Dirt Moving How should I clear this brush?

[Slowpoke Slim]

If a member doesn't wish to enter his location, that is his choice. Not yours. Enough already.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Folks sure like to spend other people's money.

My recommendation would be to mow it all down with a brush hog. Then rake out as much of the cuttings and debris with a landscape rake as possible. Then spray it right away. Then be fully prepared to mow it all again in 3-4 weeks to cut down any new shoots that survived the spraying. You may have to do follow up mowing a couple more times to stay ahead of it. Once the grass takes over, it will be less of a challenge, and maybe your "roaming animals" will be able to keep it down.

Much cheaper than renting specialty equipment or hiring a contractor for a single shot visit.

 

[Egon]

Sheep & goats. They will do a very nice job of it.

 

[Diggin It]

Problem is, mowing isn't really an option for me. Pictures may not do justice but the ground is so covered in debris it would be a nightmare to mow through (take a look at the middle photo for reference). I don't own a rider but imagine that's what you all are referring to, given the condition of the ground, you guys think a rider can handle that type of terrain? And what type of sapling diameter can a powerful rider take on, like in the 20-22hp range.

I'm talking about a walk behind field and brush mower. Mine will take a 2-3" sapling. It just pulverizes everything to dust or mulch. There is very little left to dispose of. It's a lot of work to clear an area like that, but I've done it more than once. Repeated mowings with the same machine will make it more manageable over time. Eventually when you get some kind of rider, you'll be in a better position to use that. Problem is, you won't find a decent one for under about $2500.00

This isn't mine, but it's the same machine:

A small tractor with a trailing rotary brush cutter would also help considerably.

You mentioned a brush cutter blade .... does that mean a 2 stroke line trimmer type thing? I can't see accomplishing much with that.

 

[Avenger]

I understand goats love blackberry vine salad. Honeysuckle too if you have that.

This :number1:

Forgo the spraying. You (and your ground) does not need spraying.

Rent a small walk behind mower and mow it down first, but be warned that it is a friggen workout! Tractors with a rotary mower are much better. If you can, post a help wanted ad on Craigslist for tractor work. Someone in your area probably has a tractor with a mower that is more then willing to help out, for a small fee.
Once the brush is mulch, pulse a goat or three though in a paddock shift system (set up 2 or 3 pins, and move them around the area when the area is getting low). These dont need to be YOUR goats. Again, see if anyone in your area has a few goats they'd be willing to bring over for some free food. Goats are really good at eating just about anything. If you wish to own your own, they are great for small homesteads, but do your research first. Goat milk is awesome!

Alternatively, and what I would do with my tractor, is mow it down, then use teeth on the bucket of my FEL to remove the roots the best I can. Take it all the way down to bare earth if possible. Even go as far as rototilling the area. I would use my BH to remove any stumps as well. Stumps are always in the way. I would then seed back with a pasture grass mix of dutch white clover, vetch, fescue and the like. The thought process here is to get a healthy layer of seeds down quick. Nature will fill the vacuum with things like weeds if you don't fill it with beneficial plants first. Once the plants have matured, I would then pulse whatever animal I want though the area on a paddock shift system. You'd be surprised what goat or cow can do to the land, in terms of making it better, if properly managed.

Hope this helps. And good luck.

 

[Avenger]

And I just took a look at the photos of your land. Looks very similar to mine! Only difference is that your land is much flatter!

Swing by my YT channel (link in signature line), I just cleared some land in my latest video, on a steep hill side. You might see what I did to get some ideas.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Didn't you say in your first post that you have a brush cutter. That's what use. After a while you can switch to a riding lawn mower.

gg

 

[MH8675309]

You said something about a grazing area. I have beef cattle and they do a good job on everything from scrub brush to large bushes. Fence them in and let them work - it wont happen over night but they will eventually destroy the better part of the nuisance plants. Mine have good grazing available but still manage to somehow kill some large bushes.

 

[ning]

For blackberries, I typically chain them if a large thick bramble - get a long chain and wrap it around, pull the chain and most of the berries come right out of the ground, and I'm left with a compact mass of berry vines to burn. Most of a thick bramble is dead and dry, the few things that are still alive and sticking out of the ground can be dug out without a lot of effort. Net result: no poisons to you and me, and no more berries. For smaller patches, a ratchet rake will gather it up reasonably well but it's actually easier to deal with if it's a big clump.

If you're dedicated, you can mow it year after year and control it but you can't let the regrowth be unmowed for more than a couple of weeks before it starts replenishing the root's stocks. If you're dedicated, mowing will eventually kill off the root network but I prefer to yank the stuff out and just be done with it now (where I live you see large patches of blackberries taking over meadows and infiltrating forests).

Poison oak: pull it out. Spray it will kill it off till next year; you need to get the root nodules out and you won't see it again. Burn your clothes (mostly joking) and jump right in a cold shower, use a strong dish detergent, and immediately take benadryl so that you don't even start to react.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I was clearing fallen pines this last weekend. Fighting terrible prickly weeds. Is there anything not too environmentally offensive that would kill weeds but leave valuable saplings?

 

[LouNY]

This type of mulcher will give you an excellent finished area if you can get one for rental.
Brushhound - FHX Defender Forestry Mulcher
With a NH location I would expect lots of surface rocks, many forestry mulchers are not for use in rocky areas as the carbide chippers break on rocks and are a charge back on the renter.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Thanks for all the good guidance. Problem is, mowing isn't really an option for me. Pictures may not do justice but the ground is so covered in debris it would be a nightmare to mow through (take a look at the middle photo for reference). I don't own a rider but imagine that's what you all are referring to, given the condition of the ground, you guys think a rider can handle that type of terrain? And what type of sapling diameter can a powerful rider take on, like in the 20-22hp range.

Answering some of the other questions, my location is New Hampshire, cold season is long and I'm JUST starting to get early signs of buds on trees.

Cost. Mini excavator and skid steer are about the same at around $300 a day and $1,100 a week. To this point I've just assumed all the sublevel roots need to be ripped up to control the growth.

Lawn tractor won't do it, you need a rough mower. For just an acre you could use a walk-behind. They are rentable.

You want to mow right now when the brush is still dormant, knock it down to the ground while you can see what's what. It will come back, but as fleshy new growth, which you can mow again. If you hit it every few weeks you can use a regular lawn mower on that stuff. This time of year you can do surprisingly well just walking around with loppers and a saw. Cut off everything that's living at ground level. Pick up everything that's dead, plus what you just cut. Pile it all up and burn it. Pick up any rocks you can pick up and add them to the nearest wall.

If you're in NH I assume your soil is like mine, mostly rocks with a sprinkling of dirt between them. You do not want to disturb the soil, that will just bring rocks to the surface. If you have surface rocks the only tool that will survive is a string trimmer. That's a big area to cut with a trimmer. You want to limit yourself to cutting, mowing, burning and chemicals, no uprooting or moving dirt around. Trust me on this, I've broken three mowers in a day several times.

What kind of debris are you talking about? Is it rocks, logs, stumps, branches? Human-generated junk? Or just uneven ground? Rocks and stumps will break your mower, they need to come out. I don't like digging out stumps because I end up with a whole lot of rocks, so mostly I burn them when I can. Branches you can mow over with a rough mower. Logs won't generally break the mower but need to come out, pile them up and burn them.

 

[Gordon Gould]

^^^ That is good advise from QuickSandFarmer I think ^^^

Black berries are not as persistant in NE as they are in other climates. This flat area where my wife has her asparagus and blue berries was reclaimed from black berries by mowing. You can see the remaining black berries that run down the hill behind the FEL in the first picture. They have turned into raspberries now. The area is a 25 year old log landing and was full of half buried logs. I have done nothing but mow and pull out or cut off at ground level stuff that protruded to high. The grass all came up by itself. What I couldn't cut or pull out I just mowed around until it rotted enough to mow over. I used a rough trail mower at first with the blade as high as I could get it, at least 6" probably, and now the lawn mower. Takes a little work and some time plus a lot of patience but mother nature will help quite a bit if you let her.







gg

 

[mra400ex]

I have done a lot of prep for food plots. From clearing off areas with a small dozer, used a skid steer, etc. As one post says, if your area is rock and bad about erosion you may want to not get to aggresive. I am in Southern Illinois. I have done plots for several different people. No matter what you do you will be battling the roots and seeds.

I have found that a small dozer will clear out things the best. I go thru and pop loose all the larger things, bushes, olives, etc. Then I start to push to the area I will leave them as cover or to burn. When you get a pile or wad of this brush in front of your machine and push it will rake your ground very nicely. Smoother than if you were to use a disk.

If the dozer is too expensive you may want to go the brush hog route. As another poster said. Pick up the debris that you can and chop up the rest. Look on Craigslist under services and see who bush hogs in your area. They should be able to chop up what you show in your pictures in a couple hours. No matter what you do other than a dozer, it requires a lot of physical picking up or gathering.

Having used both a tracked skid steer and a small dozer, the dozer ranks best in my opinion. Also, to burn the debris is always good. All the food plotters I know like to "SPRAY (kill w roundup), BURN, DISK, PLANT" Then once your seed grows you want to cut it at about 8 inches high to keep the weeds out. Once it gets established you will have a beautiful area.

As others have said also. To just bush hog and keep after it will have a lot of the natural grasses start coming back. That may be your best option. If you can find someone to bush hog a couple times a year, you will be amazed how it will start to come back. Also, when you have a light snow going on, you can broadcast the seed as it snows. When the snow melts, the seed will drift into the ground and new grass will come up from that.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hey guys, the back acre of my land is covered in thick brush rendering the whole area useless. Id like to clear it all out leaving just the trees. Not too concerned with leveling, it will house a few animal enclosures and fenced roaming areas. Ive tried maintaining it with a bladed brush cutter, but im left with a mess of tangled (mostly blackberry) roots. And it grows back incredibly fast! I think I need a more powerful approach, hoping to get some guidance onto which would work best. Mini excavator, skid steer or mulcher? Plan to rent one for a few days or week, not plan on pulling any stumps either, just work around them.

Here are a few pictures of the land. What it looks like unmaintained with and without summer growth, then after clearing with my brush cutter (and the useless mess it creates.) any advice would be awesome! Much appreciated, cheers!

-Brad


View attachment 602365View attachment 602366View attachment 602367

Spray blackberries with Crossbow.Use a cat with clearing forks to bulldoze them up with the roots after they die back and burn them.

 

[Bdavide]

Lawn tractor won't do it, you need a rough mower. For just an acre you could use a walk-behind. They are rentable.

You want to mow right now when the brush is still dormant, knock it down to the ground while you can see what's what. It will come back, but as fleshy new growth, which you can mow again. If you hit it every few weeks you can use a regular lawn mower on that stuff. This time of year you can do surprisingly well just walking around with loppers and a saw. Cut off everything that's living at ground level. Pick up everything that's dead, plus what you just cut. Pile it all up and burn it. Pick up any rocks you can pick up and add them to the nearest wall.

If you're in NH I assume your soil is like mine, mostly rocks with a sprinkling of dirt between them. You do not want to disturb the soil, that will just bring rocks to the surface. If you have surface rocks the only tool that will survive is a string trimmer. That's a big area to cut with a trimmer. You want to limit yourself to cutting, mowing, burning and chemicals, no uprooting or moving dirt around. Trust me on this, I've broken three mowers in a day several times.

What kind of debris are you talking about? Is it rocks, logs, stumps, branches? Human-generated junk? Or just uneven ground? Rocks and stumps will break your mower, they need to come out. I don't like digging out stumps because I end up with a whole lot of rocks, so mostly I burn them when I can. Branches you can mow over with a rough mower. Logs won't generally break the mower but need to come out, pile them up and burn them.

If I were to use a walk-behind to chop the bulk of the growth down, wouldn't thicker saplings (near 2") grow back in the same diameter and be too big for a standard rider mower when I came back? Forgive my lack of knowledge if those saplings won't grow back in the same thickness. The brush cutter I was referring to is a handheld, like a wired trimmer but has a tri-blade instead. Cuts through all sorts of stuff but clearing the whole area is a multi-day process.

 

[Bdavide]

Lawn tractor won't do it, you need a rough mower. For just an acre you could use a walk-behind. They are rentable.

You want to mow right now when the brush is still dormant, knock it down to the ground while you can see what's what. It will come back, but as fleshy new growth, which you can mow again. If you hit it every few weeks you can use a regular lawn mower on that stuff. This time of year you can do surprisingly well just walking around with loppers and a saw. Cut off everything that's living at ground level. Pick up everything that's dead, plus what you just cut. Pile it all up and burn it. Pick up any rocks you can pick up and add them to the nearest wall.

If you're in NH I assume your soil is like mine, mostly rocks with a sprinkling of dirt between them. You do not want to disturb the soil, that will just bring rocks to the surface. If you have surface rocks the only tool that will survive is a string trimmer. That's a big area to cut with a trimmer. You want to limit yourself to cutting, mowing, burning and chemicals, no uprooting or moving dirt around. Trust me on this, I've broken three mowers in a day several times.

What kind of debris are you talking about? Is it rocks, logs, stumps, branches? Human-generated junk? Or just uneven ground? Rocks and stumps will break your mower, they need to come out. I don't like digging out stumps because I end up with a whole lot of rocks, so mostly I burn them when I can. Branches you can mow over with a rough mower. Logs won't generally break the mower but need to come out, pile them up and burn them.

The debris are a combination of naturally downed branches, small trees and the remains of my clearing out the area with the bladed trimmer. It's too big to rake handheld and way too much volume to move by hand. This seems like the biggest problem, if I had all the dead sh#t out of the way I'd have a much easier time with a walkbehind and eventually a rider. But as it sits, no way anything short of a tractor is rolling through there.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

The debris are a combination of naturally downed branches, small trees and the remains of my clearing out the area with the bladed trimmer. It's too big to rake handheld and way too much volume to move by hand. This seems like the biggest problem, if I had all the dead sh#t out of the way I'd have a much easier time with a walkbehind and eventually a rider. But as it sits, no way anything short of a tractor is rolling through there.

Can you burn in place? Can you go around the perimeter of the whole area and establish a cleared path that fire can't jump? Then you can be more liberal with fire on the inside, if you accidentally set the whole thing on fire it's mission accomplished.

I would do a bunch of small fires, and feed them as you go rather than building big piles and burning them all at once. It depends on what's legal where you are. Just walk through an area, if you can pick it up throw it on a fire, if you can't pick it up pile some brush on it and burn it where it sits. Sometimes you can start a fire at one end of an area and work your way to the other by feeding it as you go. If you get a good bed of coals going just about anything wood will burn, even if it's green.

Just be careful about the fire getting out of control.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

If I were to use a walk-behind to chop the bulk of the growth down, wouldn't thicker saplings (near 2") grow back in the same diameter and be too big for a standard rider mower when I came back? Forgive my lack of knowledge if those saplings won't grow back in the same thickness. The brush cutter I was referring to is a handheld, like a wired trimmer but has a tri-blade instead. Cuts through all sorts of stuff but clearing the whole area is a multi-day process.

Most things that grow in New England will send out leaves first if you cut them off. When it's just leaves you can knock it back with a mower or a weed wacker, it takes a few months for woody shoots to grow. If you keep mowing the leaves some of them give up and die, but some things, like cherries and wild rose seem like you can mow them forever and they keep coming back. For things that will come back the best thing is to paint the stump with herbicide right after cutting, it gets absorbed by the sap into the roots and kills the plant dead.

Another technique is to cut the plant off at ground level, let it re-sprout, and spray the sprout with herbicide. That will kill it dead and the resprout will be a lot smaller and weaker than the original and easier to kill. Once it's dead cut it off again.

 

[cathy liebchen]

Can you burn in place? Can you go around the perimeter of the whole area and establish a cleared path that fire can't jump? Then you can be more liberal with fire on the inside, if you accidentally set the whole thing on fire it's mission accomplished.

I would do a bunch of small fires, and feed them as you go rather than building big piles and burning them all at once. It depends on what's legal where you are. Just walk through an area, if you can pick it up throw it on a fire, if you can't pick it up pile some brush on it and burn it where it sits. Sometimes you can start a fire at one end of an area and work your way to the other by feeding it as you go. If you get a good bed of coals going just about anything wood will burn, even if it's green.

Just be careful about the fire getting out of control.

Here you can get the State to control burn the areas pretty cheaply. Its $30 an acre plus the dozer time for the firebreaks. That will consume all of the ground debris