Wild Bradford Pear cheap removal?

[IHMAN1]

I know Texas has mesquite, but here in the SE we have a nuisance of another type, the wild Bradford pear or wild pyrus calleryana. You can see them this time of year starting to bloom in un kept right of ways, abandoned pastures, etc. That brings me to my question. I have a field full of the darn things. Most are anywhere from 3 to 6 inches in diameter, some smaller some larger. Almost none of them are single trunked, some may have up to 8 trunks at gound level. As a bonus they all have 2 inch long thorns that will puncture a tractor tire or really do a job on skin. I would like to eradicate them the most economical method. The only equipment I have is a mid sized tractor and a 5 foot bush hog. I have a brush grubber also.

What I have tried so far:
Pulling smaller with the brush grubber = breaking off at ground level leaving a sharp "splinter" sticking up out of the ground. Pulling on the larger ones just results in spinning tires on the 2wd tractor or spinning 4 tires on a 4wd Jeep Wrangler.
Cut stump spaying in the fall with Dow Remedy/diesel = apparently works (won't know for a few more weeks after new growth starts or doesn't. Con is that I still have a stump to deal with and a tree to remove.
Basal bark spraying in late summer with Dow Remedy/diesel = worked great!
Basal bark spraying in Jan/Feb with Remedy = doesn't appear to work, apparently the sap flow was already traveling up the trees even during those Winter months. One caveat was that I was using a generic herbicide that was saving me about $30 a gallon. I am hopeful I will get some delayed kill from this, but as of right now some of the trees have already started blooming. I spent many hours spraying each individual stem on all sides using a 2 gal pump up sprayer with dye for marking. Maybe at least some of the smaller trees will be killed.
Bush hogging = the majority are too big to drive my tractor over or cut, plus the fact that the thorns would then be thrown everywhere.
I could chainsaw at ground level and spray immediately or keep regrowth bush hogged. Con, still have a stump in the ground. This is also more work than I physically want to take on and I would basically have to have a suit of armor on due to the thorns and multiple stems.

So either I will spraying again at the end of summer or must go to an effective mechanical method. I am including a picture for reference of what I am up against. Do any of you know if a skid steer mounted tree puller would work on a tree this sized? Would a small dozer (rented) with just a straight blade pull them up or just lay them down and skin them up a little? I am pretty sure a dozer blade with a root rake would work. I am also trying to leave as little as impact on the soil as possible. I am sure a tree shear would work, but I would still have to spray every cut. These trees come back with a vengeance after any mechanical cutting. I think these trees are a little large for the front mounted skid steer brush cutters, even if cut I would still have thorns and stumps everywhere. I think a forestry machine might work, but I am not sure of regrowth or how much trash would be left.

If money was know object it wouldn't be a problem. What do you guys think is a good option?

 

[roadhunter]

Rent a backhoe for a weekend.

 

[Snobdds]

In Wyoming we would burn the pasture in early spring. Gets rid of the thorns and most of the vegetation, but would need to deal with the the stumps. Backhoe for a weekend is a good idea.

 

[JSanders10]

Are you sure that's a wild pear?
Sounds more like what is known as a Popcorn tree, or Chinese Tallow tree. I'm dealing with it as well. There's a great article in this month's Alabama Living, the rural electric magazine, on dealing with its eradication.

 

[treemuncher]

What do you intend to do with the ground once it is cleared? Pasture, row crop, grass field, etc?

Depending on your plans for the field, a good heavy duty mulching machine will eradicate all of the trees quickly and cost effectively. Depending on density of the growth, something like my Barko can fly through 6" diameter trees as quickly as 4-10+ acres per day if the conditions are favorable. If stumps can be left in the ground, spray resprouts to kill the stumps off. Keep it bush hogged 3x a year for the first year or two to keep unwanted growth to a minimum until grasses are well established. If stumps must be removed, a heavy Rome Disc will likely tackle all stumps 6"and under. Else, a large dozer with a root rake. Stumps can also be mulched once out of the ground.

If the mulch needs to rot fast, add ammonia nitrate to speed the process and lime to counter the acidity. Seed directly over mulch as soon as mulching process is completed.

Otherwise, slash & burn with a dozer or trackhoe.

 

[IHMAN1]

Treemuncher, I'm estimating the field to be 6 acres with the tree spacing averaging one per every 10 yards, some are much farther apart. I'm assuming your Barko is one of the large industrial sized machines, what do folks with your kind of equipment normally charge, is it by the hour or day? There maybe somebody local and I just want an idea of the going rate.

Also, I have seen a guy on youtube with a mini excavator with a thumb who just grabs the tree halfway up while swinging sideways closes the thumb and out comes the tree. In the video his trees are single stemmed and are not the same tree I am working with. I can rent one of those locally just not sure it would do the job. I have no idea what kind of root structure these trees have underground.
I would like to return the land to a hayfield or at least keep it bush hogged 2-3 times per year.

 

[tonyoz]

Depending on root structure and soils chaining is another method of clearing. In your case 2 small dozers or CTL's with a long length of chain or steel wire rope attached to them and drive around the area to be cleared. If it works ok it will lay everything over then stickrake the area to complete. It's the cheapest form of clearing I know and is common practice here in Australia for clearing broadacre farms. They usualy use D9's or D10's. Your area is just a mini version of that so the machines only need to be a mini version also.
Using a forestry mulcher is a good method of clearing particualy if the area is free of rock. Running it as close to the ground as possable it will shatter the stumps which may kill the bush or at the very least slow the regrowth to enable other vegetation to get a better hold. Hope this info helps

 

[tonyoz]

I didn't see the photo on my tablet so please ignore comment about chaining.

 

[treemuncher]

For your intended purpose of the field, leaving the stumps in place will be fine and not be a problem. If your trees are as widely spaced as you stated, a smaller mulcher like my FTX 140 would be recomended. The 937 has a $5k minimum call out plus mob and would have such a job done in 2-3 hours if only hitting the trees or less than a day for 100% coverage of all surface growth. The FTX would have all trees done within a day and run about the $2k minimum for that machine.

I calculate bids at 400/hr and 250/hr big and small respectively. There will be minimal ground disturbance with mulching using a good operator. No need for leveling or backfilling holes later on. Mulch, seed, mow....carry on.

And for the cattle farmers, I perform "heavy duty mowing" which is tax deductible where as land clearing dozer work is not. You can see plenty of work pics on my website at Treemuncher.com for an idea as to what to expect from mulching.

 

[Bill Stecik]

Just grab them with a track hoe and pull them out , roots and all