Woodchipper and chip piles

[number9L]

So, I've got 82ac that is 90% wooded. I've cleared trees in several areas for different things (shooting range, go kart track, etc). I have an old LinkBelt excavator my FIL loaned me a year or so ago that I use to just push the trees over and drag them to a pile. So now I've got a few big brush / tree piles that look like crap and will turn into snake hotels.

I ain't taking a chance on burning them and risking burning my property down - I looked TOO long to find wooded land like this.

I've been thinking about getting a wood chipper - Wallenstein BX42 - but then I ask myself........what the heck am I going to do with big piles of wood chips??

I don't have any use for them that I can think of - no animal bedding, don't want them for mulch, don't want to use them on my trails through the property because I drive jeep/tractor/dirtbikes on them and want them to dry out as fast as possible after a rain.

I guess at least a big pile of wood chips will be smaller and nicer to look at than a BIG tree/brush pile, but I'd still rather not have piles of chips if I can figure out something to do with them. Also, would piles of wood chips be a combustable fire risk?

...

 

[roadhunter]

You can heat with wood chips. LEI Products - Product Page

I think you will find chipping with a little PTO model is time consuming and labor intensive for jobs this large.

But if getting rid of the wood is the goal you might consider digging a burn pit on the property and using an air curtain burner to get rid of the waste. Much faster and safer than open burning and does not require chipping.

 

[KyleH]

Always people looking for woodchips, sell or give it away. You could also just spread them throughout the property, takes a lot of brush to make a big pile of chips.

 

[dickfoster]

So, I've got 82ac that is 90% wooded. I've cleared trees in several areas for different things (shooting range, go kart track, etc). I have an old LinkBelt excavator my FIL loaned me a year or so ago that I use to just push the trees over and drag them to a pile. So now I've got a few big brush / tree piles that look like crap and will turn into snake hotels.

I ain't taking a chance on burning them and risking burning my property down - I looked TOO long to find wooded land like this.

I've been thinking about getting a wood chipper - Wallenstein BX42 - but then I ask myself........what the heck am I going to do with big piles of wood chips??

I don't have any use for them that I can think of - no animal bedding, don't want them for mulch, don't want to use them on my trails through the property because I drive jeep/tractor/dirtbikes on them and want them to dry out as fast as possible after a rain.

I guess at least a big pile of wood chips will be smaller and nicer to look at than a BIG tree/brush pile, but I'd still rather not have piles of chips if I can figure out something to do with them. Also, would piles of wood chips be a combustable fire risk?

...

Spread the chips as mulch though the rest of your trees. The trees will appreciate it and they will disappear in no time.

 

[sixdogs]

You can sell wood chips around here and it's not difficult. Short of that, make a long row with them and when there is snow on the ground, light the end opposite the wind to keep in check. No problem.

 

[ghost68]

You didn't say what kind of wood it is (oak, maple, walnut, cedar). If the wood is any good, find someone to mill it for you. Then you can use the wood to build storage or what not around your property or furniture, etc.

If you don't what to mill it, talk to the saw mill in Bagdad, KY or I think there is one over toward Morehead. They might take the logs off your hands. Might pay you for it. You might even find a woodworker that might take some of it.

Something else to think about is if you have any low spots that hold water. You could work the wood chips into the soil to help with drainage.

Ghost
(not far from you)

 

[s219]

I'll fill a trailer load (just aim the chute into a trailer and reposition every now and then to make a nice pile) and leave the trailer parked until I need the chips, then roll them to the desired location for spreading. Otherwise, it's not real convenient since you'll be chipping in all different places around your property and it may not be near where you need the chips.

If I know I won't use them or I'm in a location where getting the chips out isn't feasible, then I aim the chute high and just blow them into the woods. Rotate the chute or move tractor periodically so I don't get too big of a pile anywhere.

Generally, I need more chips than I make in a given year, so I tend to use up whatever I make, every time. They are handy for covering muddy areas or high traffic areas. I sure could use a couple trailer loads to spread around my barn, but don't envision doing chipping any time soon.

 

[Cord]

If you used the excavator to create the piles, then you'll never separate them into breaches which can be fed into a chipper. You'd need a tub grinder. At that point you'll be looking at having to let the piles rot or burn them. If you did a controlled burn and fed small amounts into the fire so it remained under control it's doable.

 

[muddstopper]

Put a add on craigs list for free firewood. That should get rid of most of any firewood size trees, especially this time of year and everyone looking for cheap firewood. What brush is left you can chip and blow into the woods.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

If you used the excavator to create the piles, then you'll never separate them into breaches which can be fed into a chipper.

Yep. You made a big mess of tangled branches that will be a nightmare to separate. If you want to chip them, use your excavator to pull out one at a time, butt first, if you can. Even that won't be easy.

As for chips on your trails, wood chips beat mud any day for driving on.

 

[tractchores]

I have the same chipper and it makes great chips if you want to use them for something. I have used them for fill on trails once in a while. The vast majority of them I just blow into the woods in a big area, they blend in quickly and rot away quickly. People will happily take them too if you give them away, you likely could sell them too, but that's too much work for me.

 

[Thomas]

As said give them away "FREE" spread them in low area or on banks,mother earth will make short order of them.

 

[TnAndy]

I have 70 wooded acres, and had controlled burns several times over the years to clear parts. It isn't particularly hard or dangerous if done right.

1st I hire a guy that has a large excavator with a thumb. He pushes down the trees, I cut off anything I want for saw logs (I have a small bandmill) or firewood, the rest gets shoved in a pile with his 650 JD dozer w/root rake. If you don't want the logs or firewood, they should be an easy sell, or worst case, give away free.

2nd, he digs a 6-10' deep pit near the brush/tops pile, and starts a fire with some of it in the pit. He puts the machine between the pile and pit, reaches around and grabs a bunch, shakes it to get as much dirt off it as will come off, then rotates over the pit and drops it on the fire. Repeat until gone, mixing in stumps as the fire gets really hot.

Of course, you want to wait to do this until you have fairly wet weather so any flying embers don't have any chance to catch, but the kind of weather we've had in the last few weeks is great...couple inches of rain per week, you'd be hard pressed to set the woods on fire with a drum of diesel fuel.

Final is grade the dirt back over the hole to bury the pit, and any stumps that didn't burn up 100%.

Most recently, we did a 3acre patch last year about this time, cost me $5,000 for him, another couple hundred for some day laborers to put up rocks/roots that slip thru the dozer rake, then I sowed it in fescue and red clover....well on it's way to making pasture now.

 

[number9L]

Hmm, guess I could just scatter the chips in the woods. I've got several places I could find to use them to control runoff or errosion I guess.

Are they good to use for covering grass seed?

I don't know what kind of trees they are / were. No pines though.

 

[Code54]

We use them all the time in the garden between rows to keep the mud down. Used them to slow run off and help prevent erosion, and real easy to give away especially if you have a loader and will drop them in someones trailer!

 

[oosik]

Every spring I thin my pine forests - 750 to 900 small, 6" or less - pine trees. I manually pull them to where I can bunch them with my grapple. Then with my Wallenstein BX62S I chip them all. I blow the chips here, there, everywhere and in a couple years nature has taken them all back.

I also get a few BIG pines that succumb to pine bark beetle every year. I cut those into ten foot chunks, make a big pile and wait for the winter snow when I will burn the pile.

 

[Cord]

Are they good to use for covering grass seed?

No, the decaying chips steals nitrogen the grass needs to grow.

 

[sixdogs]

No, the decaying chips steals nitrogen the grass needs to grow.

Plus grass seed needs good soil contact the chips would prevent. You aren't growing grass where there are wood chips. Check out the bare or weedy areas where people have had stumps ground out. You have to remove all the chips, fill with dirt and even that proves difficult.

 

[number9L]

Ah ok, makes sense that they wouldn't be good substitute for straw covering grass seed.

Picked up a Wallenstein BX42 today. Looks like it's never been used. Guy said his dad bought it new last year and used it about an hour during a fence row clean up and then put it inside. Stopped on the way home and picked up a set of Tomahwk 48" pallet forks. Merry Christmas to me I guess haha

Hope to get to try the chipper out this week.