Getting rid of mesquite

[bdog]

I bought a place in west Texas and have about 80 acres that were once a cotton field, then CRP, then go and is now over grown with mostly mesquites and some juniper. The junipers are easy enough to dig out with the dozer but the mesquites are a different story. I would say 90% of them are less than 1 in diameter but they are over head high and so thick you can barely walk through them. Dozing them out is very difficult. I can snap them off at the surface no problem but trying to get the root stops my little dozer. I can eventually get them out but it will take a lifetime to get them all at this pace.

I talked with some people and they recommended aerial spraying as the best option but I am hesitant to do that as I don稚 want to kill them all. This place is primarily for hunting. I want to thin them out not have a parking lot. There are some pretty good chemicals to kill them that I read about but can you mow them down first? I have a skid steer mounted heavy duty shredder that will eat them up. Could I go through and do this now while they are dormant and then wait until the spring when they resprout from the roots and spray them then and get effective kill? I am thinking this would logistically be the easiest as I could mow now with my tracked skid steer (no flats) and then rig up a spray rig on my skid steer and go spray the areas I mowed once they start growing.

 

[mwayne]

This may not answer your question directly as my place is not as big and my mesquite problem was not as bad. For the size trees you have I found cutting them off at ground level with a sawzall and applying 15% Remedy with diesel to be by far the most effective, even doing it during dormant season. More effort up front but then you are done. Then make small piles and use your attachment to grind the piles down.
I tried to cut the trees down with a rotary cutter and then immediately spray but that was not at all effective because the tree base shatters and it is impossible to thoroughly apply the Remedy solution.
A guy who clears power lines for a living told me if you cut them with a machine then wait a year before spraying and spray during the peak growing season.
Good luck!

 

[oosik]

I have 80 acres. My ONLY trees are Ponderosa pines. Every spring I go out to my stands of young pines and - identify, cut, drag to pile and chip young pines. This is a process of selective reduction. The pines I cut will be from 1" to 6" on the butt. This results in 900 to 1200 young pines being chipped every spring.

The REALLY DIFFICULT part - dragging these cut pines out of the stands and piling them up. When I'm done cutting the selected pines from a stand it will look like a gigantic game of Pick Up Sticks. Pines laying all over each other and in all directions. Tripping and falling while dragging is a foregone conclusion. I've pretty much learned how to fall and not injure myself.

You might want to consider clearing critical trails throughout your property first. Then go in - off these trails - selectively thin. Having open trails may make the entire process easier.

From what I know about mesquite - it's a lot like Russian Olive. Pretty twisted and many varieties have LARGE spiky thorns.

 

[AWSubie]

I agree with mwayne. If u don’t want to do aerial spraying then the best way I’ve found is cut them off at the base and drizzle glyphosate (roundup) full strength on the base.

 

[Xfaxman]

I did an image search on clearing mesquite and a lot of Grubbers showed up that would work on your CTL:

Here is an old thread: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...ent/311893-does-grubbing-mesquite-work-2.html


This squeeze type tree puller would work also: Buckthorn Puller - Custom built Skid Steer attachments to fit almost any need you may have.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you do not poison them, any of the roots left in the ground will create more trees.

 

[bdog]

Thanks. I will probably buy one of those grubbers. These areas would be hard to grub though. The trees are so thick. An area the size of a pickup might have a dozen or more.

I know I need to poison them what I am wondering is if I mow them down first to make a passable trail and then spray them with a boom if it will be effective at all. I am sure it wouldn't work as good as manually cutting one and manually spraying the base but I figure even if I have to repeat the spraying a dozen times it would be far faster than doing it any other way.

 

[AWSubie]

Thanks. I will probably buy one of those grubbers. These areas would be hard to grub though. The trees are so thick. An area the size of a pickup might have a dozen or more.

I know I need to poison them what I am wondering is if I mow them down first to make a passable trail and then spray them with a boom if it will be effective at all. I am sure it wouldn't work as good as manually cutting one and manually spraying the base but I figure even if I have to repeat the spraying a dozen times it would be far faster than doing it any other way.

I think that if you mow them you will wind up with dozens of tire popping spears, ask me how I know.

 

[radios1]

maybe advertise "free mesquite you cut" it's great for barbecues!..

 

[EddieWalker]

From what I read when looking into this a few years ago, spraying them when they are actively growing is the most effective way to get rid of them. Spring time when everything else is starting to grow after winter. Then you have to wait a month or two, so it's all dead, all the way down to the roots.

Mowing the new shoots will encourage the roots to send up additional trees. Where you have one, you could end up with a dozen from the roots left in the ground.