• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

Land clearing, to burn or not to burn

farmerlund

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
1,237
Location
North Dakota
Occupation
Farmer/ excavator
I stack green trees and leave them for 2 years. Than burn and bury whats left. sometimes if there is dead trees I can burn right away but normally they are green. No burning permits needed here. just need to be smart about the conditions around you. Burying a huge pile of brush and wood just settles and causes problems for years.

ALWAYS I REPEAT, ALWAYS CALL FOR LOCATES. Don't trust someone when they say there is nothing out there. Land owners favorite saying is "I have lived here for 40 year and there is nothing dug in here." They always forget about the utility that was ran across there property 25years ago until you hit it. You will be done before you even get started if you hit something expensive to fix. Its easy to do online. takes me less than 10 minutes to do most of mine.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,430
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Different counties in MO have different permit requirements, with any county with a volunteer FD it is a GOOD Thing to contact Well Ahead of Burn day and agreeable with them As that burn time as well not ever leaving a smoldering pile of burning whatever unattended. Have seen brush piles on farms smoldering for days before the fire either extinguished itself, was put out or was spread out to put out and buried.
 

wrwtexan

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
558
Location
Cooper, Texas
Occupation
Indy Farm Wrench, heavy land clearing, rancher
Have seen brush piles on farms smoldering for days before the fire either extinguished itself, was put out or was spread out to put out and buried.
brush piles on farms smoldering for days before the fire either extinguished itself, was put out or was spread out to put out and buried.

I can attest to that. I went into a pile to sift that had been burned for likely 2 months and halfway through the pile I had flames coming up beside me. The core can stay smoldering for a LONG time. I'm on a 2,500 acre bottomland cattle ranch and my site was down to dirt so no problems letting one completely burn out.
 

joshbowling45

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
48
Location
Crane, Missouri
Locate utilities on ALL jobs regardless of size or location if you are digging below grade level. Once you've given them the time to locate anything on the site, you are then in the clear regarding any damages to utilities that were not marked.

You should be able to dial 811 nationally these days for utility location services. It won't cost you anything and it will release you from liability. It IS the law, too.
I have called dig right for the jobs that I have done this far, but I didn't know how it worked on jobs that were so spread out. Good to know.
 

Oldcatpusher

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 29, 2019
Messages
161
Location
Arkansas
All the suggestions sound complicated. I push the brush up with my dozer to the trackhoe which piles it as high as it can reach. If its green trees that I've pushed over in the last week I throw a tractor tire under it. Take a paper towel light it throw it on the edge and take a 3 gallon pump up sprayer full of diesel and start spraying the towel and tire. Poke it up once a day till its burnt down. I've had a fire going 3 months on my job. I love the huge clouds of white smoke green trees put off. I don't even call in a controlled burn. Just let it go.
 

Ronsii

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
3,464
Location
Western Washington
Occupation
s/e Heavy equipment operator
While tires do work great!!! around here and many other places it's highly frowned upon(illegal) to use them.... so if you don't want the evidence in the pile make sure you thread a length of haywire through any tires that *might* happen to get in the pile ;) that ways you can retrieve the carcass(evidence) after the burn :)
 

joshbowling45

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
48
Location
Crane, Missouri
I've got a bead on a used gas powered fan for $200 and I also planned on getting a pump sprayer to soak with diesel and oil. Going to dig out a big trench with the trackloader and put the fan at one end. Then just continuely push into the trench with the fan going for the green stuff.
 

joshbowling45

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
48
Location
Crane, Missouri
Different counties in MO have different permit requirements, with any county with a volunteer FD it is a GOOD Thing to contact Well Ahead of Burn day and agreeable with them As that burn time as well not ever leaving a smoldering pile of burning whatever unattended. Have seen brush piles on farms smoldering for days before the fire either extinguished itself, was put out or was spread out to put out and buried.

Fellow Missouri man I see. Nice!
 

jjhdozing

Active Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2015
Messages
43
Location
Nebraska
I do a lot of tree clearing jobs. Always, always cut the stumps off! Any dirt in the pile can ruin a fire so keep it as clean as possible. Stack all the trees the same way don’t just throw them in a pile and think that will work. I’ve redone jobs where contractors have done that and the farmer has wasted hundreds or a thousand dollars on fuel to get it to burn. As long as you stack them all in the same direction and keep pushing the pile so it’s as tight and the higher you can stack the pile the better. Not sure if you have an Excvator with thumb but that’s the best way to do it. All I do is figure out which way the wind is blowing (start fire so the wind blows it into the pile) back my pickup up to the pile with my fuel tank light and piece of paper on fire and put my finger over the diesel fuel nozzle and spray the fire and let it spread! I don’t care how wet or green it is it should only take 10 gallons max to get a good fire going if you did it right!
 

Ronsii

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2011
Messages
3,464
Location
Western Washington
Occupation
s/e Heavy equipment operator
I used to do the thumb over the nozzle.... but it wastes so much fuel :eek: especially at over 3 bucks a gallon!!! a small pump up sprayer will start quite a few piles :) or get yourself a weed burner torch and a propane tank ;) also like several have said keep the piles clean!!!
 

jjhdozing

Active Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2015
Messages
43
Location
Nebraska
I used to do the thumb over the nozzle.... but it wastes so much fuel :eek: especially at over 3 bucks a gallon!!! a small pump up sprayer will start quite a few piles :) or get yourself a weed burner torch and a propane tank ;) also like several have said keep the piles clean!!!
It does waste a bit of fuel but that’s the last of my worries! Another thing that works great is to get a cheap manual nozzle and weld a 4 ft extension on the end and weld the end shut and drill two small holes into it. That works nice also and let’s you shoot it out further! Sort of a pain to change nozzles but with couple wrenches and pipe dope only a 5 min deal
 

joshbowling45

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
48
Location
Crane, Missouri
I just run an older 953 with a gp bucket on it. But I always rake the rootball off over the hole that it came out of. This is a picture of of the brush piles that I have been making in comparison with the height of the trackloader. Not as high as an excavator can stack but still seems like a pretty good vertical stack. Then I also attached a photo of a before and after finished product because why not
 

Attachments

  • KIMG0657.JPG
    KIMG0657.JPG
    2 MB · Views: 68
  • KIMG0693.JPG
    KIMG0693.JPG
    2.2 MB · Views: 65
  • KIMG0770.JPG
    KIMG0770.JPG
    3.2 MB · Views: 67

joshbowling45

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2019
Messages
48
Location
Crane, Missouri
Nice finished job, Josh. What is done to prevent erosion ?
Thanks! And sprayed with graze-on then reseeded. That picture was from this winter, haven't gotten any pictures after the grass came back on. There was a little erosion from the record rain fall that we received this year but the grass seemed to help keep the soil in place once it came on.
 

xr4ticlone

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Messages
113
Location
TEXAS
Occupation
Trusted Adviser to the Construction World
Top