Too many saplings not enough time or energy to thin

[RCR 3 EVER]

Several foresters have told us to improve the quality of property, saplings have to be thinned out. There are numerous areas
that have dense coverage of the small saplings you can barely walk through. It is impossible to cut the 3"and smaller trees
with a chainsaw without breaking our backs. My brother found a DR 6.25 Sprint Trimmer/mower with Beaver blade
attachment which is a 12 inch blade allowing 3 inch trees to be cut.

Has anybody heard of these or experienced these machines. Or can you suggest another machine. Hopefully this link to the
machine works, the link to the blade is within the info to the machine highlighted in red type.

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[dave k]

Samlok posted a vid of him doing a job like that and had a rather nifty attachment for his saw, I liked the way you could use one hand on the saw and grab the tree with the other to move it out of the way unlike having both hands on a brush cutter . Just a thought ?

 

[hammerlogging]

Alternatively, you could let nature do some of the work and you can just speed it up, consider hack (hatchet) and squirt (herbicide) to simply do a crown release of the trees you want to outcompete and eventually shade out all the other crap.

 

[slowp]

How many acres?

 

[2dogs]

The DR machine might be OK but a regular brush cutter is probably a better choice. Or maybe an injector would be better.
Hypo-Hatchet Tree Injector

 

[Samlock]

Samlok posted a vid of him doing a job like that and had a rather nifty attachment for his saw, I liked the way you could use one hand on the saw and grab the tree with the other to move it out of the way unlike having both hands on a brush cutter . Just a thought ?

The attachment is ok if you're going to pile them up to be hauled on a landing by a forwarder. But if your plan is to leave the sticks on the ground, a brushcutter job it is. The bigger brushcutter you have, the faster it gets done.

I have never tried out an injector - but I suspect it's not a good idea in a very dense stand: you have no room to swing it, most of the sticks are probably too thin for it and how can you tell the leave trees from the injected ones while you're working? You should paint the leave trees, but hey, let's say if you leave 2000 trees standing and kill 15 000 - 20 000 around them - lots of paint and you get lost 25 times a day there.

 

[dancan]

Sounds like a job for a FS550 to me .

 

[zogger]

Several foresters have told us to improve the quality of property, saplings have to be thinned out. There are numerous areas
that have dense coverage of the small saplings you can barely walk through. It is impossible to cut the 3"and smaller trees
with a chainsaw without breaking our backs. My brother found a DR 6.25 Sprint Trimmer/mower with Beaver blade
attachment which is a 12 inch blade allowing 3 inch trees to be cut.

Has anybody heard of these or experienced these machines. Or can you suggest another machine. Hopefully this link to the
machine works, the link to the blade is within the info to the machine highlighted in red type.

DR® Power Equipment - Please Configure Browser to Accept Cookies

I have a similar DR machine but with the trimmer head. 6 point something kawasaki engine. It kiks righteous weed whacking assets! I can imagine a beaver blade would work. Mine isn't self propelled though and is a bear to maneuver on slopes and hills because it is so heavy. But on the flats, zooba! I haven't even changed string sections for three years! As long as I don't try to trim rocks or actual bona fide trees, it just keeps whacking away. You can stroll through a blackberry thicket with it....

So ya, self propelled plus beaver blade..I bet they work.

 

[RCR 3 EVER]

Replies: to all the ideas

We have 120 acres total mixed hardwoods, pines and Spruces and small open grassy areas. There are about a
dozen areas around trees and in open areas. Saplings are in numerous areas that are about 50x100 yds square
densely packed with saplings of all sizes ,up and down hills.The other saplings are scattered about in the
hardwood stands and in the more open areas and amongst the dense pine grove.

Using an ax/hatchet amongst the trees is too dangerous as it may hit another tree or most likely a leg or neck:msp_scared:. Using the injector, We would still have to get rid of the dead tree.

Brushcutter sounds like the same thing I am asking about. Except the version (DR Sprint) I am asking about is on wheels and we would not have to lug a FS550 around, just push and pull the 70 pounds through the sandy soil.

One brushcutter version is carried the other (DR) is on wheels. THe Beaver blade on the DR model is a sharpenable,replaceable chain on the blade. We would be purchasing the NON self -propelled version which would bring cost
down to about $700.

Are the DR models worth the costs compared to other cutters?

The saplings would then be chopped up or piled up into a brushpile for critters. The critter pile or rental of chipper
is my suggestion instead of purchasing a chipper also that will be used a couple of times a year.

 

[HILLBILLYREDNEC]

Well if you live in area were snow is the DR can have a host of attachments. What I use to do on my old ranch was wait to the fall after a good rain and spray islands of tress with a blend of diesel and gas on them and set them afire. It thinned them and remove the waste in one operation,it would allow the grass to come in when the spring came around . The Brush cutter with a blade would allow you to do selective species reduction, while saving desirable species.