Post logging trail cleanup/ forest management

[dancan]

Nice pics , I've cleared lots like that just not that large .
Low tech is a chainsaw or an FS550 and some hired help dragging and making piles , get a grapple attachment on your bucket and then gather your piles to either chip or burn .Get a Farmi type logging winch for your tractor and pull the tops to you .

 

[michigander]

Here is the Brush Bull by Woods Equipment! You should have at least a 40 horse tractor for it. It will chew some stuff up. Rated for 4 inch! It wont chew stumps down. I found that out.:greenchainsaw:

 

[dingeryote]

LOL!!

Nah...wont chew stumps bigger than 6" or so. But trying wont hurt 'em none either.

Here's mine under an Oak than snapped during a Tornado back in 07'.
I ducked under the tractor when I heard the "BANG", as I was closing the Cab up at the time. Then the whole tractor jumped when the tree hit.
I PASSED my Dog running back to the house..LOL!

Not a scratch on that Chopper though.
Woods still makes stuff like they expect it to be used..

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[056kid]

Our property (25acres) was selectively cut ~ 3 years ago. Terrain is very hilly. I want to keep some of the logging trails open. There is absolutely a TON of slash/ undergrowth.

I've been clearing the major trails with a blade on the weedeater and the bush-hog on the tractor.....I'm losing that battle quickly - I have to clear in the winter - it's just too thick when it's green.

- Is there another PTO driven implement (like a bush-hog on steroids mixed with a pulverizer (sp?)) that can clean up the wickedly overgrown trails?
- It would need to take some abuse like a 2-3" branch lying on the ground.

All I can find it specialized/ dedicated logging equipment that's major $.

Once trails are cleared I can maintain them with the regular bush-hog, but I'm going to quickly lose the battle (and trail access) if I don't get a handle on it soon.

Ideally the trails would be grassy and free of briars, saplings, etc. I know this is years down the road but;
- What do I do now to ensure this in the future?
- How do I properly manage the vegetation?
- I don't want to go spraying Utility Grade ROW mix and kill off everything on the trails, do I??
- If a spray is the best answer, to ensure minimal runoff do you simply spray in dry weather when it won't rain for 24-48 hrs?

I know this is alot of questions, but I figured this forum would have more experience with this kind of thing. I did search - couldn't find much except for mulching machines and "conhtact your local forester", which I fully intend on doing.

Any advice here is greatly appreciated.

Let it rot . . .

 

[Curlycherry1]

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

Snicker. How come nobody's pointing out Dinger's tractor is wearing a skirt? Is that the girly model of tractor?

 

[woodlotguy]

A brush saw(fs550) is a pretty useful tool.You can clear alot with one.You might be amazed at how some students or cheap labour could get done in a day.We try and make our roads wide enogh to disc later and plant for wildlife.On the tractor note and tires,always mow in the same direction when you are in heavy stuff,the stumps tend to orient one way and far less chance of sticking a tire.I have a brush brute mounted on the front of my loader,it has angled tines that grab the smaller trees(2-5 inches)you lift up and rip everything out by the roots.mow the finer stuff after this,disc and plant.Hardest thing on tractor tires that I have found are old shed deer antlers

 

[tramp bushler]

gotcha, thanks. Yeah a buddy of mine brought out a Case 450C and was pulling trees at a helluva rate - wife even said WOW, maybe we should bought a dozer

. Around here small used dozers can be got pretty cheap . They prolly can there also . If you put a new cutting edge on the blade they will shear off alot of your little trees if you can get to them when the ground is frozen hard .......

 

[tramp bushler]

Curly , be nice ..

Snicker. How come nobody's pointing out Dinger's tractor is wearing a skirt? Is that the girly model of tractor?

.

.

. One good thing you could drive as fast as possible and would'nt get any mud on you ....
. Digger must be one tough son of a gun to drive a tractor like that ..
I had no idea there were tornados in Michigan . yuk ..

 

[tramp bushler]

. I think 056 has the right idea ... let it rot .. ... If you hunt it keeps things more real , less park like ... but I would salvage the burnable wood ... To let good hardwood firewood rot seems wrong to me .as we mostly only have spruce to burn here ............ trees have to eat something too !! ... Those are great pics !!.....with all the widow makers I see hanging , I sincerely hope you are pretty religious about wearing your hard hat ....And ALWAYS LOOK UP ........
.
. This may be redundant but I,m going to write it .........
. Looking up , and seeing what is over your head is one of the most important things there is for someone workin in the woods ... There not called widow makers for nothing ......... It is a discipline . You have to make yourself do it , and it,s easy to get busy or lazy and or forgetful and not look up ...........

. Your not cool wearing a soft hat , or no hat ....... It's really hard to beat the modern hard hat, screen , ear muffs systems .... put a 10"x 12" nylon ( cape ) on the back and you are good to go ........... A hard hat is about 100 times as important as chaps .......Eye protection is much more important than chaps also ....

 

[headleyj]

Yeah there's some widowmakers there for sure. I am careful for sure - there are some things I need to do to ensure that safety though.

The small stuff I'll let go - the larger stuff (16" and over) I cut to see if it's rotted and then decide.

 

[dingeryote]

.

.

. One good thing you could drive as fast as possible and would'nt get any mud on you ....
. Digger must be one tough son of a gun to drive a tractor like that ..
I had no idea there were tornados in Michigan . yuk ..

Tramp.

Tornados happen just about every year around here. We caught 80mph winds on that one but no touch down locally.

The fender skirts keep the tires from tearing up Blueberry bushes and knocking fruit off of 'em. Folks pay 3 Bucks a pound for the fruit, and those fenders save a Couple Grand a Row if I gotta get into the field when things are ripe.

"Girly"?
Some soft handed Nancy Boys that don't know thier ass from a hole in the ground might see it that way, but they have a right to thier opinion.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Curlycherry1]

The fender skirts keep the tires from tearing up Blueberry bushes and knocking fruit off of 'em. Folks pay 3 Bucks a pound for the fruit, and those fenders save a Couple Grand a Row if I gotta get into the field when things are ripe.

"Girly"?
Some soft handed Nancy Boys that don't know thier ass from a hole in the ground might see it that way, but they have a right to thier opinion.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

Just had to bust on ya Dinger. I saw a bunch of those kinds of tractors in wine and orchard country in NY (Lake Erie Shore). Some of them were modified so the fenders went down to ~6" above the ground and were shaped like they were going to be put into a wind tunnel. They also had cabs that were blended right into the hoods so branches and vines would get a nice smooth ride right up over the tractor. They were weird looking machines.

Curiosity question: with blueberries being so easy to knock off the bushes what would force you into the fields with a tractor? Spraying, picking up harvested fruit? I am just wondering because I know from my own bushes that shake them too much and the ground becomes blue with fallen fruit.

 

[tramp bushler]

Ya boy ,, at 3 bucks a lb ...
. In Southeast we get blue berry and huckle berry like you wouldn,t believe .. When they are ripe boots , pants , chaps , shirt , hands , face , hard hat ect gets stained blue red .from them ... ...Fastest way to pick berries is with 5 gallon buckets . .. Stick a bush in a pail and shake it . the ripe berries fall in the bucket , the unripe ones don,t ... some people pick 100 lbs a day in Southeast , wandering around in the clearcuts ... The berry bushes come back before the conifers take over and close off the canopy .......Its alot of fun , just you , your buckets , the berries and the bears ... lots of bears !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.

 

[056kid]

Sounds like you need a good fire.

those where the words I was going to add if i didnt see them. Some proper poisening could work too maybe?

 

[056kid]

Here's a few pics I took last night from the deck....there's trees down everywhere, it's just getting to them before they're too far gone.

If you look between the "V" of the two trees there to the right...off in the distance you can see one of the main trails...next pic is zoomed up on it.

looks like they left alot of wood on the ground. .

 

[headleyj]

looks like they left alot of wood on the ground. .

there's a TON. There's trees with rootball and all - Hickory's and oaks no less, bettin those fell over after they were gone but dunno for sure.

 

[dingeryote]

Just had to bust on ya Dinger. I saw a bunch of those kinds of tractors in wine and orchard country in NY (Lake Erie Shore). Some of them were modified so the fenders went down to ~6" above the ground and were shaped like they were going to be put into a wind tunnel. They also had cabs that were blended right into the hoods so branches and vines would get a nice smooth ride right up over the tractor. They were weird looking machines.

Curiosity question: with blueberries being so easy to knock off the bushes what would force you into the fields with a tractor? Spraying, picking up harvested fruit? I am just wondering because I know from my own bushes that shake them too much and the ground becomes blue with fallen fruit.

Just bustin back Curly.

Every once in a while the fruit is at set, and the weather precludes getting the spray plane in there to Nuke fungus or Beetles, so out comes the old 3pt sprayer, and a lot of cussing.


Same thing on the hand pick side. I time mowing the middles so as to not have to get back in there untill after harvest, but if we get lots of rain, the middles come up, and there's just no choice. Either Mow, or pay the pickers more to put up with the dew covered Calf high grass. Till it just before harvest, and theres dust on the fruit, and the Pickers snivel about the uneven ground and mud near the driplines.


Yep. Some of the new Landini/McCormick "N" series Orchard Tractors could almost squeeze through most folks front door. Those curved front windows are really cool, but if ya break one....you're gonna need a Loan to replace it.
Wierd, but crazy cool streamlining, and 95hp that will turn inside of a Jeep.

LOL!!
I gotta streamline my tractors tool box. Last year it got knocked open, and then got FILLED with green berrys from the sharp angle. Probably dropped a couple hundred bucks worth on the ground before I caught it.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[dingeryote]

Found another source for the smaller flails for ya, while shopping for Berthoud sprayer parts.



http://www.superbhorticulture.com/choppers-seriesbg2bk2.php
Good folks to deal with.

Chops brush up to 4" if ya have the HP.


Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Frank Boyer]

A dozer or crawler loader is the way to go. I have a 27 hp 4 WD kubota with a 5' Gearmore flail mower and it bogs down in heavy 1" brush. A day with a crawler loader/dozer would do most of what you need. A crawler can cut roads, get the drainage right , and remove the stumps. Check around and get a couple of estimates. How wide do you want your trails? A D4 or D5 size tractor (80 to 100 hp) with a 8-10' blade can get it done in a hurry. Forget doing it by hand unless you really need the exercise.

 

[Fechmup]

Maybe I've missed something posted previously; if that's the case, I apologize. I'm surprised no one mentioned a tracked Bobcat (T250/T300) with a brushcutter (Brushcat) on it. I rented that setup a year and a half ago for a GNARLY, thick job. I had budgeted 4 guys cutting non-stop for 6 days with Stihl brushcutters and chainsaws. I did it myself in two, the only handwork I had to do were on some larger growth.

The beauty of that thing was, if I didn't think I could run it over, I could usually boom up, crush it with the brushcutter itself, and then drive right over it. That thing was a revolutionary step in how we went about jobs like that, which was a wet nightmare.

As I recall, it was about $900 for a weeks rental of the Bobcat, Brushcat, delivery, and pickup combined.