Zackman1801
ArboristSite Guru
around here atleast for the moment the fire danger is extremely high. Just the other day someone was burning brush caught the woods on fire and destroyed two nice campers.
Land Clearing - Burn Brush or Not?
- Thread starter secureland
- Start date
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mercer_me
ArboristSite Operative
Just wait for a rainy day and then torch it, just have some shovels and rakes around if it get sout of hand.
HorseShoeInFork
ArboristSite Operative
Just remember if you rent equipment over the weekend, most charge based on an 8hr machine run time. I know a fella (no not me) who thought he would rent a backhoe over the weekend. They dropped it off noon Friday and he spent two days trying to figure out how to run Case controls and barely shut it off to eat, sleep, and whiz. Called them up Monday A.M. said pick er' up. He almost had a small child when he saw the charge next month on his credit card. Could have hired an actual operator w/backhoe for 1/4 of his "next time I'll leave it to the professionals" backhoe play day and equipment rental lesson.
Be sure to wait until the rain actually begins to fall. My neighbor who is a retired FD chief decided to start a large brush fire before a storm hit. Only problem was the big black rain clouds stopped about 1 mile away and all we got here were 65mph winds. Rained 2"+ got the creeks up, cooled off 30 degrees, but not a drop here. He burned about 30 acres before it was contained. Nearly killed a fireman who was riding in the back of a brush truck when they dropped off in a big hole.
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The Summit Fire of May 2008
This was the afternoon lead story in our "local" fish wrapper. The charges against the contractor mean up to 7 years in prison if convicted. The lawyers will soon rush in to bayonet the wounded and the civil cases will continue for years. Everyone involved is sueing everyone else. If the fire ran uphill then the guy at the top of the hill sues every land owner and accupant below him. And so it goes.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_12191513
Another account.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12192433?source=rss
This was the afternoon lead story in our "local" fish wrapper. The charges against the contractor mean up to 7 years in prison if convicted. The lawyers will soon rush in to bayonet the wounded and the civil cases will continue for years. Everyone involved is sueing everyone else. If the fire ran uphill then the guy at the top of the hill sues every land owner and accupant below him. And so it goes.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_12191513
Another account.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12192433?source=rss
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Many years ago, we torched off piles like RPM's. We foolishly brought out potatoes and hotdogs. You couldn't get near enough to cook them. I think we found a pile that had burned down enough so we could cook the hotdogs by standing backwards to the pile. It was too hot on the face.
We're not really allowed to burn piles any more. Funny thing is it has more to do with air quality than anything else. So, we have this five-year backlog of piled material in different sales that we can't do anything with, and Bigwigs crawling up our keisters demanding we do something about them. What to do? Imagine our surprise when we find that there is a market for hogfuel. We sell a couple of experimental units for $1 per unit (i.e. "get the junk out and it's yours for free"), and all of a sudden tub grinders are the new iPods.
Problem? Soil compaction and slope degradation. Sure, the piles go away, but now the soil is scraped or crushed to parent material.
Solution? Dunno, yet. I think we're on the right track, but we definitely need to figure out how to do this without creating any new problems.
Problem? Soil compaction and slope degradation. Sure, the piles go away, but now the soil is scraped or crushed to parent material.
Solution? Dunno, yet. I think we're on the right track, but we definitely need to figure out how to do this without creating any new problems.
hokiewheeler
ArboristSite Lurker
Burning is agronomically speaking, the best way to go. You take care of most of the noxious weed seeds this way. If you really want to burn the stuff well, get an excavator, dig pits and push in the brush. Then dig some trenches and lay pipe in the trench connected to a blower. Light the piles, turn on the air, and watch the material disappear. You'll want to stockpile the soil so you can level off the hole afterwards. This method works well. If you live in an area that prevents burning you'll have to chip. You really need to haul the chips if you expect to farm and get decent yields. Rotting wood robs the soil of plant available nutrients because they get all tied up in wood rotting bacteria. After the wood breaks down though, you are good to go. This takes 2 to 3 years. If you can wait that long, chip it all and blow it on the ground. Hopefully you aren't dealing with any federal farm programs and the .gov doesn't have to decide if you have wet woods or not. If you deal with any FSA programs, you need to get NRCS out prior to any work to see if you are permitted to even clear the woods. Often times, you are not. If you aren't, you need to decide if the additional production negates the loss of federal farm payments. It might or might not depending on commodity prices at the time. Lately it has been, and farmers have been dropping out of programs left and right. You will be barred for life though, and commodities probably won't remain high. Anyone who buys the land will be held to remediation standards to be eligible. Myself, I'm not in the programs so it doesn't matter. But I have worked for the man so I have seen it first hand. My land, I would cut and haul as much of the debris as possible after mowing the underbrush. Then grind the stumps, then fertilize with a high N fertilizer. Next year, plant. If you work during dry soil conditions, you will minimize compaction. Use tracked machinery where possible. If the soil is wet enough to stick to tracks or tires, you are compacting it to economically damaging levels. The soil should crumble in the hand and not ball up or smear. That is dry enough.
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Burning is not bad for the enviroment, Mother nature has been burning for millions of years. SO wise guy, are you going to tell mother nature she has been doing wrong????????????:angry2:
mercer_me
ArboristSite Operative
:bang: :angry2:
:agree2:
Why do you think people burn feilds? They burn them to help the soil. Burning doesn't hurt the enviernment at all.
Bushler
ArboristSite Operative
I don't agree that burning hurts the soil. I like to plant back in the old burn sites and always noticed how the trees that are planted in the burn sites outperform the ones adjacent. They'll be a darker green color to.
The above applies to connifer planted back on orford siltly clay soil in western oregon.
The above applies to connifer planted back on orford siltly clay soil in western oregon.
Pretty much what I do. Cover a spot mabe 4'X8' or so and let it get bone dry , then burn it in rainy weather or snow. The dry spot gets hot enough to burn the wet wood .
Bushler
ArboristSite Operative
I quit covering piles after I got the grapple machiine for shovel logging. Now, after I build my piles so the outer branches sort of tee pee the water, it sheds off the inner part of the pile which stays pretty dry, dry enough to light with a quart of diesel and a match, usually.
I like doing it like that because the tee pee outer 'shell' makes the fire draw great for a well ventilated nearly smokeless fire, that will burn 90% unatended. I generally only haveto re-pile once after the initial burn, to finish off the root wads and heavy long butts.
Scarifying with a shovel is almost fun. I've done it with cats, loaders and even by hand. Those methods suck. I nearly lost an old 7U D-4 burning slash. I was on top of the pile pshing fresh matterial when I threw a track and had to winch myself off the pile....dragging burning brush with me....and the old 4 (Flintstone) had a bit of oily greasy residue (actually lots of residue) in the pan and under the winch. It was an anxious 45 minutes.
We are still allowed to burn slash, but its regulated and we have to have a smoke managment plan. Carefull measurements are taken of the piles and we have to report what per cent burnt, etc.
I don't like doing it, but there's no reasonable alternative.
I like doing it like that because the tee pee outer 'shell' makes the fire draw great for a well ventilated nearly smokeless fire, that will burn 90% unatended. I generally only haveto re-pile once after the initial burn, to finish off the root wads and heavy long butts.
Scarifying with a shovel is almost fun. I've done it with cats, loaders and even by hand. Those methods suck. I nearly lost an old 7U D-4 burning slash. I was on top of the pile pshing fresh matterial when I threw a track and had to winch myself off the pile....dragging burning brush with me....and the old 4 (Flintstone) had a bit of oily greasy residue (actually lots of residue) in the pan and under the winch. It was an anxious 45 minutes.
We are still allowed to burn slash, but its regulated and we have to have a smoke managment plan. Carefull measurements are taken of the piles and we have to report what per cent burnt, etc.
I don't like doing it, but there's no reasonable alternative.
mtfallsmikey
Addicted to ArboristSite
I burn small piles of brush, mainly in winter...nothing like 3-4 pallets at the bottom of the pile to kick things off....and I burn in my garden area, the potash is really good for my acidic soil.
RPM
ArboristSite Operative
I agree....log it and burn!
secureland
ArboristSite Operative
I like the covering idea for these piles. I will wait until winter to burn.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.
