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Brush Clearing- Whats best

So we have a few hundred acres that a number of years ago we cleared of all the cedar groves. Now that all that is done we have second growth coming up that I am attempting to clear. The little cedar saplings can range from less than pencil thick to a couple inches though most are about as thick as a pinky finger. To actually kill them its necessary for it to be cut flush to the ground preferably but just so long as all of the green gets taken off it will be good enough. Some out in the open are larger and solitary and less of my concern at this point. Im trying to eradicate the thousands of saplings growing up under the shady oak trees.

I have been manually clipping these with some old loppers and though it does a great job it wreaks absolute havoc on my knees and back bending over to get a flush cut to the ground that wont serve as a caltrop to the cattle. Im am looking for a better method of doing this, time to mechanize.

Chainsaws do good work but it would still require bending over. I have though about getting small saw and trying to put a 30" bar on it to lessen the bending but I have no idea if thats feasible. They say long bars are for huge powerful saws but Im not clearing forests of 30" trees, just little small crap that should be cut in less than one good "BurrRRRRRrrrr" so Im not sure if the power concerns apply to this situation as it really only needs to move the chain, not rip it though the heart of a redwood.

I have looked for a gas pole saw that would be less than 5' long and they dont appear to exist. An 8' pole would be far too unwieldy.

I have heard about the little saw blades that you can attach to a weedeater but this is very rocky territory and getting a 6" blade in the crevasse seems like a great way to ruin it in short order.The brush clearing weedeaters looked like they would handle the abuse of a few hundred acres better but the first one (stihl fs 360 c-e) I looked at came up just shy of 1k bucks so thats prohibitive in addition to the not being able to get it in between rocks.

Anyone have any good ideas or experiences?
 
So we have a few hundred acres that a number of years ago we cleared of all the cedar groves. Now that all that is done we have second growth coming up that I am attempting to clear. The little cedar saplings can range from less than pencil thick to a couple inches though most are about as thick as a pinky finger. To actually kill them its necessary for it to be cut flush to the ground preferably but just so long as all of the green gets taken off it will be good enough. Some out in the open are larger and solitary and less of my concern at this point. Im trying to eradicate the thousands of saplings growing up under the shady oak trees.

I have been manually clipping these with some old loppers and though it does a great job it wreaks absolute havoc on my knees and back bending over to get a flush cut to the ground that wont serve as a caltrop to the cattle. Im am looking for a better method of doing this, time to mechanize.

Chainsaws do good work but it would still require bending over. I have though about getting small saw and trying to put a 30" bar on it to lessen the bending but I have no idea if thats feasible. They say long bars are for huge powerful saws but Im not clearing forests of 30" trees, just little small crap that should be cut in less than one good "BurrRRRRRrrrr" so Im not sure if the power concerns apply to this situation as it really only needs to move the chain, not rip it though the heart of a redwood.

I have looked for a gas pole saw that would be less than 5' long and they dont appear to exist. An 8' pole would be far too unwieldy.

I have heard about the little saw blades that you can attach to a weedeater but this is very rocky territory and getting a 6" blade in the crevasse seems like a great way to ruin it in short order.The brush clearing weedeaters looked like they would handle the abuse of a few hundred acres better but the first one (stihl fs 360 c-e) I looked at came up just shy of 1k bucks so thats prohibitive in addition to the not being able to get it in between rocks.

Anyone have any good ideas or experiences?
Hire someone with a bush hog mower they should be able to do over a acre a hour .
Larry
 
MOAB, but build house after not before the clearing...

I'd go 6" blade and trim them back, then poison for between rocks.
 
I cleared a few acres behind my house . I tried to use a chain saw on these little stubble that you're talking about . I think that small stuff was getting between the chain and bar and jump the chain off . it was miserable trying to cut with the saw . I ended up using my brush hog . I just mowed it often and finally that junk stuff died out . it's now a nice grass field .
 
Yeah, if it werent for the ungodly amount of exposed limestone the brush hog would be the obvious answer but it would get absolutely wrecked. Just unloading it would probably mess it up :p
I doubt I could pay anyone enough to run one out here. I should have gotten picks this past weekend of what Im working with when I was at it for 6 hours and cleared... well less than an acre. But hundreds of individual little saplings. And Ive been at this program most every weekend since Christmas.

The circular saw blade is what Im leaning towards as well and just adding a length of string to my loppers to carry them over my shoulder with me for those so close to the rocks but its obviously not ideal as thats still probably 30% that come out of small crevasses 6' deep. If cut flush with the top of the rocks I would just top it and then have 6 different branches coming up out of it in a year or two.

Has anyone used one enough to say whether a standard weedeater like I already have would be able to stand up to the abuse? Or are they strictly for the super fancy expensive bicycle handled machines? (all the disclaimers say bicycle handled only but I feel that could also just be lawyer bs)
 
I second the brush hog, or even looking to getting a brush mower so you have it for future use. Putting a large bar on a small chainsaw is a bit more complicated then just a swap, larger bar = larger chain= different pitch gear and still wouldn't have much power. I wouldn't advise it. The stihl brush eater will deffinetly handle the brush and acres, but will you? They are a workout and downright exhausting to run. I take it you don't want to spend the next 3 months clearing brush. Just my opinion.
Honestly if this is going to be a routine property for you to clear I would actually look to buy a tractor and brush hog. I have been down this road and in the end I just bought a tractor and the needed implements. And I only needed to clear 30 or 40 acres of overgrown fields. Now I use the tractor all the time. And I think I only have a total of $3500 into my tractor.

Hope this helps
Nick
 
Hire someone with a rock picker, then bush hog it. Spray anything that tries to regrow. Did things the hard way for the first 60 years. I grew out of that phase. Make life easier on yourself.
 
Brush hog or flair mower are out, its not little rocks. It literally is rock, no picking them up without a backhoe. Our skid steer loader requires both tracks (think tank style) AND 14 ply foam filled tires in combination to move around out here; thats what we used to remove the large trees that covered the place originally. The original tires that came on it lasted less than a month... Took 3 years of nearly daily work but by god is it wonderful looking. We dont drive a truck off the roads because thats asking for an instant flat.
 
Tordon Herbicide + 30-days + controlled burn = cleared brush

I havent used any of them or heard of Tordon but I know that Remedy is reported to not work on the cedar from others in the area.

Edit: now that Im looking into it it may be the large mature trees that it doesnt work on but spot treating the saplings could possibly be effective. Im researching further. Has a whole section on it- the cedar/ash juniper
http://msdssearch.dow.com/Published...d1c6.pdf?filepath=range/pdfs/&fromPage=GetDoc
 
Liveing in Florida. We are well awear of your problem Herbicide are expensive and must be done often. Fire works but can be dangerous . The best is to bush hog . Larry
 
Tordon Herbicide + 30-days + controlled burn = cleared brush
Or Pramitol. Not supposed to work on brush but I have unintentionally killed a couple of camelia and rose bushes:rolleyes: and a small loblolly pine.

A small saw is not going to swing a 30" cutter bar with the associated mass of chain very well and a saw that will swing it will also tax your back a bit.
 
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Get a bunch of goats. Matt

Thats in the cards and ultimately our long term goal but first we need to re-fence the whole place before we can. Currently 5 strands of barbed wire, need to go to netting. If I were to let this go though until that point in time they would be too large for the goats to keep down. We also have a bunch of other brush that the goats will love, but those others dont have near the capability of a complete take over that the cedar does which is why Im focusing on only cedar.
 
Donovan is right on the money! Herbicides are your friend. You may have to get a restricted use applicator card but that's pretty easy, at least it is here. Paul
 

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