Clearing about 20 acres of 15 y/o autumn olive on reclaimed mine land before orchard

[redfoxrambler]

I'm in charge of a project where we're trying to convert about 20 acres of dense autumn olive thickets into a mixed berry, fruit, and nut orchard on reclaimed mined land in southern WV. I've cleared smaller areas of autumn olive before and we would cut them at the base, spray the stump, then push the downed trees into a pile with a smaller dozer. However I think that would take months given the size of the area we're working with, so I'm hoping to get advice on the best way to clear the land quickly without causing too much damage to the soil.

I had thought about getting a tree puller attachment for the Kubota 105S we're about to buy, but after researching it seems like that would still take too long and would probably work better with a skid steer which we'd have to rent. Also autumn olive's branches often lay over on the ground and it would be hard to get in position with a tree puller. I thought about renting an excavator to pull them out with a grapple bucket or dig out with a ripper, but no one has a ripper locally and again the crazy branching structure might make it tough to get a good bite to pull out. The best way I can figure to get a lot of them moved quickly is to rent a medium sized dozer and just push them out of the way then use a grapple bucket on the kubota tractor to move them into bigger piles for later chipping.

My main concern with this method is the dozer might screw up what little organic matter is present (reclaimed mined land soil is just pulverized rock and the autumn olives have actually done a decent job of generating 1-2 inches of organic matter over the 20ish years they've been growing there). Also they range from little 1-2" single stem saplings to monsters with multiple 8-10" stems and I'd like to have something stout enough to deal with the worst of them. I'm thinking of renting a Cat D6N LGP, but could go with a D6T of need be though I'm worried the extra weight would cause extra soil damage.

I'm really more experienced with farm tractors and could definitely use some advice here. Thanks yall

 

[712alberta]

We have a reclaimed gravel pit on our property. While the slopes were done properly, it took a couple of years to get grass growing, and it took a lot of work to keep the erosion issues at bay. I would think that you would want to be very carful not to do anything that would damage the integrity of the top layer of soil and the roots holding it there. Would some type of skid steer mounted mulcher work? We had some fence line cleared on some really steep hill, 1:1 or steeper, done with a forestry mulcher. I was concerned about erosion, but with the mulch left behind, the grass has taken hold and it was a non issue. Had I gone in a pushed things over with a dozer, or somehing else. I would have had a huge mess.

 

[Tarhe Driver]

Look at the videos on gyro-track.com. I have seen one of these work, and it was awesome. I have no financial interest on them.

 

[fast_st]

How big are autumn olive plants/bushes/shrubs? How about the Kubota with a 7' brush mower and mulch the evever loving crap out of all the roots stems etc, I have a couple smaller brush mowers and using a tracor with a bucket, put the bucket about a foot off the ground to flatten things and start driving.

 

[cdm123]

I would agree with using some kind of mulcher as the material will break down into soil, There is a company that makes the Cadillac of mulchers @ deniscimaf.com. They are pricy but make fine chips instead of beating it into submission.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Around here they use a masticator to clear bushes down real low without disturbing the soil. There are various versions of it but is is kind of like a flail mower or asphalt mill mounted on a Bobcat or excavator type machine.

If the autumn olive will resprout then it will probably need further treatment but this is one way to get it down to the ground without tearing anything up.

 

[hosspuller]

As the soil is fragile... I'm with the others recommending a mulcher. I would also recommend planning to spray the regrowth. And you will get regrowth from the roots. A herbicide can be sprayed with a boom mount sprayer on a farm tractor. It will take a couple of years to eradicate the A. Olive. There will be seed in the ground waiting to germinate in the cleared areas. Planting crop before the eradication will lead to a mess. An invasive plant mixed into a valuable crop. Selective control is difficult and "EXPENSIVE"

 

[oldirt]

i would imagine all you will see is bare clay anyhow since all the good dirt was put under the fill. since this will erode at a fantastic rate I would suggest clearing it in 20' wide strips across the hill on a graded contour, so as to break up the rainfall's run. when you have a good stand of trees established, do the other half. grind it into the ground and leave everything on the surface.

just an idea.

 

[Grady]

I don't know how big your crew is but I've done this on a smaller scale where there was minimal valuable top soil. I cut, chipped, and piled all the mulch [kept the firewood and sawlogs] and then stripped and piled the topsoil separately. I just piled the stumps out of the way to let them rot - that takes about 7 years around here - depends on the tree. Now you are free to layout your orchard. I used my backhoe to dig trenches about a foot or so deep for berries. Trees got individual holes about 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. I filled the trenches and holes with the topsoil mixed with composted leaves and pine needles that I collect each fall in quantity for free. I used the chips as mulch between the rows. It will rot and turn to topsoil by the time the trees outgrow their holes. You can keep adding chips every couple years to mulch the rows to maintain the pathways or till them and plant grass that you have to mow and maybe even water. Chips are free and plentiful around here so I have more than just what came off the land. If you chip or grind the stumps, you'll have that much more organic matter to mix in. If you don't want to mulch with the chips, you could just mix them with the topsoil to extend it. The rows make irrigation easy. I got great results - even better than I expected. You may need bigger trenches and holes since your subsoil may be less productive but why not concentrate the topsoil where you need it and can use it? It's going to be hard to keep that little bit of topsoil in place and prevent it from mixing into the subsoil while prepping the ground with most any machine.