blade looks like a circle saw blade with a chainsaw chain along the perimiter of it. Or the plain ole sawblade for them will work too. You need the big weedeater or you will cuss and think its a waste of time. You will be done in no time. You want to just pic the best tree every 10 feet or so, if its 8 feet fine you just want the biggest tree. Your chainsaw is overkill and will kill your back. Trust me i know i have done some of this and it hurt me and i was in my early 20s then.

You dont say were you live but if your in the south talking about southern yellow pines, you can use a chain saw and just make sure you cut below the lowest branch even if thats at waist height. This keeps you from bending over and the rest will rot out in 1-2 years to nothing and you wont know it was there. Of course more will replace it or sweetgums will so unless you bushhog it every year or spray herbicide every 2 there is not much point on a 1/2 acre. Just the nature of the beast.

Im a southern forester. We contract a good bit of this stuff out on our failed plantations, and reforestations where we get thousands of trees per acre.

 

[Western]

You should be able to push over those trees and pop them out with your FEL if they are that small, I would think.

Just make a row through them, leave a row standing, make another row, leave a row. Then go back on at a 90 degree angle and make perpendicular rows, like a checkerboard. Eventually, you will end up with trees 10' on center.

X's 2, Shouldn't be any problem for your FEL.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Some good suggestions above.

I have done this several times on sections of my property. I bought a couple of saw blades for my weedeater and it worked great, for the larger pines I used the chainsaw. I start at the back of a section and work towards the front so the tops of the pines are laying on the bottom of the pine I just cut. They don't get all tangled up that way. Then I rent a chipper, pull it behind the tractor and chip them up. Starting at the front and working my way back. In the past I would cut all down one day and rent the chipper the next week for a day. A half acer should not take long to complete. Hire you a teenager to help with the chipping!

Just another option.

 

[Pilot]

Clemsonfor is almost right on. When I bought my 10 acres it had about 7 acres of Scotch broom, some of it old growth Scotch broom, up to 3 inches on the butt and the only tall one I measured was 12'--some were taller. Thousands per acre. I didn't have a tractor back then.

Got the largest weedeater I could find/afford and went at them. Swept it back and forth in front of me like a mine detector. Large stuff, I reved the machine and swung hard & it went thru them like, well, not like butter, but pretty well. If you let it just saw thru it takes longer, but hitting them with the engine reved it chops thru in a second or less.

For your situation I'd find a good tree, stand with my back to it and attack everything in a circle in front of me.

As I said, Clemsonfor is almost right on. For the price of a weedeater you can get a spring tooth cultivator for the tractor ($300-400 on local Craigslist!). Or better yet, borrow one. Drag it thru taking out swath after swath. Just be sure to keep a little distance from the trees you want to save so you don't damage their roots. Then go across at 90 degrees. After that, you'll have very few trees to clip with your loppers.

 

[Steve IA]

Depending on the species of pine, 10' between each mature tree may still be too thick to walk through. My plantation of scotch pine on a 10x10 grid grew into a jungle in about 10 years. Natural die off has left about 1/2 which I'm filling in with hardwood seedlings. On the other hand a very thick stand as you describe makes a visual barrier, a great windbreak and habitat for all kinds of birds and land critters. Unless I needed to walk through it I'd consider just leaving it. But that's just me. Good luck.

Steve

 

[clemsonfor]

Depending on the species of pine, 10' between each mature tree may still be too thick to walk through. My plantation of scotch pine on a 10x10 grid grew into a jungle in about 10 years. Natural die off has left about 1/2 which I'm filling in with hardwood seedlings. On the other hand a very thick stand as you describe makes a visual barrier, a great windbreak and habitat for all kinds of birds and land critters. Unless I needed to walk through it I'd consider just leaving it. But that's just me. Good luck.

Steve

Thats why species here is important. Also these trees sound like there spaced about 5000 per acre cutting them back to 430/acre or 10x10 will leave plenty of room for the tops to grow togeather. Now there is no way they hae big tops since there are so many competing, as they have room to grow the tops will grow into the space, shading the ground and in subsequent years allow a commercial harvest back to a manageble number of trees for the given size. This is forestry in a nutshel. Nature does the same thing on a slower pace and not often best for maximized tree growth. Those thick pine will either be ripped down by ice heavy winds of bug infestation, some will survive and be the larger trees in the future. The ones that were killed will be replaced. Trees will also outcompete others causeing them to die from lack of something wether it be nutients water but in most cases sunlight.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Depending on how much of a hurry you are in, you might rent a PTO flail mower for your tractor, set the bucket low, and just drive a checkerboard pattern. A flail mower will handle any wood up to 4" with no problem, and take it right down to ground level. That would also solve the problem of what to do with all the clippings, since you will spend more time hauling and stacking saplings than you will spend actually cutting if you decide to do it by hand.

 

[clemsonfor]

We still DONT know where this guy lives. If it is in the south, there is no way i would chip the material up, the stuff will be rotted down in 2 summers where you cant barely tell anything was there, one year you wont notice it. Its not like your gonna be taking walks in this jungle area anyway. I have cut several areas like this in the ege of my fields, here in SC. In 2 growing seasons its back 15 foot tall thicker than the first time.

The pine wont resprout but there will be others that seed in and the sweetgum in the south grows everywhere.

 

[TNTractor1]

Thanks for all the replies. I live in Tennessee. These appear to be your common southern pines... Not sure the technical name.

 

[clemsonfor]

Thanks for all the replies. I live in Tennessee. These appear to be your common southern pines... Not sure the technical name.

You can have:

Loblolly
Shortleaf
White pine (depending on where in TN)(also not really classified as a yellow pine)
Virginia


Other southern Yellow pines are:
Longleaf
Slash
Sonderegger (cross loblolly/longleaf)
Pond
Sand (not really commercial)

 

[25002500]

Clemsonfor:

I am looking at property about an hour South of Augusta Ga on sandy loam and loamy sand, mostly scrub pine and scrub oak 1-6 inch diameter.

what is the best, most cost effective way to cut trails through the property?

if the 1-4 inch stumps rot out on a season or two what is the best way to flush cut them to the soil?

 

[IronHog]

I have a section of my property that is overgrown with small pine trees... probably half an acre. The trees are right on top of each other. It's so thick you can't walk through it. Tree height ranges from 3 ft to 10 ft tall, with the average being 6 or 7 ft. There's a lot of them! I'd like to thin them out quite a bit, but am not sure of the best way to do it. The only tools I have are some big limb loppers and my JD 2520 with FEL. I thought about just doing it by hand with the loppers. I'd like to end up leaving one tree about every 10 feet. Appreciate any advice.

Put "rows" in the pines with a bush hog. Half an acres isn't much.....go slow and backwards if you hafta......... I've done this on several old fields that were growing up in pines.........the rows let the pines get up and make better trees.

or

Use a pole saw, chainsaw, etc to put the rows in by hand like a precommerical thinning crew does on industrial pine plantations that are too thick.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I did a ROW for a company I worked for that we couldnt rake with a loader. We had about 25 acres like you described. It had to have a 5.5 to 6 foot spacing tillthe first major thinning. We went and bought 3 new Stihl Brush Cutters with a carbide blade. In about 3 days it was done. We left the sapplings laying one way on the ground. I came in with my YM 3000 yanmar and 5 foot brushhog and chopped the branches off and left the stems. The tops made great mulch and eroision control material and the stems helped hold down new growth. About a year later I returned to the site and the stems had just about rotted out.


At work at the landfill we use a pole saw to cut sapplings off on our park project. The only thing they bind some and the saws wear alot mor cutting off at ground level. Also it dull pretty fast. I was amazed at the speed of the rotary cutters we use on the first site.