Need to Hire a mulcher

[Carykong]

I have a property in King and Queen County,Virginia,25 acres,covered with small gum,poplar,pine,oak. 2 to 6 inches in diameter. Looking for a contractor with the capability of clearing/mulching about 5 acres for a homesite. Need agile machine because I want to save some of the better and larger trees. Post back. thanks

 

[SLHawkins]

Give a shout to MossFlower Woods. He just had about 5 acres on his property done. I do believe he was really pleased with the work. He should be up on the net shortly

Hawk

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Carykong,

Contact Lotscapes. Lot Scapes - Land Improvement Specialist

Mark and Candy Eubanks. They are AWESOME people.

I have a thread here... http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/land-clearing/223674-monster-mulcher-visits-mossflowerwoods.html

I am VERY happy with their work. There are a couple other folks here on TBN who have used them also.

Please keep us updated with how it goes!

Be well,
David

PS - Morning Hawk!

 

[Carykong]

thxs fellas, had a chat with a contractor out of Hampton ,Va that has a skid steer forest mulcher capable of hogging up to 6" diameters. His hourly rate sounded fair,$150. Expect to get this work done in Jan. Will post back with some pictures and video.

 

[97hokie]

Cary,
I would second the suggestion on Lot Scapes. I would like to know who you are using. $150/hour sounds very nice!

 

[Carykong]

97Hokie,

The $150/hr quote is from a guy named Mark. He is a contractor based in Hampton,Va and his number is 757 328 2603. Mark has a flail (drum) type tree mulcher attached to a 80HP Bobcat skid steer.

Also, I have a question for my forum buddies. Does anyone have an opinion on SkidPro attachments? skid pro.com. I have a colleague with a wheeled bobcat skid steer 80HP who may buy a rotary forest mulcher from this outfit capable of mulching up to 5" diameters. SkidPro claims their Xseries rotory cutter is the most powerful and fastest mulcher on the market for standard flow skid steers.

Any opinion?

 

[QwikDraw]

If it's a flail and only 80hp 150 per hours is too much.

The phone number is to a construction company on there website is says nothing about mulching.

Unless you know these guys you might want to at least contact the Lotscapes.

 

[makinmulch]

It would be painful to watch him try to mulch 5" hardwoods at $150 per hour. Lower hourly rate doesnt mean cheaper total cost and quality of finished product may be down.

 

[Carykong]

Fellas, I did chat with Candy of LandScape and her lowest hourly rate would be her 120hp skid steer dedicated flail mulcher @ $220/hr. Her youtube demo is impressive.

At the moment, I have not made a choice with my contractor. If my old colleage buys the rotary mulcher from skid pro.com, he has promised me an introductory $80/hr for 3 days (24hrs operation time) onsite work.

Skidpro claims for any given hp,the rotary mulcher is faster but does not leave as neat an appearance,chips are bigger and stumps are exposed a few inches. For my needs, I am not looking to grind the slash level with the ground. 5 to 6 inches from the ground will be adequate for my needs. Quantity is more important than quality finish for my timeline.

By the way, anyone on the forum have past buying experience with skid pro? and Merry Christmas to all!

 

[yellowdogsvc]

150/hr for 80 hp skid is probably too much. Ask what machine, what model. An 80 hp skid from Bobcat could be 31 gpm at 3300 psi or 37 gpm at 3300 psi. BIG DIFFERENCE as I have owned and operated all of Bobcats large frame skids in the mulching biz for about 10 years. I started with an s250g and s300g both the aforementioned 31 gpm and about 80 hp. BIG difference even between an s300g and s300K in gpm and productivity.

If someone doesn't specialize in mulching, they may be renting a machine on an "as-needed" basis. I wouldn't want someone practicing on my property. If a contractor isn't busy enough to own a machine set up to mulch then stay away. Not saying that's the case but there is a steep learning curve and no barrier to entry when the rental houses are dumb enough to rent machines for mulching.

Not sure what machine was quoted at $220/hr but if it's a skid or CTL and 120 hp, it might be a supertrak. If that's the case, the supertrak would probably be 2x as productive as the 80 hp machine on 5" trees. An 80 hp machine is only going to run a mower rated at 7" max anyway.. And yes, some mowers rate up to 8-10" hardwoods but that's a SLOW way to clear. If you are over 75% of maximum capacity on all the trees, then the lower hp skid will struggle to do it efficiently.

Since you mentioned Bobcat, my opinion is based on that.. there are other 80 hp machines with my hydraulic flow BUT it takes motor hp to keep the hydraulic pump turning out hydraulic hp...