I've got about 1/2-3/4 acre with heavy young cedar. Most isn't bigger around than a Coke can but there are dozens and dozens.

What's the best plan of attack after a chainsaw for the stumps? Rent a mini dozer? There are some big mature oaks around and I don't want to screw up those roots. Also, lots of rocks given this is hill country land.

And do most of you rent a chipper or just haul it off? I'm in a neighborhood so I can't burn it.

I had about an acre cleared last fall by Cedar Eaters and was very happy with the results. Of course it's cheaper to do it yourself, but they were in and out in a day and it was pretty painless for me. They had originally quoted me ~$3900 for the job, but finished quicker than they expected so I only paid ~$3200. I would do it again if I needed more cleared.

I think the state of Texas has a cedar clearing program that will help pay someone to do work clearing cedar trees on your land. Might want to look into it.

If you're able to "saw em off" at ground level' you can just leave em. But if you want them removed, root and all, it's much easier to do intact, after a soaking rain (like now) by pushing them over with a skid steer or a loader bucket.

Cut them off flush with the ground, and then hire someone to haul it off. The stumps will eventually rot.

If you've got the money, and you are looking at the chainsaw route, you really should look into buying or renting a brush cutter and putting a saw blade on it. It works really well with trees that small and you won't kill your back.

It is essentially a heavy duty string trimmer, but it normally comes with a harness and handle bars. It will cost you about as much as a decent chainsaw and you can use it as a weed eater afterwards.

By the way, the blade I am talking about looks like a circular saw blade, not the blades that look like a cross, which are for cutting thick grass/weeds.

Guess I'm unfamiliar with these saws. Can you post a link or photo. I need one to take care of a lot of regrowth/sprouts on my place.

quote:

---

I had about an acre cleared last fall by Cedar Eaters and was very happy with the results. Of course it's cheaper to do it yourself, but they were in and out in a day and it was pretty painless for me. They had originally quoted me ~$3900 for the job, but finished quicker than they expected so I only paid ~$3200. I would do it again if I needed more cleared.

---

$3,900 quote for one acre? That's some serious change for one acre of clearing. We've done thousands of acres over the last 16yrs well under $2,000 and even in some cases well under $1,000 per acre. All cutting with a skid loader and mulching the piles into hairs similar to tooth picks because the job specs are ridiculous. It would be much cheaper to cut the cedar and burn the piles.

I obviously have no idea what the acre looked like or where it was located but my first reaction is that is a pretty high price.

Hell, I don't know man. I got two different quotes and this was the cheapest of the two by a few hundred bucks. They ran a big Cat loader with the mulching attachment for ~8 hrs, plus 2 guys on the ground with chainsaws. Total area cleared was around an acre, but it was pretty dense cedar, cedar elm, and oak in the hill country.

A match and a gallon of diesel should get the job done

Here you go.

Brush Cutter


Brush Cutter Blade


Nothing special about them. Just make sure to get one with a harness and handlebars if you are going to be working for any extended length of time. AND WEAR STEEL TOES!

Edited to say that this is really only good for trees that are 3 inches in diameter or less.

quote:

---

There is some serious economy of scale going on with all the acreage you have vs. one acre.
Just moving the equipment to the lot will merit a $500.00 charge.

---

Yeah I'm not disagreeing with that part. There's a definitely a higher charge for smaller acreage and again I don't know the location or what the job looked like but that price struck me as high. We contract with a guy to do our mulching that uses 511e hydro-axe and he charges around $300/hour but things are likely cheaper where I'm at verses closer to big cities and what not.

I guess I should go ahead and say that I wasn't trying to say anyone got screwed over I just was floored with that price. I've never seen that kind of money for land clearing...even if it was small acreage. I've been around brush management all of types my whole life and that seemed incredibly high.

Sorry to derail the thread...carry on

No problem, it was a fair question.

For the record I'm in the Austin area, so maybe that has an affect on the cost? I wasn't sure what to expect prior to my quotes, but once I got two of them in the same range I assumed that was close to the going rate.

What Clem said. I have a weed eater that has the attachments. The brush cutter blade like you buy at Walmart is useless. It wouldn't even cut the sunflowers that had dried out while we were gone this summer. It will cut the broom weed, because green broom weed will wrap up in the string trimmer.

I guess it goes without saying, but if you use a beaver blade, treat it as you would a chainsaw. Avoid cutting dirt, gummy wood will dull it faster, and you'll need to sharpen it as you would a chain every now and then.

If they're that small and you want to do it fairly cheap you could pull them out with a truck and a chain. Would be a lot more efficient with 2 people, one hooking up and one driving.

AgEng06,

Yeah, about $3K/day is the going rate for the big (240 HP+) Prentice/Blount hydro ax machines with 8' wide drum mulchers with a 2-man ground crew. I paid $2,800 for a 7-hour job last July. They cleared 6-acres, left no mess, and it was worth the money.

Obviously, your 1 acre must have had a more dense growth than did my 6 acres.

Some of the guys with smaller mulching machines (100 HP) charge less, but then they really don't get as much done, either.

As far as the cost goes, I wish it were less, but I understand it. Those big machines cost $250K+, weigh 20 tons, need a folding/detachable gooseneck trailer just to haul around, and incur maintenance and repair costs that are just brutal.

I'll bet you're happy with the results you got. Besides, I suspect we've both wasted that kind of money on some pretty worthless things over our lives. I know I have.

I use an echo srm410 brush cutter with the circular saw for yaupon.
It will cut up to 3", but it is pretty hard on your back.
It is best for sappling size brush 1.5" or less. Even with harness, it will wear you down after a while due to the weight swinging back and forth. You also have to stop and move the cut brush away in order to have a clear path in front of you. Its almost a two person job, but be careful having a helper anywhere near that machine. They are extremely dangers and a forestry helmet with face guard AND safety glasses is a must.

Chain saw on small brush 3" or less is tough too because you can throw the chain so easily.

Im pricing hydro ax mulching on my place and the rate is about $1,250 a day (1 day minimum)

For one acre of thick cedar, I'd go the hydro ax / mulching route and then maintain it with herbicides and brush cutter.

I cut down tens of thousands of cedars when I was a teenager with just a pair of loppers. My dad paid me a penny a tree.

Take out the majority with a set of loppers, chainsaw for the rest, cut close to the ground, pile them up then burn. 3/4 of an acre wont take that long.

For trees the size you're talking about loppers will do it with the least effort of any handheld tool.

I rented one similar to that last year in Dripping Springs... But it wasn't an enclosed cab. Where did you get that? Or do you own it? I was thinking a closed cab would be great when I ended up cutting down some trees near a bee hive. I moved on and started working somewhere else, but that could've turned out bad.

Double post

Just a picture from the internet. We used to rent a lot of those set ups when I worked at Holt Cat a few years back. They're great because it is much cheaper to rent, you can cut them off below the surface and it's easy to use.

quote:

---

quote:

---

If you can't clear an acre by yourself with a chainsaw turn your nuts in...
I know a 78 year old man who cleared 270 AC In 4 months with a chainsaw.

---

This is GB level bullsheet. An almost 80 year old man did NOT clear 2+ acres per day, EVERY DAY for 4 months. ... But thanks for playing.

---

Not bs but don't let an almost 80 year old man, with no teeth, get under your skin.

Agree with Sean.

Who cares how you have it done? I'd like to do it myself but don't mind at all if someone else pays for it -- that's putting food on someone's table.

And thanks for all of the replies. Lots of good suggestions.

Those clipper things a few posts above -- those will cut through a Coke can-sized tree? Do they have a ratcheting down mechanism I presume?

I'm intrigued by the weedeater-type attachment. May check those out.

quote:

---

Those clipper things a few posts above -- those will cut through a Coke can-sized tree? Do they have a ratcheting down mechanism I presume?

---

They absolutely will not. You're looking at 1 1/2" to 2" max more than likley with loppers/pruners.