Clearing 7-10 acres

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Westnvol89

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I've got 7-10 acres that has grown up in sweet gums that I'd like to clear for bedding cover. The sweet gums are thick in a lot of places and the canopy is closed. Would a dozer be the best bet? Do you have to worry about trees resprouting with a mulcher? Majority of the trees are under 5" diameter
 

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I'd be hesitant to doze. I've got a property near me and their place is a wasteland years after dozing due to damage to topsoil. What my forester and biologist recommended for my property was to take down everything over 2 inches and drop everything else to the ground with a chainsaw and leave it. At 5 in you might be able to get some with a clearing saw if they're not too tall and heavy.
 
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A dozer will be more thorough and faster and you will have brush piles to burn. End results depends on the operator and his ability to regrade after uprooting most of that stuff. There will be some cleanup and site prep but ou will be read to plant or leave to the soil bank. there will always be sprouts

A mulcher will leave it looking more nice but every ground off stump will resprout and the bed of mulch will retard much of the seed bank or planted seed till it rots.

sweetgum thickets quickly become wildlife foodless and impassible.

Get prices, check references go the way that best suits you and then go buy some brush killer for the resprouts.
 
I hate sweetgum trees! They are all over my property. They are one of the hardest trees to push down with a dozer once they get about 12" in diameter. There root system is really tough! I had to cut 4ft deep all around one that was 18" diameter. Ended up building a big ramp to drive the dozer up and raised the blade all the way up and angled it to push with the point of the edge of the blade. It touched the tree about 12 feet off the ground. Once I finally got it going it started to fall over and go down. I've only got a case 450c, so a bigger dozer would probably do a faster job . 5" trees would be be alot easier to deal with.
 
I've got a similar situation in an overgrown pasture, but it's mostly ash and box elder with a few scattered Bradford pears. If I let it go much longer, it's gonna become a closed canopy wasteland. I've wondered about having it sprayed with a drone and getting on a burn schedule.
 
For whatever its worth: we used a forestry contractor with a mulching "masticator" to reclaim around 10 acres of overgrown fields when we bought our land 20 years ago. The fields were full sweet gum trees some up to 5-6" dbh. The contractor cut stumps below ground level and we never had an issue with re-sprouting. I would do the same thing again if needed.
Blue dude 3a.webp
Farm entrance Field.webp
Entrance Before clean up.webp
 
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MickThompson said:
What's your end goal for bedding? Thicket? Native grasses and forbs? Destination determines the route to get there
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Native grasses and early successional plants that can be controlled burning or bush hogging every 2-3 years. My property is surrounded by agricultural with very little cover in the area. There is a large creek that borders the property and deer cruise up and down it. Would like to be able to hold more deer more consistently
 
Look up an implment made by danuser called the intimidator. That is what we have cleared about 9 acre with . Yank the trees up and shake the dirt off . Stack em in a pile and burn when they dry out.
 
i could have some fun with a skid steer.

Could a person not just hack and squirt them all?
 
a good operator with a mulching head would be best.

be sure he back mulches and grinds stumps about 1-2in below the surface. They will NOT resprout if ground like that. If the mulch is extremely thick, you can just rake it up in a pile, let it dry, and burn.

Figure around $16,000 to $20,000 to reclaim 10 acres of that stuff. Not cheap if done right.
 
Westnvol89 said:
Native grasses and early successional plants that can be controlled burning or bush hogging every 2-3 years. My property is surrounded by agricultural with very little cover in the area. There is a large creek that borders the property and deer cruise up and down it. Would like to be able to hold more deer more consistently
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I have the Exact same set-up and situation. 2 fields that have THOUSANDS of sweetgums. One is 50 acres, one is 8 acres. Would like to clear the 8 for starters but torn on what to do and not drain the bank account. Following!
 
Westnvol89 said:
Native grasses and early successional plants that can be controlled burning or bush hogging every 2-3 years. My property is surrounded by agricultural with very little cover in the area. There is a large creek that borders the property and deer cruise up and down it. Would like to be able to hold more deer more consistently
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A good mulcher operator would probably work followed shortly after with burn to consume the wood. Maybe take a year to evaluate the seedbank and spray before seeding
 
Look for an area ag chemical supplier / applicator like Nutrien or co-op and ask to speak to an agronomist. They will need to know proximity to open water, crops, dwellings and varieties to be managed. When spraying with a drone drift is a sincere concern. An experienced drone operator should have much more details and know an agronomist.
 
Fastest way is a trackhoe with a thumb, pull em up, use a loader with grapple to pile em, then blower, burner to burn em. Dozer leaves so much dirt on roots, harder to burn. I had 5 acres thick w gums done. Went fast. Took bout 4 days. Let em dry a spell before burning. Where u located?
 
megalomaniac said:
a good operator with a mulching head would be best.

be sure he back mulches and grinds stumps about 1-2in below the surface. They will NOT resprout if ground like that. If the mulch is extremely thick, you can just rake it up in a pile, let it dry, and burn.

Figure around $16,000 to $20,000 to reclaim 10 acres of that stuff. Not cheap if done right.
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For that type of money, I would probably have to buy the skid steer and the implement and go to work....then resale all the equipment.
 

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