Rent/Hire/Buy a Dozer

[skyhightree1]

Again I'd have it sprayed first and kill it.
Way less regrowth to deal with after clearing

That might be a good idea. I had to mow it often until the regrowth was killed off.

I have to respectfully disagree with you all that's what I do for a living is clear land and ive sprayed before and still end up spraying after lands been cleared. You can spray before and it will kill off some stuff but mother nature will find something to go in that cleared off spot so I prefer to spray once the regrowth starts and knock it out vs already grown.

$-Spray + $-clear + $-spray again = $$$ or $-clear + $-Spray = $$. I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend on the process. I know its cheaper for my customers to have me clear then spray vs spray clear then spray again... ;-) There is no way around after reclaiming the land that you wont have to spray its just how many times do you want to do it ?

 

[Bright Raven]

Again I'd have it sprayed first and kill it.
Way less regrowth to deal with after clearing

That might be a good idea. I had to mow it often until the regrowth was killed off.

I have to respectfully disagree with you all that's what I do for a living is clear land and ive sprayed before and still end up spraying after lands been cleared. You can spray before and it will kill off some stuff but mother nature will find something to go in that cleared off spot so I prefer to spray once the regrowth starts and knock it out vs already grown.

$-Spray + $-clear + $-spray again = $$$ or $-clear + $-Spray = $$. I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend on the process. I know its cheaper for my customers to have me clear then spray vs spray clear then spray again... ;-) There is no way around after reclaiming the land that you wont have to spray its just how many times do you want to do it ?

That makes sense. plus I know spraying is expensive.

 

[dieselbeef]

excavatorrip emout? or a loader with a root rake? or they got too much root?

 

[greybeard]

Again I'd have it sprayed first and kill it.
Way less regrowth to deal with after clearing

That might be a good idea. I had to mow it often until the regrowth was killed off.

I have to respectfully disagree with you all that's what I do for a living is clear land and ive sprayed before and still end up spraying after lands been cleared. You can spray before and it will kill off some stuff but mother nature will find something to go in that cleared off spot so I prefer to spray once the regrowth starts and knock it out vs already grown.

$-Spray + $-clear + $-spray again = $$$ or $-clear + $-Spray = $$. I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend on the process. I know its cheaper for my customers to have me clear then spray vs spray clear then spray again... ;-) There is no way around after reclaiming the land that you wont have to spray its just how many times do you want to do it ?

Once per year. Waay cheaper than dragging a bush hog around twice or more a year and cutting down good forage in the process.

Not surprisingly, I've never seen or heard anyone that makes a living clearing land recommend spraying instead.
I wonder why that would be?
Not even once, tho many many of us have successfully cleared out invasive growth only by spraying and never had to mow again.

Things that make ya go 'Hmmmmmmmmmm?'

 

[Cross-7]

Here we deal with mesquite and clearing ground just makes the mesquite mad.
10 million shoots sprout up with big long thorns if you don't kill it back before clearing.
Maybe it's different there.

I had this cleared with a dozer for power lines
I've been trying to keep everything sprayed but I have 1000's of these coming up from the roots

 

[ddd75]

Here we deal with mesquite and clearing ground just makes the mesquite mad.
10 million shoots sprout up with big long thorns if you don't kill it back before clearing.
Maybe it's different there.

I had this cleared with a dozer for power lines
I've been trying to keep everything sprayed but I have 1000's of these coming up from the roots

that looks like it was cut at ground level. look at the base.

I have a root rake on my dozer and one for the tractor and I hit the ground with both. after I'm done there might be a couple small roots here and there.. then I take a grader blade and pull all the roots and crap into a pile. then I hit it with a disc a few times. nothing really tries to grow back at all unless I plant it.

 

[ddd75]

i would section the land into about 5 acre plots and completely doze and work that ground hard. rook rake it about 5 times afterward and plant to grass or possibly a fast growing annual depending on month. this would be really nice to finish it out with..
http://www.auctiontime.com/listings/far ... oll-875-30




rent a big chipper at the end of everything.. put all those piles of roots/dirt into it and it'd make some really nice top soil since it'd be about 1/2 top soil anyway. that way it'd be a quick clean up and you wouldn't be losing a ton of soil to fire.

my 4 cents

 

[greybeard]

="ddd75

that looks like it was cut at ground level. look at the base.

I have a root rake on my dozer and one for the tractor and I hit the ground with both. after I'm done there might be a couple small roots here and there.. then I take a grader blade and pull all the roots and crap into a pile. then I hit it with a disc a few times. nothing really tries to grow back at all unless I plant it.

How much of it was mesquite?

Cross, are you using any Sendero or just Remedy with water and Remedy & diesel?

 

[Cross-7]

Yes it was just pushed. I didn't want the ground and turf tore up.
The rest was sprayed with an airplane then mulched.
I'm not sure what with other than cimmeron max and maybe remedy ?
I've been using remedy and diesel on salt cedars and on big mesquite trees.
Later in summer when I get new small spouts I'm going to use sendero on them but I haven't had good luck with it on big trees

 

[skyhightree1]

That might be a good idea. I had to mow it often until the regrowth was killed off.

I have to respectfully disagree with you all that's what I do for a living is clear land and ive sprayed before and still end up spraying after lands been cleared. You can spray before and it will kill off some stuff but mother nature will find something to go in that cleared off spot so I prefer to spray once the regrowth starts and knock it out vs already grown.

$-Spray + $-clear + $-spray again = $$$ or $-clear + $-Spray = $$. I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend on the process. I know its cheaper for my customers to have me clear then spray vs spray clear then spray again... ;-) There is no way around after reclaiming the land that you wont have to spray its just how many times do you want to do it ?

Once per year. Waay cheaper than dragging a bush hog around twice or more a year and cutting down good forage in the process.

Not surprisingly, I've never seen or heard anyone that makes a living clearing land recommend spraying instead.
I wonder why that would be?
Not even once, tho many many of us have successfully cleared out invasive growth only by spraying and never had to mow again.

Things that make ya go 'Hmmmmmmmmmm?'

GB... I either didn't say it correctly or you or I have got it twisted in what we are speaking about in the thread. I am referring to land clearing with a dozer I am saying if you spray it then use the dozer to take the trees out there will be sprouts that come back after you clear an area and even if you replant the area you will need to spray to kill the sprouts of the unwanted stuff. know what im saying?

 

[WalnutCrest]

I've wondered about cutting nuisance trees (mainly cedar) and piling them up on the bigger thorny locust trees and just lighting the whole thing on fire ...

 

[Brute 23]

You are looking at short term solutions... not long term resolutions. If you doze those bushes out there will be 10X that amount next year. If you smooth out those hog roots... the hogs will be back the next night.

Invest in a sprayer for behind the tractor and get your applicators license. You can boom spray the small bushes and spot spray the big stuff. It will also help with your hog problem because they may be feeding on some thing the herbicide will kill out.

On the hogs, the only way to get rid of them is fence them out little by little. Start on the side where they travel the most. When you slow them down you can disk and drag out their roots with a regular tractor.

Im not a big fan of dozers because they do so much damage. You end up touching it up with the tractor any ways and that ground is useless until it comes back. I agree with the others, if you want to get the show on the road quick get a mulcher in there and spray it behind them when every thing spouts back up.

You can have a really nice place in 3-5yrs... but you will need to spray that place every year for the rest of your life.

 

[ddd75]

You are looking at short term solutions... not long term resolutions. If you doze those bushes out there will be 10X that amount next year. If you smooth out those hog roots... the hogs will be back the next night.

Invest in a sprayer for behind the tractor and get your applicators license. You can boom spray the small bushes and spot spray the big stuff. It will also help with your hog problem because they may be feeding on some thing the herbicide will kill out.

On the hogs, the only way to get rid of them is fence them out little by little. Start on the side where they travel the most. When you slow them down you can disk and drag out their roots with a regular tractor.

Im not a big fan of dozers because they do so much damage. You end up touching it up with the tractor any ways and that ground is useless until it comes back. I agree with the others, if you want to get the show on the road quick get a mulcher in there and spray it behind them when every thing spouts back up.

You can have a really nice place in 3-5yrs... but you will need to spray that place every year for the rest of your life.

right... look at how good that worked in Cross-7's situation. it didn't.

Dozing tear up the ground.. thats what they are for. you have to destroy that root system to get that brush out.

I just took out brush plus 60+ foot locut trees early this year and already have it planted to grass. It won't take 5 years to grow.

Spraying every year? You're doing it wrong if you have to spray every year. I've never sprayed any ground I've tore up and its weed and brush free.

Buddy of mine just cleared 5 acres of huge 4' stumps, trees, brush etc.. earlier this year and he just now got it planted to soybeans already. he backhoe'd, dozed, root raked, etc.

just think about spraying 200 acres of land.. before..after.. every year..

you guys must be sh!tting out 100 dollar bills everyday.. a dozer is going to cost you very little in comparison and do a much..much better job.

 

[Bright Raven]

You are looking at short term solutions... not long term resolutions. If you doze those bushes out there will be 10X that amount next year. If you smooth out those hog roots... the hogs will be back the next night.

Invest in a sprayer for behind the tractor and get your applicators license. You can boom spray the small bushes and spot spray the big stuff. It will also help with your hog problem because they may be feeding on some thing the herbicide will kill out.

On the hogs, the only way to get rid of them is fence them out little by little. Start on the side where they travel the most. When you slow them down you can disk and drag out their roots with a regular tractor.

Im not a big fan of dozers because they do so much damage. You end up touching it up with the tractor any ways and that ground is useless until it comes back. I agree with the others, if you want to get the show on the road quick get a mulcher in there and spray it behind them when every thing spouts back up.

You can have a really nice place in 3-5yrs... but you will need to spray that place every year for the rest of your life.

right... look at how good that worked in Cross-7's situation. it didn't.

Dozing tear up the ground.. thats what they are for. you have to destroy that root system to get that brush out.

I just took out brush plus 60+ foot locut trees early this year and already have it planted to grass. It won't take 5 years to grow.

Spraying every year? You're doing it wrong if you have to spray every year. I've never sprayed any ground I've tore up and its weed and brush free.

Buddy of mine just cleared 5 acres of huge 4' stumps, trees, brush etc.. earlier this year and he just now got it planted to soybeans already. he backhoe'd, dozed, root raked, etc.

just think about spraying 200 acres of land.. before..after.. every year..

you guys must be sh!tting out 100 dollar bills everyday.. a dozer is going to cost you very little in comparison and do a much..much better job.

I agree. At least here in Kentucky. I don't know about misquite. I cleared my farm in 2011. It was in pasture by the next spring. That year my farm was the chosen site for a forage field day by the UK Extension office. I never sprayed. None.

 

[ddd75]

You are looking at short term solutions... not long term resolutions. If you doze those bushes out there will be 10X that amount next year. If you smooth out those hog roots... the hogs will be back the next night.

Invest in a sprayer for behind the tractor and get your applicators license. You can boom spray the small bushes and spot spray the big stuff. It will also help with your hog problem because they may be feeding on some thing the herbicide will kill out.

On the hogs, the only way to get rid of them is fence them out little by little. Start on the side where they travel the most. When you slow them down you can disk and drag out their roots with a regular tractor.

Im not a big fan of dozers because they do so much damage. You end up touching it up with the tractor any ways and that ground is useless until it comes back. I agree with the others, if you want to get the show on the road quick get a mulcher in there and spray it behind them when every thing spouts back up.

You can have a really nice place in 3-5yrs... but you will need to spray that place every year for the rest of your life.

right... look at how good that worked in Cross-7's situation. it didn't.

Dozing tear up the ground.. thats what they are for. you have to destroy that root system to get that brush out.

I just took out brush plus 60+ foot locut trees early this year and already have it planted to grass. It won't take 5 years to grow.

Spraying every year? You're doing it wrong if you have to spray every year. I've never sprayed any ground I've tore up and its weed and brush free.

Buddy of mine just cleared 5 acres of huge 4' stumps, trees, brush etc.. earlier this year and he just now got it planted to soybeans already. he backhoe'd, dozed, root raked, etc.

just think about spraying 200 acres of land.. before..after.. every year..

you guys must be sh!tting out 100 dollar bills everyday.. a dozer is going to cost you very little in comparison and do a much..much better job.

I agree. At least here in Kentucky. I don't know about misquite. I cleared my farm in 2011. It was in pasture by the next spring. That year my farm was the chosen site for a forage field day by the UK Extension office. I never sprayed. None.

i've owned over 800 acres of land and all I have is 2 little hand held pump sprayers.. :lol2:

 

[Brute 23]

That does not work here ddd75. Huisatche and Mesquite seeds can lay dormant 10-15yrs and then sprout. If you doze out a pasture and do nothing after it will take about 2 years and you won't be able to drive across that pasture because the brush will be so tall.

I don't have the same locust trees but my understanding is you will get simular results.

 

[Bright Raven]

That does not work here ddd75. Huisatche and Mesquite seeds can lay dormant 10-15yrs and then sprout. If you doze out a pasture and do nothing after it will take about 2 years and you won't be able to drive across that pasture because the brush will be so tall.

I don't have the same locust trees but my understanding is you will get simular results.

True. Honey locusts and black locusts will sprout from even small pieces of root debris. What I did was rotary mow. I have to mow pasture here anyway. We get rapid growth and in my case, the cows don't keep up with it. I can go out this morning and find sprigs of honey and black locusts. Plus, multiflora rose. But I don't spray. This year when cockle burrs sprout, I plan to do the first spot spraying.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Lots and lots of seeds lay dormant for decades.

That's why, with proper grazing, you can get plant species you never planted.

At our last place, when we moved in, the pasture (such as it was) was tall woody weeds, fescue and bare dirt. The soil was nearly devoid of microbial life.

With nothing more than good grazing management (i.e., we didn't plant any seeds, and we didn't fertilize with anything other than what naturally comes out of the back end of a cow) and a good post-grazing mow job on the worst spots, we saw the forage change dramatically.

By the second year, we had clover everywhere. The third year saw several different species of native grasses emerge.

Tree seeds are not the only thing to benefit from having soil disturbed in a dramatic fashion.

 

[BRYANT]

What would a control burn do to them?
as for buying a dozer I did that to clear cedars ,Government paid me to clear them, so I thought I would buy a dozer , get paid by Gov., sell dozer, and be money ahead. I bought a nice dozer ,not some junk pile, and was taking good care of it every thing going good till it started getting water in oil. I took it to shop last Thur. not much telling how much that will cost me. I am in the dozer right plus what money Gov. paid me I should be ok , BUT if I had it to do over I would hire someone to come out a do the work. They can break and turn to a money pit real fast. I also have a skid loader that is probably the way I would go if I was you.
just my 2 cents worth

 

[skyhightree1]

This is some land I cleared with a dozer what I was saying is this is cleared but as you can see some of the crap is starting to grow back and it will need to be sprayed. Even if I sprayed before clearing it will need to be sprayed later to keep what you want under control.