clearing land in Florida

[pokerboy57]

I'm brand new to tractors and land clearing. We recently purchased property in central florida which has lots of palmetto and god awful vines on some of it. I recently purchased a JD 3320 with a FEL and a Howse 5' bush hog to cut the parts of the property which are planted with bahia and weeds. I need advise which implement(s) to purchase which will help me remove the vines and palmettos, clean up the roots and level off the soil so I can plant bahia grass seed on the remainder of this jungle. I was looking at a landscape rake and box blade but have no real clue if these are the right implements for this type of work. The palmettos are 6 feet tall some with branches as big as my leg. I learned what a sheer bolt was on my first day with the tractor after hitting one of these with my bush hog. I'm afraid that the Palmettos won't go quietly into that good night.... Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[MarkV]

Welcome to the forum Pokerboy57. If your Palmetto's are what we called Saw Palmetto's in the Florida panhandle, sharp teeth on the leaves that will easily cut skin, bring in a dozer to clear them. Those things will eat you up trying to clear them with a small tractor. They grow in clumps with a root system that ties together with the adjoining plants and are hard to clear out. Good luck.

MarkV

 

[pokerboy57]

MarkV you described the Palmettos so well as I am sitting at my breakfast table looking at the cuts on my legs... I thought about the bulldozer as well just to gather the palmettos into a burn pile and then take care of leveling , etc with the tractor. I wasn't ready to give up on doing it myself without a fight. **** it's the American way.... It's not that much land, about 3-4 acres and 2 are already cleared and have grass on it. Between the vines and the palmettos it's like NAM out there in spots. I'm also trying to preserve the pines and oaks so my plan is to clear around them. I think what I really need is a controlled fire..

 

[MarkV]

I think those rascals can be somewhat controlled by burning. Check with your county extension agent and see what they say. There are herbicide treatments that would kill them and make removal easier.

MarkV

 

[leonz]

you also might want to consider hiring a land clearing dozer with a grinder or hammer knife head from a local logger- there are a couple of loggers in Georgia that have the Fecon tracked land clearers( very small tracked units) that travel to Florida from what I remember that do this work and girdling the palmetto will speed up the process for sure.

 

[skipmarcy]

This is what I did for a living for a couple years in Indian River & Brevard counties with my tractor. If you're talking about relatively small areas, you can do it with your tractor but if you're talking say, 1/2 acre or more it would be wise to get heavier equipment. I used both my loader bucket and boxblade to get palmettos out - it will work you and your tractor pretty hard but if you take your time it can be done just fine. Alot of my customers for this type of work had established homes/yards in residential communities where it wasn't possible to get a bulldozer or other large equip. into their back yards. You can forget about grinding/mulching that stuff up yourself, not possible without huge, commercial equipment. Better plan on hauling it away or digging a big hole and burying it - bury it deep or it will grow back. I had a dump trailer that I used to haul it away for customers. Doing this type of work with your loader & boxblade will definitely teach you the art of using your tractor !!!

 

[clemsonfor]

Fire will deffinitly control them. Brown and burn would be best. Its what we call in the forestry industry when you apply herbicide wait till brown and burn the devil out of it, usually in the hot part of summer. If you burn you need bare dirt around your land to keep the fire in. Call the county forestry guy and see what th e county will burn it for, they usually have a minimum that is cost prohibitive for your size thing. But watch out the waxy cuticle on palmettos once the fire is hot enough will cause those things to burn like deisel fuel making thick black smoke, and if the larger pines or oaks are low enough will catch the crowns on fire causing the fire to "crown out" killing your large trees most likely. Fire will control, not get rid of but kknock them back, but its a constant thing every other year you must burn it if you dont mow. And those largest saw palmettos that crawl across the ground case they fell over from being top heavy might not be hurt by fire at first attempt.

 

[pokerboy57]

Thanks everyone for your advise you have certainly given me lots to consider. I have been avoiding the Palmettos and concertrating on getting the vines out of the pine trees. So far the tractor and a strong rope have done the job. I have been able to tie a know around the vines going up a tree and then backing up until I rip then down. I think I'll stick to the vine clearing and dead tree dropping for now as this is the main eye sore. ALl of a sudden the Palmettos (clumps that they are) don't seem so bad.

 

[JohninCT]

I think you are probably on the right track. Do as much as you can by pulling down and mowing with your tractor. Then when you need to attack the heavier stuff you can rent an excavator to rip out the palmettos and bury them and all the other junk you may have piled up. Or push/carry all the stuff to a clear area and burn it if that's safe where you're at. Then you can use a boxblade to smooth up and level out the site and plant your grass.

 

[jeff9366]

I use a clamp-on Bucket Spade on my FEL bucket. Bucket Spade will dig out regular size mature Palmettos in less than one minute.

Monsters may take five minutes.

LINK:

Tractor and Skidsteer bucket spade shovel