embarrassing question - need help

[tater74]

The guy who has been farming the place we bought pushed down a bunch of trees to clear some more land with the understanding that I would burn them. They have been pushed into piles and have been down for 3 months or so. Mostly hackberries. I know they are still green, but how do I get them to burn? I have dumped $200-$300 of gas and diesel on them but can't keep the fires going.

Someone suggested to put a tire down in the bottom of the pile and that would work to keep the fire hot. It's illegal so I'm not admitting that I might have tried it, but since I'm asking it might not work the way it was supposed to.

I'm not ignorant about burning trees. I have cut and burned a lot of firewood over the years, but mostly pine when I lived in Idaho.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm stumped. Pun intended.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[hillrancher]

They would have burned better 3 days after they were pushed down. They are in the soured stage will be very hard to burn. If you have acess to a track hoe. Pick them up stack tight and high they will burn.

 

[SPJ]

I think I would use my chain saw and cut some of the limbs into small pieces and then pile them up and put a little oil (from the last oil change) on them and get that started and just keep adding to it. I have always had pretty good luck doing it this way. Phil

 

[Bigfoot]

Pile some dry fire wood as far up in under them as you can get on the opposite side the wind is blowing. Keep feeding the fire. Use a leaf blower to spread the heat about 30 minutes in. The time to burn a tree is 2 or 3 days after it is cut.

 

[jedstivers]

Can't see black smoke at night.
Something as good or even better than tires are one ton tote bags and 30 gal. plastic drums.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

50/50 oil and diesel always seems to work for me with green wood plus a little dry wood to keep it going. Hack berry is a pretty wet wood so good luck (insert smile here)

 

[gonzo]

This isn't something that happens real fast . it'll take some time , stay away from all that gas and oil and tires , or grass won't grow there for a while .Take the money you would have spent on that and spend it on BEER . You gotta hang out and police your fire if none of your friends will hang out with ya invite OL JIM , BEAM THAT IS. He's burned more brush than any one in TEXAS . Start small and get a good bed of coals goin , keep pickin away at it and before you know it you,ll be lookin for somthin else to burn . Look out for them turkeypine they can be nasty .

 

[Limomike]

Throw an old tire or two on it, and set on fire. It will burn then. Makes black smoke, but as said before, do it at night, no one can see it.

 

[Dave]

Remember fire burns up and not down. Get a fire started and stack things on top of the fire. Or at least cut in under the pile so your fire is under the pile. Plastic from haylage bales works good too. A layer of brush, a layer of bale wrap, another layer of brush, etc.

 

[lakeviewwalker]

I agree with baby sitting it. get it chopped up in to smaller pieces and build a good fire with some dry wood once you get the heat built up the brush will start to burn. Also waste oil will work better than any other accelerant and is a lot cheaper but dont light it until you get a nice tight pile on whaterver end the wind is blowing from and wind will work the fire thru the rest of the pile.

 

[HOSS]

I've been burning allot of piled trees and brush lately. Get the fire started toward the bottom of the pile and then keep chunking it with a loader on a tractor. When it starts to burn down just stir the logs and brush around a bit with the loader. It allows oxygen and fresh fuel to get started. Getting it HOT is the key. It may take a couple of days to burn a big pile. We start it early A.M. and babysit it up til late at night then re-kindle in the early morning again.

 

[jedstivers]

If you can dig a pit you can burn anything in it. It keeps the heat in the fire I guess. Whatever the reason it will really burn.

 

[greybeard]

Had rain lately? Foggy damp night? Timber dries out for about the 1st 3 months, and after that, starts absorbing moisture back in. Most of the problems comes from it not being piled right. It needs to be pushed together hard and the dozer or skidder drive up on it soe to push it all down together. If ya don't, the branches hold everything apart so much the heat doesn't really affect the biggest part--just the little area you threw the diesel.

I never burn tires--just don't like to.
Get on the wind side--the side the wind is coming from. Take with you, a couple of old 5 gal plastic buckets--empty or with just whatever leiitle oil was left in when ya filled your tractor or whatever.
Find some old fenceposts--if you have some rotten crossties or pieces of old telephone poles, they work best, but even wooden 6'' tops line posts will work. Older ones have creosote in them, newser ones have something else, but it still burns.
Shove those up into the pile down low, where there's plenty of wood, and put your diesel on those. Place a bucket up higher, just above so the flames will reach it. Set the post(s) on fire, and when it starts burning, it will begin to melt that bucket into a liquid, and that plastic burns HOT. The old post will burn way longer and hotter than a tire will, and no one will ever say anything about burning posts, but they might if you get caught burning a tire. I guess up in Bell County your trees were mostly post oak and mesquite, but if you have any pine and can find some pine knots, they are your friend.

I've burned lots of 'em in the last 3-4 years. Anywhere from 7 months old to the most recent that were over 4 years old. No tires, about a gallon of diesel or sometimes just a rag soaked in diesel. Strong wind-no wind--rained on--in a fog or drizzle it don't matter. When they start, they'll make their own wind. I figure I've burned about 30 in this time period, some as recently as last week. These are some I burned in 08 that had been cut and piled in '07.

 

[tater74]

Thanks for all the replies. We can only burn in the daylight here. I think I may have been trying to burn too much at one time. I will go back and try again.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[greybeard]

Only in the daylight? Well, that's odd. I'd like to know how they expect ya to be able to extinguish one at sundown. Mine burned for over a week, thru pouring rain and everything else, and no one ever said a word about it. I had one burn for over a month straight--24/7, Big stuff--logs etc.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Only in the daylight? Well, that's odd. I'd like to know how they expect ya to be able to extinguish one at sundown. Mine burned for over a week, thru pouring rain and everything else, and no one ever said a word about it. I had one burn for over a month straight--24/7, Big stuff--logs etc.

Someone is blowing smoke up somebodies butt. I would hate like he!! to try to put some piles out I started at dark.
Had one pile punched up with a D-9 that burned for a couple of week's. When we first lit it off had flames 50 to 75 feet in the air.

 

[tater74]

We are under periodic burn bans. When I talk to the local fire marshall's office they tell me not to stoke it up too much and that it needs to be out by dark. It doesn't make sense to me, but then i'm new in this part of the country and am just trying to get along without making waves.

 

[greybeard]

Yeah, we know all about the burn bans. We have'em too, and they're the reason some of my piles sat for several years before I could burn them. The after dark thing is just altogether different--not even the Natl Forest Service cares if the fires are out around here at dark or not.

 

[CCRanch]

I use a pear burner. Its for burning the stickers off of cactus. Might not have them up your way but u might can order one. Ive started many a fire with one. All u need is a gallon propane tank and a lighter.