How would you do it?

[kentuckydiesel]

A big chunk of my property had been used for running cattle by the previous owners. When the old man died (a couple decades ago), the family stopped keeping the place up, and now it is overrun with Eastern Red Cedar (juniper).

I started out dropping the trees one-by-one, dragging them to an open field, and limbing them so we could use them for fence posts/rails. Well, that was taking forever. I then started pushing them over with my tractor and piling them up...but that has them in a tangled pile which is very difficult to pull them from to limb. Lately I have been choosing the ones I want to keep, limbing them as high as I can reach, then dropping and topping them. Not bad, but it's pretty nasty limbing cedars with all the sharp needles running down your shirt.

Anyone ever dealt with such a situation? What have you found to work best? I'm half tempted to go buy a 6' bar and slowly limb the trees up from outside the branches...or maybe a pole pruner.

Here's a pic of the area I'm working on.
View attachment 285913

Thanks,
Phillip

 

[DavdH]

pole saw or power pruner

 

[Cfaller]

I don't know how well you can manage fire, but that would be the easiest way to get ride of the juniper. It would require a fair amount of prep work to do it safely. Juniper tens to burn very fast, hot, and causes some spotting problems.

 

[northmanlogging]

Dump em and leave em, come back in a year or two after all the needles fall off and limp and process from there. Not to sure about that species but most ceder is relatively rot resistant, shouldn't hurt it to lay around for a short time.

Or dump em, yard em into a big ole pile, get a few dozen cases of beer and 5-10 gallons of diesel and have a nice little camp fire cookout...ya ya I know its a waste of good wood, but it sure would be fun

 

[kentuckydiesel]

Dump em and leave em, come back in a year or two after all the needles fall off and limp and process from there. Not to sure about that species but most ceder is relatively rot resistant, shouldn't hurt it to lay around for a short time.

Or dump em, yard em into a big ole pile, get a few dozen cases of beer and 5-10 gallons of diesel and have a nice little camp fire cookout...ya ya I know its a waste of good wood, but it sure would be fun

I did the first about 1.5 years ago with a few cedars. Noticed the other day that all the needles were finally gone.

Did the second on a football field sized spot...made for a nice fire.

-Phillip

 

[Natty Bumppo]

While not a big fan of turtlenecks, they come in handy when cutting cedars. Keeps the needles off your back and from out of your butt crack (they work their way down with all the bending you do).

Judging from your aerial photo, looks like a job for a skid steer and a tree shear. Stack 'em and burn 'em.

 

[Woody912]

run some cows back in and don't feed them for a couple months

 

[forestryworks]

Put the cattle elsewhere, heavy grazing will only exacerbate the juniper encroachment problem you have.
Rent a bobcat with a tree shear attachment and have at it. Otherwise you'll be cutting and dragging for a long time. A dozer will make quick work, but you'll have a lot of soil disturbance and will need to keep cattle off disturbed soil for at least one full growing season.
Bring fire back as a management tool. Juniper is not tolerant of fire and the presence of them indicates a lack of consistent fire.
If the Junipers are over 2-3ft tall and your grass coverage is sparse, you will have a tough time killing them with fire; excepting wildfire conditions.
I've dealt with them a lot. They're a pain in the ass when you don't manage them.
And there is no need to treat the stumps with any herbicide; eastern juniper does not resprout. Although there are a lot of people in this world that will tell you otherwise

 

[madhatte]

Nice "cattle terraces" there, as my old Geology prof called them. I second the motion to reintroduce fire to the landscape. Expect it to be expensive and scary at first but much less trouble later.