Palmettos with a mulcher?

[gjmcginn]

Anyone out there have experience with clearing palmettos with a mulcher? I have 40 acres with lots of them and tons of small pine sprinkled throughout. There was a fire that went through 3-4 years ago leaving some large standing dead pine as well. I know that palmettos are very tough to get out cleanly - lots of sand left on/in the roots with a rake ...stack, dry, burn, sift the sand out and repeat...

I know from owning a tre planting service & Big John tree spade that palms are tough. The palmettos are also very fiberous and hard to cut. Would a sharper "knife" type mulcher, like a Loftness Quick Ax make more sense than a hammer type cutter? The concern of course id keeping the knives sharp enough, long enough & long-term durability.

I also have 50 acres of dense hardwoods I'd like to clean up. The previous owner logged it several years ago & the logger left a ton of trash, high stumps, etc. I'd guess either type would work for that?

I'd love to rent equipment, but I'm having a hard time locating anything available (Okeechobee or Stuart, FL area). hate to have to buy, then re-sell.

Thanks,

 

[sandman2234]

Standing dead pines are called widow makers for a reason. Tread carefully!!
A rig like my old Ford 7710 might be right up your alley, with a boom mower on it. It is capable of reaching out 25 feet or up 25 feet to start cutting far enough away from the operator that with a little care, you aren't in as much danger. As far as the palmettos, skinning the tops is easy, but as you have found, getting the roots out is probably more of a challenge. No experience tackling them, so I will leave that for more experienced posters.
David from jax

 

[Terra Firma Scott]

If I was still in the biz-Id run over it for ya.....good luck...Palmettos are difficult and will re-emerge....

 

[gjmcginn]

I hear you about the standing dead pines. My plan was to push them over with an excavator (nice long reach), pile em up & get the marshmallows out.

Scott, I notice you show you have a root rake on your compact track loader. Heve you ever tackled palmetto roots with that? I assumed I'd need a good size wheel loader with a root rake ...HP and mass working for me.

Maybe I should mention that once cleared, grass would be planted & it would be at least spot mowed 2-3 tines a year. I'd guess that this would eventually do-in the palmettoes if the tops were chopped but the roots weren't pulled? ...don't know. I do know conventional wisdom says "yank em out completely".

I'm trying to develop grounds for training retrievers ...dig ponds, build mounds, plant grass & cover, etc. Should look kind of like a golf course, but with higher cover.

 

[fishfactor]

Be careful if you will be training dogs. If there area any hardwoods they are often difficult to mulch all the way to the ground with a carbide mulcher unless you have new teeth. It tends to leave little springs of shredded tree sticking up. They can be really tough on the dogs paws. We do work for a pointer training facility and always have to use the knife head to keep the paws safe.

 

[gjmcginn]

Good point. Thanks for the tip!

There's a ton of prickly pear cactus that needs to be dealt with as well. Nasty! I found a thorn stuck about 3/8ths inch into my tire.

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

This might be a MUCH cheaper route. Brush Hog Grinding Services 863-441-4917 Lake Placid

 

[deereman75]

I would just have a big dozer (D8 cat+) come in with a root rake. After it is all in piles just have a tub grinder come in, and grind all the palm and trees to mulch.:2cents: