Clearing mesquite?

[North Texan]

I grew up in the Panahandle and I can tell you that you need to be mindful of those underground wasp nest sometimes around mesquite trees. Personal experience with a D-5 open cab and they had my butt moving off the cab and it took a few hours to get the dozer moved with a loader and get the nest covered.

I've not had a lot of problems with wasps, other than paper wasps on trees I was knocking over. I've had more problems with bees than anything. It's kind of creepy watching the swarm and ping the glass on the dozer or tractor cab. I just hope the engine keeps purring and the tracks/wheels keep turning.

 

[North Texan]

I have been following this thread and although I have no idea what mesquite looks like, apart from the pictures here, it does appear to cause problems similar to our boxthorn. A local chap here came up with an idea for pulling boxthorns and I was wondering if it could be applied to your mesquite. Here is a link, where he appeared on a local inventors programme.

Rn'R.

Pulling works if the soil is really soft and wet. Otherwise, the stupid things break off and come back with a vengeance. And the soil here is not soft enough with moisture most of the time.

 

[North Texan]

Interesting to hear mesquite is like a weed down there, I wish you could ship what you collect up to me!! A plastic bag full of mesquite chips can cost $4 to $5 for BBQ use! I've always assumed it was a somewhat rare wood.

There is a guy in town that all he does is process mesquite wood for that. Makes good money, too. He won't pay for the clearing of large trees, but once grubbed, he will have crews come out and harvest the wood, then in return, rake the remaining roots and branches into piles so they can be burned and the pastures seeded.

 

[Paw Paws Toy]

Boxthorns look like what we call blue thorn in the Texas Hill Country. The tree or bush looks different but the thorns are the same. They are easy to grub but I am extra careful to stay away from those thorns. A sure flat if you are not careful. The root system is not even close to a mesquite root system on a large tree. I will have to take some pictures of the roots of a larger mesquite.

 

[TALLRICK]

Believe it or not, Mesquite can be found here in Florida. I got suckered into helping remove one from a chain link fence. That tree was a nightmare because it had nasty thorns and a colony of enormous red ants to guard it. A 4x4 truck and a chain was a lost cause, and chainsawing the thing was a painful disaster. Finally I brought the bobcat and the hydraulic pole saw and got it cut back. We got the stump out after washing the roots and cutting with the saw, then pulling with the Bobcat. Within a month a bunch of new sprouts came up from the roots! The roots went everywhere as after the lot was cleared of weeds sprouts could be seen 30 feet away. I had never seen mesquite before but since I use trash wood as a fuel I was able to determine what the nasty tree was. I used to t hink mesquite was a rare wood as well, but now I know better!

 

[euclid]

I have been following this thread and although I have no idea what mesquite looks like, apart from the pictures here, it does appear to cause problems similar to our boxthorn. A local chap here came up with an idea for pulling boxthorns and I was wondering if it could be applied to your mesquite. Here is a link, where he appeared on a local inventors programme.

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s1597455.htm

Rn'R.

Cheeky invention I reckon! Yes those Box thorns are much like our Mesquite. But mesquite is good for smoking beef on the grill and makes for some awesome BBQ yank style!
:wink2

 

[Paw Paws Toy]

Grubber modified again

North Texan,

Hopefully you have been receiving good rains. In the hill country we have received 10" since Labor Day. The rains fell slowly and soaked in. The only problem has been that we didn't get our tanks full. It was so dry and the rains fell so slowly that it all soaked in and our tanks are about half full.

It had been so dry down here that I am way behind in grubbing mesquites. I have modified my grubber again. The first modification was to add forks to the original grubber(Pictures on page 1). That worked out great in grubbing mesquites close to fences, etc. but I felt I was putting more pressure on my skid steer arms and would cause the pins to wear out sooner. I still use the forks near fences etc. I use a chain to hold up the forks out of the way when I am using my original grubber.

Several reasons for modifying my original grubber. It was 16" wide and I decided that I was moving too much dirt. I loved the way that my forks modification would take the ground and grab the mesquite. They were only 12" wide. So I went back to my original grubber and welded 1" x 3" x 20" iron pieces to it. I put a 4" piece with slots between the two pieces (see pictures) making me a set of smaller forks. This extended my new forks about 14" past my orginal grubber.

This new setup has really been doing a good job of popping up the mesquites. Of course the super wet soil doesn't hurt either.

 

[euclid]

Well good to hear you all got that much needed rain which will help keep the fire hazards down for a while. Hopefuly more rain will happen over the fall and winter and get the supplies back on track.

 

[North Texan]

We got some much needed rain. Some tanks caught full, others did not. Would have liked to have had the wheat in, but I'll take the rain regardless.

Here are some pics of the mesquites on the place:

These are near some corrals. Since cattle are often concentrated around these areas for working and feeding, and since they eat mesquite beans, these areas often have numerous sprouts all the time. Hard on pickup and trailer tires when it is time to move and haul.

The first pick is off a mesquite that has previously been sprayed. It was top-killed, but as you can see, it is resprouting, as it has already done at least once before.

The second and third picks are just east of the corrals. Very dense stands of small mesquite, and the blue around them is where I spot sprayed them using the high-volume foliar method.

 

[North Texan]

A few more:

This pasture has previously been cleared using a skid loader and bucket (rented a NH 170). Prickly pear was very thick, and was cleared using a the loader. B-Dahl Bluestem was seeded by hand were the loader cleared. Mesquites were subsequently treated using the high-volume foliar IPT treatment. A few resprouted, and as you can see, the resprouts were re-treated. Also note the difference in grass cover between treated areas in this pasture and the untreated areas in the other pastures.

 

[North Texan]

A few more:

The first picture is one more of the pasture that was treated a few years ago (2004 I think).

The second picture and third pictures are areas that were sprayed with a helicopter last year. Some growth persists, but it will probably take another year or two before all of the trees that are going to die will finally give up the ghost. Prickly pear and other cactus in this area have also been treated using the IPT spray method prior to mesquite control.

The remaining pictures are of untreated trees. You can tell from the trees in the picture that this pasture was treated previously. In the 1960's, this pasture was chained. Most of the trees were not killed, only top-killed, and resprouted as multi-stemmed plants from the base. Prickly pear and tasajillo were also spread by the chaining.

 

[North Texan]

And just a couple more:

While these trees were sprayed, you can see how thick they really are. When hunting in these pastures, most shots are very, very close due to the amount of brush and limited visibility and shot opportunities. I've had more success with dogs when hunting hogs, because they are not as limited by the heavy brush as a rifle.

 

[Serv]

The mesquite is all over my area down here. The best way I have to deal with them is with my dozer. They are tough trees though. Here's some pics of some mesquite clearing I did at my entrance after installing an electric gate opener a few weeks ago. The backhoe helps too.

 

[roddyo]

A few more:

This pasture has previously been cleared using a skid loader and bucket (rented a NH 170). Prickly pear was very thick, and was cleared using a the loader. B-Dahl Bluestem was seeded by hand were the loader cleared. Mesquites were subsequently treated using the high-volume foliar IPT treatment. A few resprouted, and as you can see, the resprouts were re-treated. Also note the difference in grass cover between treated areas in this pasture and the untreated areas in the other pastures.

Did you get your B-Dahl from Clayton?

 

[Tiger41]

A friend of mine builds grubbers for skid steers basically like the pics but his has a V cut into it where he can bite the tree and the pull up and forward at the same time. Works well he sells them for about 1000 dollars

 

[North Texan]

Did you get your B-Dahl from Clayton?

Turner Seed in Breckenridge.

 

[roddyo]

W B Dahl Bluestem

Turner Seed in Breckenridge.

Clayton Brosig down at Concho County sells a lot of B Dahl also. He's a Super good guy.

When it first started raining after the big drought we partnered up with Clayton selling stock cows. We was gathering them up and sending them to him at Paint Rock. He sold most of them off the farm but every now and then we would slip some in the specials down at Jordon's at San Saba.

 

[Paw Paws Toy]

A friend of mine builds grubbers for skid steers basically like the pics but his has a V cut into it where he can bite the tree and the pull up and forward at the same time. Works well he sells them for about 1000 dollars

My first attempt at building a grubber (Post #7) was to attempt to use the notches to grab the mesquite but it was too broad. I then tried using a set of old forks (Post #10) joined together with the same notched metal. It took the ground much better than my first attempt but was too long. I had seen the V cut advertised in several places but it didn't look like it would grab the roots on larger mesquites. On smaller mesquites you have to be careful not to cut through the root. I decided to modify once again (Post #27) to make it like the forks but shorter. In my soil this works well. I can dig down and pick up the roots. By digging around and getting the roots on a big mesqute I can topple some pretty big mesquites.

 

[Paw Paws Toy]

North Texan,

Hope this rain is getting up your way. We had a little over 7" on the Monday before Memorial Day. Parts of the county had over 9". The mesquites should be easy to grub if I don't get stuck.

 

[lminter240]

I have problems with my Bobcat 843, I can unlock hydraulic system, I replaced
lock sensor but still problem, back and fw. ok steering OK. just I can used bucket
no move . Thank you
LOU