Clearing Land

[BimmerTom]

Just bought a .6 acre wooded lot that we plan to build on next year. We've decided to take on the task of clearing the trees and undergrowth ourselves. Lots of brush and pine trees, so nothing much of interest to people who heat their homes with wood.

Here are the questions...

1) Best way to gather the brush so it can be hauled off easily. Big chunks, or smaller, manageable pieces?

2) Big pine trees. Drop 'em and chunk them into larger pieces to be able to be hauled away easily or small pieces if some poor sap (hahah) wanted to burn it?

3) Stumps. I've been leaving them about 2-3 up off the ground so when a bulldozer comes in they have some leverage to pop them out. Good idea or not?

I should post some pictures so people have a better idea of what I'm dealing with... But this is a start.

Thanks for any advice.

Tom

[Vedubin01]

rent a wood chipper and use the mulch around your land and or your current house. If you plan on getting help clearing the land, like someone to haul it off. Think about how much you want to spend. If not a lot, then cut up in small movable pieces and trailer out to a fill or pile up and burn for a few days. Makes for a fun camping trip!

Good luck

[LINUS]

Can you burn stumps still in MI, if so a gas powered fan is your friend. Gets a ton of air in there to keep the fire good & hot - you won't be left with anything. They rent 'em most places - we bought one to clear some land since we use it pretty often.

If you want, stump grinders are the new eco friendly thing - don't know what they cost to set up & work, but it can't be cheap since a family friend / major land developer rents all his equipment, but owns 4 grinders.

[Jscotty]

Chop up your pine trees and keep them as fire logs. Granted they are not as hot as oak or maple and maybe pine is not sufficient enough for the midwest winter but you should keep the logs for an emergency.

And as suggested, the chipper-shredder will probably be cheaper than having that stuff hauled away. Even if you don't use the mulch for a specific purpose, just spread it out along the property and let it decompose naturally.

[xLibelle]

expect that heavy machinery is the way to go in all accounts. these guys built a business to drive big machines, they love it.
rake the brush into a pig pile, chunk the pines for hauling, and the stumps, cut them high for pulling but they might want to grind them.
the less work you need to do, the better. plus, pines suck for fire wood. ...though i have seen people come and get that shit if you had a sign "free firewood"

[atomic]

BE CAREFUL IF DROPPING PINE TREES !! THEY ARE UNPREDICTABLE AND ARE VERY DANGEROUS COMPARED TO MOST OTHER TREES !! ASK ANY TREE REMOVAL COMPANY IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE ME. as far as the brush removal get you a good sized chipper from a rental company or have a company come out with a huge chipper and turn it into mulch. The company I just used for some tree removal has a chipper than can chip up to 28" logs !!! Which is huge which means they could chip a freaking tree stripped of its branches of course. Leave the stumps a little longer like 6" or so it will be easier to get at with a dozer then. other than that just plain old hard work it what it is or you could always find a big dozer that can push over the trees and go that route but still alot of hard work either way GOOD LUCK

[AndrewBird]

I don't know why people say pine sucks for firewood. We used fire wood at our old house for most of my life as extra heat in the winter. Granted, it doesn't burn as hot as oak, but it's not like it burns cold. Pine firewood up here sells for $150+ a cord.

[george graves]

Slow down cowboy!!! - Plan the layout of the land first, then cut the trees.

You'll drop the value of the lot if not. People love trees.

You should be thinking sewer, phone and 220. That *could* raise the value to 20k. Unless you just need a driveway for a 5-th wheel to drive in. Then a load of river rock, and you are done...

Keep all the tress you can man!!! Pine??? KEEP THEM!! The smell so nice!

I would!

[atomic]

Pine trees also will fall on your house alot easier than oak, hickory etc... so you might want to get the ones out of the way that would be dangerous to your house if a storm was to blow one over. I like pine trees but keep them clear of my house !!!

[Vedubin01]

Pine has a lot of sap in the trees. Sap produces soot and soot catches fire in the flumes of the chimney! That is why people do not like to burn pine. Its more of a lite hazard if you do not properly clean your chimney!

[AndrewBird]

Its more of a lite hazard if you do not properly clean your chimney!

I think that sums it up pretty well. We cleaned ours annually.

[kylebes1]

hire some mexicans

[s0urce]

Let's see a picture

[Vedubin01]

Let's see a picture

Nice Avatar!

[equate975]

Rent a DR Mower.

http://www.drpower.com/TwoStepChapterPage1L.aspx?Name=FieldBrush2Step&Chap=FABWalkBehindChapter&Page=FABWalkPower&SiteEntryMode=0&BC=0%3aHome%7c2%3aDRPowerHome%7c3%3aFieldBrush2Step&LinkType=3

I've used one of those and they will cit through damn near anything. Just go and mow up the brush then rake it up.