Land clearing advice

[MasonCo.]

I appreciate all the input. Will update thread as I move forward.


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[30-30]

Let it rot for a year. Disc it if you want to speed up the process. In 2 years it will be thoroughly broken down. If you rake up all that mulch you will also remove the topsoil.

Walk through with some remedy and surfactant to kill any roots still sending up growth. You will have to do this again in the spring.


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^this.

[bpa556]

Leave it be and shred saplings twice per year year.


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[Hogmauler]

GS and diesel going up. Saudi Arabia said their dropping their output by 2000,000 per day. Dirt work and tractor work gonna be going up with the prices. I’m having a new driveway and possibly an electric easement into the property done this week. That’s gonna be all the land clearing I have done for a while. After the season we’ll get out there and start chopping and piling up roots etc to burn. Then it will be back to spraying next year for me. Lord willing.

[Deerguy]

Lots of weird advice on here, but it does ultimately depend on why you mulched it. The big advantage of using a mulcher is that you don't get the massive soil disturbance like you would with a dozer. I'm assuming this is the case, otherwise you would have just used a dozer to begin with since it is less expensive. And assuming this, no reason in the world to disc it as you just end up creating the soil disturbance (and associated weedy plant response) you were trying to avoid in the first place.

From a habitat standpoint, piling and burning isn't a good idea as you you have a uniform nutrient recycling bed now. Piling/stacking just robs potential nutrients from re-entering the system where they originally occurred (kind of like mowing and taking the clippings somewhere else, you just end up removing nutrients from the system, which then requires fertilization, which in turn encourages growth of non-desirable plant species (exotics like bermuda/bahia.KR/etc.).

As has been mentioned, natural decay is slow. Its a good way to do it, and the easiest/cheapest, but it does take time.

Running a fire over the top without stacking/piling is probably the best solution if you're in a hurry. It will not burn well as the litter is not 'fluffy' enough to carry the fire well, but that's ok. You'll get it all with successive burns. The first time will necessitate multiple ignitions and diligence, and you have to know ahead of time that you'll get some of it, but nowhere near all of it. Once you get a vegetative response from grasses and weeds, that will be additional fuels to help you carry the fire more successfully the next time you burn. Burning will also help you control the re-sprouting woody vegetation and will encourage the growth of beneficial species germinating from the seed bank.

Again, if you were doing the mulching to improve habitat, mowing it is counter-productive as well as you did it to promote growth of more desirable and nutritious plants. While you mow to control woody growth, what you really end up doing is cutting the growth of the desirable plants as well, which will limit their growth, productivity, and survival. Woody regrowth is best controlled with fire or herbicide.

[kingranch]

I did this and I only did it again bc I needed a quick way to open it up

Crap ton of tire poking sticks that don't go away..esp cedar it lasted 6 yrs until I finally rented a bobcat w grapple and loaded 4 dumpters full of mulch to get rid of it...
Some of the stuff that was just a few inches under the top looked fresh as the day it was cut 6 yrs later!

Good luck
I also ended up burying alot