treemuncher
Senior Member
My most productive day ever was a seek and destroy job for a farmer that had a HL problem. He called me in after several of his cattle suffered blindness due to thorns in the eyes. My first day I covered about 5 acres of medium thick total clear along a terrace full of HL, cherries, cedar and oak. I thought that was very productive until the second day when it was "destroy any/every HL you can find in the rest of the fields". It was sporadic cutting of 1/2"-6" trees and thickets of trees and I covered 22 acres that one day. This was accomplished with the Barko 937. The ground speed and horsepower of that machine is pure productivity when the terrain is relatively flat. I realize that this is not a DIY method unless you already have a 937. However, remember this, more $/hr for a bigger machine usually translates to lowest $/acre worked and results in saving the customer money. I've found nothing else that mulches as fast as the rubber tire machine due to its ground speed and horsepower.
As for alternative chemical treatments, bleach used to be about $1 gallon but I hear that has gotten expensive. Trees also hate paint thinner and other strong chemicals, and so do I in my well. There is a dry granule product called Spike that will leach into the soil and kill every tree in the area. Depending on the time of year of application and species, I've had excellent results with this stuff. There are also "wet hatchets" that deliver chemical products into the cambium of the tree (think of it like a syringe for a tree) and ensure good dosing on problem trees.
You might also do some searching on ForestryForum.com and other tree/logging/farming forums for more ideas on other herbicides and application ideas to control your growing problems.
As for alternative chemical treatments, bleach used to be about $1 gallon but I hear that has gotten expensive. Trees also hate paint thinner and other strong chemicals, and so do I in my well. There is a dry granule product called Spike that will leach into the soil and kill every tree in the area. Depending on the time of year of application and species, I've had excellent results with this stuff. There are also "wet hatchets" that deliver chemical products into the cambium of the tree (think of it like a syringe for a tree) and ensure good dosing on problem trees.
You might also do some searching on ForestryForum.com and other tree/logging/farming forums for more ideas on other herbicides and application ideas to control your growing problems.
