Im buying some land thats heavily covered.
Im going to hire a dozer as its the only way with this deal.
After its done there will be many of the roots that made this mess to begin with.
Ive heard diffferent versions of the solution to the dilemma.
One a sub soiler that rips the roots from the ground but only the big ones?
Two a spray a weed killer on the shoots a coulple to three times and disk it .
Then plant grass to starve it out and fertilizers . Mowing will keep it down if it comes up.
Whats says the jury?
Tim
Memphest 2006
November 18th
Replies
plan "B"....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Any Spotted Owls in there?
Yes , why did you ask?Memphest 2006
November 18th
Tim,
From the pictures it looks like the land is pretty steep. If all you are trying to achieve is a view, why not just have a local come in and log it? I agree with the others, a track hoe is the way to strip the land clean, and to remove trees root ball and all, but with winter coming I'd be worried about errosion, maybe even washing out the road, if it were torn up track hoe style.
Note that this is a left coast perspective - not sure what soil, rain, errosion issues are in your world.
Wayne
I didnt mention it but yes its pretty steep. The bottom[below the road] doesnt really have anything worth keeping other than firewood and its too much trouble getting it out. We are blessed around here with firewood so theres not much sense in pulling it out of steep places to get it .
The land goes to the bottom of a holler and I have no problem with a dozer pushing it down as far as he can operate and leave it .
The erosion part is why I wanted to plant fesque grass which is wild game grass here . It doesnt grow very high and doesnt really need to be mowed with game animals eating it . It makes good hay for then in winter.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
My backhoe guy prefers using the backhoe and digging stumps and roots up as he clears this seems to be very effective for getting the grass to take hold.
He uses the leverage of the tree after he scoops around it.Then he pushes the tree over and it pulls up alot of the roots with it.
ANDYSZ2
WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT BEING A SOLE PROPRIETOR IS A REAL JOB?
REMODELER/PUNCHOUT SPECIALIST
I'm with ANDYSZ2 - A trackhoe (or excavator) will take trees out much faster than a dozer. It's amazing what a talented operator can do.
Last time we cleared much land they had a dozer in there piling up the brush. I think he ripped a lot of the roots out while he was at it.
The next spring we plowed the ground (slowly) with a moldboard plow that had spring-trip bottoms on it. If it caught on a root, it could be re-set easily without damaging the plow.
Larger dirt-moving contractors may have a big brush disk that they could run on the ground for ya.
What's the end use of this ground? A home site, a farm field, or what?
I want to clear below the road to the bluff for the view at this time .Memphest 2006
November 18th
Mooney,
Feel lucky you only have to deal with trees. Here are the rocks & trees I have coming to deal with in Tulsa area.
The Tulsa skyline is 20mi, this is 3-400 ft above the Arkansas river. Some of these stones are about 5 ton. The solid ledge is 40-50' deep.
Plan on building a pumped waterfall in the natural break by the dog. The stone block forming it is 20'x15'x30'+ deep. Figure it has been in that position about 200,000 yr so won't go anywhere soon.
The underlying rock formation is 200 million yrs old.
If you have a problem, don't just talk do something to set it right.
Jim Andersen
Edited 9/23/2006 12:52 pm ET by jimcco
LOL, I could show you similar pics .
To the back of the property there is larger rocks than you show . To the front of the lot are just a lot of building rock but their are many.
Ive got a small bluff like that going into the holler , but its too far down there for me to care. Machinery will never see it , its so steep getting to it .
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
Thanks for sharin the pic. You gonna build your house there ?
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
This is house to go there it's an Autocad model with Sketchup materials pasted on and real pix as the background.
This rock DW calls the Manatee is 14'x6'x3'. I'm going to build up next to it but save it.If you have a problem, don't just talk do something to set it right.
Jim Andersen
Pic 10 and 3 represents what I need done.
In what ever pic it is TJ is looking at the upper land that is the building land. Everything below the road goes bye bye.
I just wish it had been a clear day. Those are mountains across the river that look like humps.
Memphest 2006
November 18th
Edited 9/23/2006 8:36 am by Mooney
Edited 9/23/2006 8:43 am by Mooney
Please give some consideration to possible erosion effects and at least talk to some folks with alternative ideas.
“Experience doesn’t bring wisdom, experience evaluation does. When you fail, stay down there for a while and figure out what went wrong. Don’t run away from your failures, evaluate them and learn from them.”
Dr. John C. Maxwell
Isn't any builder who frequents this forum who would leave the landscape more subject to erosion than it naturally was.If you have a problem, don't just talk do something to set it right.
Jim Andersen
track hoe to base clear.. gets more without tearing everything up...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I cant hire track hoe dammit. We have a bunch of buldozers and they are reasonable. Not one person owns a track hoe in the county.Memphest 2006
November 18th
can ya get one with a brush rake...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I dunno.
I need somthing done pretty quick.
Tim Memphest 2006
November 18th
the rake will tear out the brush, trees and roots and move around less dirt than a blade...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
When we cleared our lot last month we rented the Track Ho from the local rental yard. $600 for 24hrs & $150 of that was for them to bring it to the site & pick up.
did a better job than the guy next door did with the bucket too...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
you know the answer
buy a trackhoe.... sit on it a few hours before & after have'n to deal with folks... your land will be cleared and it's an investment in mental health
p
Depending on how far you need to move the debris, trackhoe is faster but I've done the same very easily with my track loader. Currently using a 23k lb rubber tire loader for the same work. Cleaning up after a trackhoe last time, I spent an inordinate amount of time waiting for the trackhoe to give me something to do. Operator couldn't believe how fast I moved debris. Only problem I've had is with land owners who think they'll help by cutting off the trees. Especially the idiots who cut them into pieces.
Raise the bucket and push the tree over. Tree takes out the root ball and the large roots all together. My sites are cleaner than what generally is left from dozing 'cause I don't have to cut roots with a blade to get the tree over. Using the bucket teeth to rake the area afterwards works well. Then broadcast the seed.
There are root rakes available to attach to dozer blade ends but I've not seen one in action. My use of a rubber tire loader is unusual for this work but you might ask around if anyone uses one. Or buy one yourself. Here, they go very cheap. Half the price of a decent farm tractor for a lot more tractor. More compaction, if that's an issue, but much faster than track.
This job was clearing and excavation, with some rocks. Bertha's now got a substantial widow-maker canopy on her. I'm in love.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Maybe you should consider buying a trackhoe and hire out to others. If there are no other ones around, it could be a good income opportunity.(-:I see from your pictures why you want to clear the trees. Looks like one heck of a view. You probably don't need to get ALL the roots out - Just enough that you can work the ground down and mow it occasionally. Doesn't need to be perfect.
25% of American men kiss their wives goodbye when leaving the house.
99% of them kiss their houses goodbye when leaving the wife.
Yep, Mooney should buy himself a dozer or hoe.
Like VATom says,
Raise the bucket and push the tree over. Tree takes out the root ball and the large roots all together.
That's what I do, nothing easier. A small 10,000 pound machine can do up to 18 inch dia maple, fir, etc. with no trouble. Bigger stuff (aka 45 in dia trees) I need to hook a 5/8 cable about 40 ft up on a snatch block to pull the roots out.
Cant burn here anymore, but it was neat in the old days to do a 4 day fire with a pile of 10 ft dia DFir root balls.
Got a root rake on the dozer at the cabin, kinda like a super strong harrow.