Tool selection for clearing land ??

[ship4brains]

We recently acquired about 5 acres of land with ground conditions like you see in this photo. I've gone through and brush hogged and what's left is a lot of stumps of nasty berry bushes and a ton of poison ivy and other brushy mess. Curious if a box blade with rippers wood help remove some of the debris and level the land ? Other opinions? Thanks in advance.

 

[marloweg]

bush hog it again and again and again then disc it again and again if you want it nice you got to work it like a field .do not try to plow or you will bring up all kinds of stuff you don't want it will take time it's not a one pass deal

 

[Steve in VA]

We recently acquired about 5 acres of land with ground conditions like you see in this photo. I've gone through and brush hogged and what's left is a lot of stumps of nasty berry bushes and a ton of poison ivy and other brushy mess. Curious if a box blade with rippers wood help remove some of the debris and level the land ? Other opinions? Thanks in advance. View attachment 127786

Goats, lots of goats.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

No. Unless you want to hire a bulldozer to clear the land and bury all the debris, you have to do it the long way and keep knocking it down and chewing it up while it decomposes.

In my experience if you want to turn an area into lawn, all you have to do is mow it regularly. Each time the grass gets a little finer, the debris breaks down and fills in the rough spots.

 

[JD Dave]

We routinely clear and renew orchard ground. Get it mowed and chopped down as close as your rotary mower will go. Get in there with a deep ripper as deep as your tractor will pull it. Rip down 30 inches if possible. This is going to take power. Figure 30 HP per tine. Keep ripping across the field both ways. This will bring up roots and debris. Pick up this debris and dispose of it in your brush burning pile. Then go in and chisel plow it which will bring up some more roots and clods. Pick that stuff up. Then disc it and wait for some rain. Let that settle and dry and go in and disc it the other way. Keep tillage going until the field is flat and level. If you're going to plant anything there, get a soil test. You will usually need lime.

 

[Mule Meat]

Maybe go over it with a landscape rake to gather what is cut, bunch and burn. Got to be very careful burning poison ivy thou for the smoke can be worse than skin contact.

Unless you have a tractor that is equipped with a three point that can apply down pressure you are going to spend a lot of time trying to rip up roots and level the ground with a blade.

Next problem. Being this late in the year. If you dig up the roots and level everything. Getting something to grow roots deep enough to prevent the disturbed top soil from being washed away with rain and snow melt during the winter and spring won't be easy.

You either have to find a chemical that will kill the vines and brush, completely remove the root system or cut and and keep cutting everytime you see them grow an inch.

Or get some brush eating goats like was suggested above.

 

[Mark Poss]

Book of Matches

 

[cjunrau]

We recently acquired about 5 acres of land with ground conditions like you see in this photo. I've gone through and brush hogged and what's left is a lot of stumps of nasty berry bushes and a ton of poison ivy and other brushy mess. Curious if a box blade with rippers wood help remove some of the debris and level the land ? Other opinions? Thanks in advance. View attachment 127786

all depends on how fast you want it smooth and what you want it for. If you want to crop it Just spray round up on all of it wait 3-4 weeks and disc it till smooth enough for you. If a bush mower mowed it I can't see any stump being a problem with a disc. if you just want it smoother and grass growing to look pretty. spray 24d a few times if necessary, and mow it as low to the ground as possible with the bush mower. The bush mower will shave the ground and level it faster than you think. I have done that with a normal lawn mower and it doesn't take more than 2-3 years and it is good enough to play volleyball on.

 

[560Dennis]

Consider goats and sheep to Clean it out .

 

[ship4brains]

all depends on how fast you want it smooth and what you want it for. If you want to crop it Just spray round up on all of it wait 3-4 weeks and disc it till smooth enough for you. If a bush mower mowed it I can't see any stump being a problem with a disc. if you just want it smoother and grass growing to look pretty. spray 24d a few times if necessary, and mow it as low to the ground as possible with the bush mower. The bush mower will shave the ground and level it faster than you think. I have done that with a normal lawn mower and it doesn't take more than 2-3 years and it is good enough to play volleyball on.

I do have dirt that needs to be moved ....holes from large tree root balls....ridges to knock off too. Much to be done

 

[cjunrau]

I do have dirt that needs to be moved ....holes from large tree root balls....ridges to knock off too. Much to be done

large holes will need a scraper of some sort or a loader and take from an old fence line to fill them. If you want to lightly cultivate around those holes and scrap with a box blade to push the holes shut that might work.

 

[DoubleR]

I'd start out with a heavy dose of Roundup and Crossbow then let it set for a few weeks Then go after it with a disc, ripper or what ever you got to work it up.

 

[RedMF40]

I agree with repeated mowings but that may not result in any leveling. Years ago I ran a $5 yard sale lawnmower over the yard behind my rented house at the time. The place was overgrown with wild berries and tall grasses and about every kind of weed imaginable. A pretty decent lawn eventually reappeared but at times the area looked like dirt with some vines covering it while the grass started to emerge.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I would avoid the tillage for this year unless you are going to plant winter wheat on it to hold the top soil. other wise I would just keep mowing it for this year depending on where you're at. Growing season is about done for this year on most things. Then next spring as soon as it is dry enough run a sprayer over it with some cross bow and round up will kill most anything there and a disk would level things off pretty good so you can drag a field cultivator over it to finish the leveling. As for the holes if you had stumps dug out it will take a lot of dirt to fill them in. Might just want to have a load of dirt dropped in the holes an level them off. If you need to do more than that get a skid steer for it. Unless you"re going to dig out big trees they will be probably your cheapest bet for digging and leveling or hauling dirt short distances.

 

[Princeton Bill]

Lots of advice here. Maybe a little more information as to what equipment you have available would help members tailor there advice to your situation. Trust me there guys on here that have done what you want to do. But what will work best for you will probably be determined by what you have to work with or are willing to buy.. From your post I would surmise you have a small tractor with a 6 or 7 foot rotary mower. If you also have a small tandem disk and a harrow I'd disk it and harrow it. Then maybe disk it again, seed it with a cover crop like cereal rye, drag it and see what you have next spring. If you don't have a box blade I wouldn't buy one to be used like you suggested. A three point landscape rake would work better at gathering up roots, branches, etc.

 

[cjunrau]

I do have dirt that needs to be moved ....holes from large tree root balls....ridges to knock off too. Much to be done

I have dragged all the debris to holes where trees came out. Helps fill them a bit.

 

[Texasmark]

We routinely clear and renew orchard ground. Get it mowed and chopped down as close as your rotary mower will go. Get in there with a deep ripper as deep as your tractor will pull it. Rip down 30 inches if possible. This is going to take power. Figure 30 HP per tine. Keep ripping across the field both ways. This will bring up roots and debris. Pick up this debris and dispose of it in your brush burning pile. Then go in and chisel plow it which will bring up some more roots and clods. Pick that stuff up. Then disc it and wait for some rain. Let that settle and dry and go in and disc it the other way. Keep tillage going until the field is flat and level. If you're going to plant anything there, get a soil test. You will usually need lime.

I did some work for a farmer once. I noticed a 105 HP tractor with a 3 tang ripper and the tangs must have been 30" long. I have a pasture renovator to make slits in my hard clay and pull 4 shanks well enough with 65 HP 4wd, but the shanks are in the ground maybe 8".

 

[Texasmark]

Maybe go over it with a landscape rake to gather what is cut, bunch and burn. Got to be very careful burning poison ivy thou for the smoke can be worse than skin contact.

Unless you have a tractor that is equipped with a three point that can apply down pressure you are going to spend a lot of time trying to rip up roots and level the ground with a blade.

Next problem. Being this late in the year. If you dig up the roots and level everything. Getting something to grow roots deep enough to prevent the disturbed top soil from being washed away with rain and snow melt during the winter and spring won't be easy.

You either have to find a chemical that will kill the vines and brush, completely remove the root system or cut and and keep cutting everytime you see them grow an inch.

Or get some brush eating goats like was suggested above.

I wouldn't burn PI. Possibly a good spraying to kill it and wait for it to get fully dried out then start working it. I don't know if I'd even mow it if the wind is blowing. One winter I was cutting firewood with my chain saw and had the perfect tree picked out. Problem was that thick vines were between me and the tree. We have a lot of wild grape vines here and I just thought it was GVs....went after it with my CS........WRONG!!!!! It was PI and I had a heck of a time getting rid of it (from my body) and I can't go near it now.

 

[Texasmark]

Book of Matches

Used to be that grain farmers with stubble, like wheat, would make a couple of passes around a field with a wide disc harrow and on a low wind day set the field on fire.....fast forward a few decades....county usually has a burn ban in effect and besides that I surely wouldn't want to be responsible for a fire of any sort to get out of control that I started deliberately.

A side note is that the soil is Houston (heavy) Clay and although the past solution was easy on the farmer, it did nothing to develop humus in the soil and improve its percolation capabilities....so in the long run he was shooting himself in the foot......but there is a lot of leased land here........