Burning single and pockets of live evergreens

[deerdown]

Buddy of mine has a farm that has been overrun with trees, dogwoods, evergreens and hardwoods. It's gotten so thick that you literally can't walk through some areas.
The ground is also very steep.

I was talking to him yesterday and he was talking about how he couldremove the 25' evergreens. I'm trying to think about solutions to his problem. It needs to be a low cost solution, as in manual labor, as he won't likely want to spend dollars for a dozer or skidsteer.

Any ideas other than chain sawing these trees? I was wondering if anyone has used a propane blow torch to burn them where they stand. Use of a tractor is out of the question due to the steepness of the terrain.

Any other ideas?

 

[Duckriver]

Cedars will burn very well. A large propane tourch works well. But if you have dead grass or leaves then you gotta deal with that catching fire. That could snowball if not careful. It's pretty simple but could get away from you if not careful. Chainsaw is less problematic and just as effective.

 

[deerdown]

I think part of the problem we'll have with chainsawing is that there's no where for the trees to go/fall to get to the next one and it'll be hard to move them around by hand due to their size and weight.

I suppose burning them with snow on the ground would help prevent unwanted spread of the fire, just thinking out loud... and hopefully they'd lite the next one on fire, and then the next, and then the next.....but I get your point, I'm scare as heck with fire...

 

[LoessHillsArcher]

Here's what I've been doing...

Started with removing lower limbs so I can walk through without bending over. Then taking the downed limbs and making piles so you're not tripping on them. Next step is to girdle some trees to let sunlight in and others areas I'm dropping trees, cutting them up, and pilling them up near by to be burned later. Back breaking work. Doing an acre or two a year is about my max.

 

[Daver]

Here's what I've been doing...

Started with removing lower limbs so I can walk through without bending over. Then taking the downed limbs and making piles so you're not tripping on them. Next step is to girdle some trees to let sunlight in and others areas I'm dropping trees, cutting them up, and pilling them up near by to be burned later. Back breaking work. Doing an acre or two a year is about my max.

FWIW, I am going to do just about the same thing on an area on my place this winter. Thankfully, I only have an acre or two of dense cedars to be concerned with, so I hope to knock this project out in full this winter.

I do plan on harvesting about 8-10 of the cedar trunks to give to a neighbor, who is going to use them as a decorative post on his outdoor porch. So I will be cutting a few down, limbing them and then dragging them out to a nearby field where he can then come and get them.

So I am clearing out some over grown cedars, he is getting some decorative posts. Win, win.

 

[LoessHillsArcher]

FWIW, I am going to do just about the same thing on an area on my place this winter. Thankfully, I only have an acre or two of dense cedars to be concerned with, so I hope to knock this project out in full this winter.

I do plan on harvesting about 8-10 of the cedar trunks to give to a neighbor, who is going to use them as a decorative post on his outdoor porch. So I will be cutting a few down, limbing them and then dragging them out to a nearby field where he can then come and get them.

So I am clearing out some over grown cedars, he is getting some decorative posts. Win, win.

Nice!! I've definitely got my eye on some of the bigger logs in our thickets as well!

 

[MOBOWHUNTER]

Would it be possible to cut below the lowest limb, let them lay then come back in two years and run a fire through?

 

[Tmayer13]

Let me tell you a bit about my experience with cedars. For one live trees DO NOT burn like people claim. Sure you may get some of the lower limbs to catch but that wont kill the tree. Every once in a while you will get the whole tree to catch fire but its very few a far between. I have ALOT of cedars...and when I say ALOT I mean that's basically the only tree I have on my farm. I have ran fires right through them on tall native grasses and very few of them burn.
I have not tried any sort of a propane torch to get them to light, but from the amount of fire I have ran through them, to me it seems like you would need a flame thrower to get them all to light up.

The best method that I have seen to controller them is getting them to the ground. Cut them and them run fire through them and you have FAR more success.

The only other way would be to hire someone with a forestry head to remove them for you.

 

[Tmayer13]

Here is an example of where fire took out one tree but didnt phase the one directly next to it

 

[Tmayer13]

Here fire ran right through trees...didnt tough them at all

 

[Tmayer13]

Here you can see one tree thats on fire but yet the one next to it is just fine

 

[Tmayer13]

no tress were harmed in the burning of this grass

 

[Tmayer13]

you see that it appears this tree is gone yet there are still green branches on it

 

[deep woods goat hunter]

I think part of the problem we'll have with chainsawing is that there's no where for the trees to go/fall to get to the next one and it'll be hard to move them around by hand due to their size and weight.

I suppose burning them with snow on the ground would help prevent unwanted spread of the fire, just thinking out loud... and hopefully they'd lite the next one on fire, and then the next, and then the next.....but I get your point, I'm scare as heck with fire...

Once you get them cut they tend to "roll" through each other relatively easily. fast forward to 48 second mark in this video