removing 100's of small saplings and bushes

[Dave5264]

Hi Guys, I have a multi year project on the horizon (one of many actually). My farm property & pasture area is mainly clay, I have one spot on a hill that is all gravel/sand mix and has fantastic drainage. This is the spot we plan to use as the fall /spring paddock for the horses eventually, since it wont get a muddy as the current ones.

Here is the catch, its become quite over grown and is also rock strewn. many of the evergreens will stay, however there are 100's of bushes and saplings (1/2' - 2" dia) that are "Choke Cherries" these suckers are highly toxic to Horses, so absolutely all traces must be removed before the area can be utilized. Not even a small cut stump can remain, the bark and wood are also toxic.

so... It gonna take several years to remove the trees and keep an eye out for any new seedlings etc coming back up.

is a "Grubber" my only option here to pull these suckers out? any other ideas? I cannot use a rotary cutter due to the rocks and the fact that small stumps will remain.

Im not yet 100% sure the eradication is feasible in 2 years, may take longer.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Why not a controlled burn? My friends grandpa is a forest ranger and they are always looking for burns to do training with. Our fire depts do the same thing. They burn a few condemned homes here a month.

A few phone calls is worth the time to see if it can be done in your area.

Chris

 

[Redneck in training]

Why not a controlled burn? My friends grandpa is a forest ranger and they are always looking for burns to do training with. Our fire depts do the same thing. They burn a few condemned homes here a month.

A few phone calls is worth the time to see if it can be done in your area.

Chris

It all depends on the density of the growth. If it is not dense enough it will not sustain burn. I would spray it, plow it with a subsoiler or middle buster to break and losen the roots and rake it and/or rototill it to remove them.

 

[dodge man]

Can they be bulldozed out? Sometimes they will come out with the a lot of the roots. If you have an endloader available, you could try a few and see if they pop out of the ground.

 

[brin]

I have heard that Borax laundry soap will kill anything pemanently buy it at the grocery or big box store and mix it with hot water and spray in a pump up sprayer...not supposed to harm animals but will kill many insects as well as anything rowing...You might want to google Borax to verify...

 

[Craig Clayton]

When I was much younger the family had bought a vacation property and had 100's of small saplings on the water front. I pulled them with a chain and a weight tripod. Never again. With the grubber which is similiar you need a ground crew to do the connecting and junk handing. If you have a good tractor maybe you could have 4 grubber grabbers on a chain gang.
Craig Clayton

 

[nybirdman]

We have (had) a ton of what we called "choke cherries" ,they turned out to be "bush huckelberrry",if this is what you have ,they are very shallow rooted but spread out.I have removed a bunch(very easy) with my tooth-bar/grappel on tractor bucket.Late spring is the best time but can be done anytime.

 

[J_J]

How about something like this.

http://holdenservices.co/processed/CAMVIDS/Video2/Video2.html

http://holdenservices.co/processed/CAMVIDS/Video4/Video4.html

http://cnrit.tamu.edu/cgrm/IRR2/1982/Brush Boss - A New Tool For Brush Control.pdf

http://www.equipmentland.com/products/abcoveyor/puller.shtml

 

[Carykong]

At some point in your reclaimation,the new pasture will have to be suitable for brush hogging and safe enough for your horses to run. So I would deal those rocks early that are preventing your from using a brush hog. You are going to have to deal with those rocks preventing you from the use of a brush hog regardless.
I have hogged properties with small boulders (about 12" in diameter) by keeping the mower high. Once you have run the mower, you will have a clear view of the rocks that need to be removed or buried. Then you can lower the brush hog and get those stumps lower. Once you can brush hog at about 3-4 inches to the ground,time will be on your side and the hard labor will be over. Keep the pasture hogged and the saplings will give up and the stumps will disappear in two years.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Why not a controlled burn? My friends grandpa is a forest ranger and they are always looking for burns to do training with. Our fire depts do the same thing. They burn a few condemned homes here a month.

A few phone calls is worth the time to see if it can be done in your area.

Chris

I second that! :thumbsup: