If I'm not using my clearing saw to cut the saplings down low...
I use an
Uprooter tool (successor to the Weed Wrench) to pull out sapling stumps or whole saplings if they are a problem. I've used it on Buckthorn up to about 2" diameter with good success.
Years ago, one of the regulars on here posted information about his homemade “Treegetter”. He welded it up to fit the 3-point hitch on his compact tractor. I believe he got the idea from a design made to go on the front-end loader of a much larger tractor. He went with the 3-point hitch mount, since his tractor did not have enough lifting power to do much good mounted on the front-end loader.
In operation, he just backed up to a bunch of saplings with the hitch down low. Once the saplings were wedged in, he lifted the hitch and pulled them out, roots and all... leaving none of the stubble left by brush hogging. He also said he had success pulling out up to 2.5 or 3” diameter trees with this, depending on the tree species. I’ve never used this personally but have contemplated making one.
Something like this might be of use clearing saplings from paths to be used by horses (the stubble left by brush hogging can wreak havoc on their hooves), or perhaps for pulling up invasive plants like Buckthorn.
The pictures and description below are of an incomplete version of the equipment. Eventually, he added teeth across the entire bar, so he didn’t have to “aim” at each specific sapling. I’ve since seen another version that I thought looked better: It had diagonal braces running from the horizontal bar (near where the lower 3-point hitch arms attach) up to the vertical arm near where the upper link attaches, forming a triangle of braces. This seems like a much stronger construction to me. It would better resist bending of the horizontal bar when pulling up a sapling that was off-center. (Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of that unit). I would also consider using a heavier piece for the horizontal crossbar, or at least mount it up on edge with the 3” dimension going up & down to better resist bending, rather than fore and aft as was done in these pictures. In general, it looks as though this unit could use some beefing up at a lot of the joints, given the stresses it will take during use. The concept is an interesting one, however.
Unfortunately, I lost track of who it was who posted this, but I did save some of his description:
The crossbar and the upright for the top link are made from 2” X 3” X 1/2” wall tubing.
The fingers are 15 inches total length (that leaves 12 inches protruding from the crossbar) and are made of 1/2” X 3” flat bar.
I left 1/2 inch in the center of each finger and tapered them back 11 inches. Each finger has a piece of 3/8X2 flat bar welded edge ways and welded to the crossbar to prevent the fingers from bending.
