Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
For those who have mulched to create a food plot, how did you go about doing so? Did you use a landrake behind a tractor to clear off the ground afterwords?
Forestry Mulching Spin off
- Thread starter Gobble4me757
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DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
I have had a mulcher reclaim a few acres of old pasture but the shreaded mulch was just allowed to lay and rot.
But I have followed up after a dozer with a landscape rake behind tractor while creating a food plot (old log loading area)
From my experience the rake works good cleaning up smaller loose stuff....But (always a "but") your going to need a "ground man" to help clean the tines after each pull....I had a buddy stand at end of plot and I'd make a long drag then raise rake and he'd take his foot and push the tangled trash out of tines....I never got off tractor....pulled rocks, trash, bark, limbs and roots into a row at end of the plot....then took the tractor bucket and pushed the row into a pile....but without a ground man I would have gotten on and off tractor a hundred times and slowed the whole process down.
Also be careful....pulling too much trash at a time you can also drag your top soil to your pile....a dirty or clogged rake will become a blade. So if you have too... shorten your pulls.
But all in all we were very pleased with the landscape rake performance with helping us clean up and develop a food plot.
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
Good to know…I don't plan on doing this solo forsure. Appreciate the info brotha!
Mattt
Well-Known Member
I use an excavator. Hate clearing after the mulcher goes through makes it really difficult. Excavator can clear and leave 99% of the topsoil which is hard to do with a dozer. Can take bigger trees as necessary . Doesn't clear anywhere as fast though
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Agree....preservation of top soil should be a consideration...in our case we had to contract out the work....big dozer $200 per hour or Excavator at $200 per hour...budget dictated the big dozer...plus at the time we had some road improvements to make on the property.
Mattt
Well-Known Member
Yes. In my opinion best time is combined with other projects. 200hr probably decent price depending on the excavator. I'm currently turning a pine clearcut to pasture/cutting roads/firelines. Be back at it hard after the first of the year. Pretty cool to see all the nwsg return. Personally I much prefer it over a planted crop. Two years ago it was a pine thicket. The sheer numbers of birds that are around now is pretty wild.we've been watching the deer in it and surprisingly the numbers considering both neighbors feed a lot of corn
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Sounds like an awesome project! Next year we have a gas line thats scheduled to go through our property and we are planning a nwsg/pollinator blend over the majority of the new area....and the $200 per hour I quoted on the big dozer was a little over 4 years ago....Im sure that rate has gone up since then.
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
Prolly so…it's costing me 200/hr for the Mulcher…I have a lil over 3 acres to do total. It would cost wayy more with a dozier and all.
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
How long y'all think it will take the Mulcher to do 2 acres of overgrown brush and then bout 2 acres of 4-5" diameter pines. Planning on doing in mid December when it's the fastest to do this as well per the Mulcher
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
Might be better off using a V-shear and rootrake or trackhoe with a thumb to push the trees over, stack, and burn. 2ac of pine is gonna be a lot to clean up and you'll either need to deal with the stumps day 1 or let'em rot.
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
Don't have many options where I'm doing this…really 1.5 acres of needed rooting and all with .5 being road etc. was thinking to get one of those heavy duty plows to pull behind the tractor and then come back with a disc later. Spraying in mid to late spring
