OP
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Land clearing project
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Spencer
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Don, that's quite some pile. Is there anything left growing out there? How is that root rake project coming along?
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The track hoe that's coming has a reach of 53'. He will dig a trench in front of the pile, reach across and pull it in, partially fill it, run the D6 across it to compact, and repeat in layers. Finally, he will leave a mound of dirt about 2' high to settle back to level as the pile decomposes. Much of the pile is dirt-encrusted wild grape roots, which came up like rolling up a carpet, so it should settle pretty evenly. A couple of the larger trees will be saved out to go in the bottom of the pond for fish structure. The pond will start somewhat to the left of thise pictures, and the house and barn will be further to the left. Nothing is scheduled to go in this corner except a border of flowering trees and shrubs where the brush pile sits, now, so there will be few problems as it settles. Before it settles, the mound will actually add a bit of variety to the flat Florida landscape.
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Spencer, yep, there's still a lot growing - in fact, by the time I'm done grooming nothing but the pepper trees and grape vines that were too small for the big tractor and my root rake, I'll probably have a couple of more "normal" size brush piles. Next, I'm building one of those brush scoops that stick out like a vee with a couple of teeth on the end, because the little saplings fall between the teeth on the rake.
The rake is finished and worked almost as well as I expected. I don't have any working pictures (it was just too blamed hot to climb on and off the tractor), but here's a shot just before we went to work. When the brush was mostly branches and loose, we could fill up the rake. But, most of what we moved was totally crusted with dirt and tightly packed roots, so the problem that arose was the horizontal tube from the box blade, that holds the shanks, formed a barrier and we couldn't get large loads.
What we ended up doing was using the big tractor to move the piles (yep, every inch of that pile came from somewhere else, moved a rake-full at a time, into a headwind that blew the dirt back onto me), and using the little tractor to organize the piles and get them ready for the big rake. Sort of like using a broom to organize a dirt pile before sweeping it into the dust pan, but on a bigger scale. Two of us working took good hunks of 5 days to move it all.
Mike, I posted what the contractor told me about settling wile you were posting your question. He's been doing it for 30 years. Remember, it's mostly sand in the pile, and sand in the trench, so it should marry together pretty good. When you try to burn a small pile, you end up with a pile of sand about 6' high with some charred wood still in it. The wild grape vine was everywhere. We lowered the level of the whole property a good 3", and more in places, as we removed it. If we didn't, it would be invasive again in a few months. Things grow fast in Florida, especially the things you don't want.
The rake is finished and worked almost as well as I expected. I don't have any working pictures (it was just too blamed hot to climb on and off the tractor), but here's a shot just before we went to work. When the brush was mostly branches and loose, we could fill up the rake. But, most of what we moved was totally crusted with dirt and tightly packed roots, so the problem that arose was the horizontal tube from the box blade, that holds the shanks, formed a barrier and we couldn't get large loads.
What we ended up doing was using the big tractor to move the piles (yep, every inch of that pile came from somewhere else, moved a rake-full at a time, into a headwind that blew the dirt back onto me), and using the little tractor to organize the piles and get them ready for the big rake. Sort of like using a broom to organize a dirt pile before sweeping it into the dust pan, but on a bigger scale. Two of us working took good hunks of 5 days to move it all.
Mike, I posted what the contractor told me about settling wile you were posting your question. He's been doing it for 30 years. Remember, it's mostly sand in the pile, and sand in the trench, so it should marry together pretty good. When you try to burn a small pile, you end up with a pile of sand about 6' high with some charred wood still in it. The wild grape vine was everywhere. We lowered the level of the whole property a good 3", and more in places, as we removed it. If we didn't, it would be invasive again in a few months. Things grow fast in Florida, especially the things you don't want.
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Wow you have been busy out there OkeeDon. Makes me glad the property that i got was mostly cleared just some perimeter growth to deal with. That is alot of stuff to bury. BradK
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Those are the dreaded, noxious Brazilian Pepper Trees. Here's a shot showing the limitation of getting things into the rake. If I had custom shanks made up with a different curve, it would work even better, but that would escalate the cost a lot. I have less than $200 in this rake. I don't have the equipment to make my own shanks - wish I lived near WroughtnHarv.
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That's my son-in-law in the previous picture - he's gotten really good at handling both the big and the little tractor. Neither of us had done anything like this 3 months ago. He's good friends with the contractor who has the trackhoe; I don't doubt he'll wangle his way onto that, too, before it's done. The contractor is bringing the trackhoe, a D6 dozer, at least one and maybe two loaders, and two dump trucks out for the pond and brush project. As he digs the pond, he'll load the trucks and move the spoil to where we need it as fill for the house, barn, road, and a long low strip next to the state's highway swale. They'll grade it, compact it and level it for me. Pond will be about 1/4 acre; my rough estimate is about 1600 cubic yards. I'll use it all on the property. Did I mention that Florida is Flat? It's also low in places...never high unless you make it that way.
Estimates to bring in the fill ran upwards of $8K to $10K. Instead, the budget for the pond is $4K, and we'll get all the grading etc., and end up with the pond afterwards, which will increase the value of the property more than we spent. Can you say Win-Win? The burial is expected to add about $900 to the bill.
This is a shot of the "before" to bring things into perspective. I haven't been there yet this week, busy with other stuff, but I'll get some more pix of the land this weekend. It's a total transformation.
Estimates to bring in the fill ran upwards of $8K to $10K. Instead, the budget for the pond is $4K, and we'll get all the grading etc., and end up with the pond afterwards, which will increase the value of the property more than we spent. Can you say Win-Win? The burial is expected to add about $900 to the bill.
This is a shot of the "before" to bring things into perspective. I haven't been there yet this week, busy with other stuff, but I'll get some more pix of the land this weekend. It's a total transformation.
