If you want a piece of property that’s undeveloped and in a wooded area, or if part of your homestead is forested, you already know what a pain it can be trying to keep it clear. It never fails that, as soon as you take a season off, the next year you’ll have massively overgrown shrubs and trees of all kinds, and before you know it, they turn into an impassable thicket.
Sometimes it’s just an eyesore, other times it makes it hard to get around on your property for other purposes… and sometimes it can even be dangerous.
Invasive species can choke out native ones and imperil crops, and overgrown land is incredibly vulnerable to wildfires and accidental fires. But no matter how you go about it, clearing this overgrown land is always a ton of work.
That is, it’s a ton of work unless you go with forestry mulching. Forestry mulching can make quick work of even the most heavily overgrown land, eliminating all underbrush and even trees that you don’t want in the way anymore.
It’s a common process that can save you a ton of time and maybe even a ton of money compared to doing it yourself. Read on, and I’ll tell you all about it in this guide…
Why Clear Land with Forestry Mulching?
Clearing any kind of overgrown land using forestry mulching techniques is almost always the most efficient way to go about it.
It can save you time, prevent lost opportunity costs, and even greatly improve the land itself by turning all of the vegetation above the surface into shredded, nutrient-rich material that will quickly break down and restore nutrients into the soil.
If you don’t have a small army of people to help you, clearing land yourself is a backbreaking, long, and tedious process that requires a full commitment of your time and energy. Forestry mulching techniques using modern machinery can allow you to clear an acre or more in a single day by yourself.
It’s also the very best way to deal with severely neglected, overgrown land to get it ready for some new use, the building, planting, or anything else.
What are the Benefits of Forestry Mulching?
Forestry mulching, though not the solution to every land-clearing task or problem, has many benefits that you’d be wise to take advantage of.
Speed of Clearing
When it comes to clearing land, absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, is faster than forestry mulching. I don’t exaggerate when I say that it is literally like waving a magic eraser over your property!
Everything that’s above ground, from hedges and bushes to saplings and even fully grown mature trees will disappear, turned into mulch.
Clearing even a quarter of an acre by hand might be a weeks-long process even if using power tools, but by using a forestry mulcher you could be done in just a couple of hours.
Far Less Effort Compared to Manual Clearing
Clearing land the old-fashioned way is a great way to get fit depending on how athletic you are already!
Hacking, chopping, and pulling at saplings, shrubs, roots, and more always takes time, and even if you’re using power trimmers or a chainsaw to get rid of stout, tough vegetation you’ve still got to control these tools with all of your strength in order to stay safe and get the job done.
The bottom line is that it is absolutely exhausting work. If you’ve never done it before, just ask someone in your family who has, and they will tell you! Forestry mulching can save you a ton of blisters and grief.
Erosion Protection
Compared to other clearance techniques, forestry mulching can do wonders for preventing erosion.
It will invariably leave behind a thick layer of mulch, composed of whatever plants were growing there in the first place, that can prevent wind and water from carrying away the underlying topsoil.
This makes it the go-to choice for clearing land that will also need protection from erosion, commonly done when installing powerline right-of-ways, roads with wide shoulders, and so on.
Fire Prevention
One of the worst things you can do is let your property get too overgrown, especially when the overgrown parts are near your home or other structures.
Wildfires, and any accidental fire, can devastate these areas, lighting off very quickly, burning extremely hot, and spreading fast. And, of course, the fire won’t just stop at your property line, either, meaning it can endanger whole surrounding areas and even regions!
Forestry mulching removes this ample source of fuel ahead of time, and is a great way to actually firebreak your property against neighboring ones, or to keep your structures safe from the surrounding woods.
Adds Nutrients to Soil
Every gardener knows that mulch is their best friend. One of the benefits is that it can add nutrients back into the soil (carbon, potassium, calcium, zinc, iron, etc. etc.), though nitrogen can actually be reduced short-term because it’s consumed by the microbes that bread down the wood chips.
Forestry mulching can do the same thing for a much larger area and on a much larger scale; all those shredded plants, leaf and bark alike, will be broken up into a state that will decompose quickly and re-enter the soil, fortifying it for future growth. This will save you even more time and effort, and even more money, in the future if you’re going to plant more.
Can Reduce Invasive Species
One of the lesser known but still really important benefits of forestry mulching is it is a great way to absolutely destroy species that don’t belong in your future garden. Plants like kudzu and even some types of trees can thrive almost anywhere, grow rapidly, and overtake a host area, even a whole region, in time.
Pulling them out by hand or using chemical defoliants is obviously a fool’s errand in these cases, but removing them with forestry mulching can allow native species to be sown anew, and give them an advantage over the invaders and restore the natural balance of the ecosystem.
What Kind of Machine Do You Need for This Operation?
Forestry mulchers, sometimes known as brush cutters or forest masticators, come in a couple of varieties though each has common features in the form of high-speed rotating discs or drums that have teeth, blunt hammers, and other protrusions that absolutely devastate and destroy vegetation.
You can get them in attachments that can bolt onto tractors, skid-steers, and other common, small-scale heavy equipment, or as complete, purpose-designed self-propelled machines or vehicles that are capable of doing some serious work.
There are, of course, many different types and brands that work for various kinds of plant growth, softwoods, hardwoods, trees of different sizes, and anything else you can think of. You can rent one of these machines from companies that deal in heavy equipment rentals or leasing, or buy your own…
Attachable forestry mulchers are available for small skid steers and similar equipment and will range anywhere from $6,000 to $12,000. Large consumer-grade equipment might take an attachment that goes up to $35,000. Bigger excavator attachments may run $50,000 or a little more.
Self-propelled, purpose-designed forestry mulchers are significantly more expensive, and will run you anywhere from $100,000 to $600,000 or even more, though most of us won’t have real need of owning one of these “big rigs” unless we have a massive estate and are determined to take care of it ourselves.
Can These Machines Mulch Mature Trees?
Yes, they can! Except for the very smallest brush cutters, forestry mulchers are more than capable of totally mulching fully mature trees, although the size of the tree that they can handle depends on the design and power of the cutter itself, and the vehicle carrying it.
For instance, a vertical drum-style mulcher mounted on a medium skid steer might be able to handle mature trees that are up to 8 inches in diameter.
A much larger attachment mounted on a heavy-duty excavator or a self-propelled forestry mulcher machine using a series of horizontal cutting discs can make short work of massive trees that are 2 to 3 feet in diameter.
Now, remember this: as a rule of thumb, these mulchers can only safely handle large trees that have been felled! The USDA clearly states that “Mulchers should not be used as felling machines“.
On the other hand, excavated-mounted mulchers can and are actually designed to safely take down small to medium-sized trees. So whether or not you need to fell your trees depends on how big they are and what equipment you have.
The Six Basic Steps of Forestry Mulching
No matter what size and type of forestry mulcher you are using, and no matter what your purposes are for the land, the job itself always entails the same basic steps, outlined below:
Assessment
Forestry mulching, like every good job, begins with an assessment. For starters, the accessibility and grade of the land must be inspected and analyzed.
Forestry mulching can be done on steep slopes and these machines, but if your land is too steep, too uneven, or too rough, you can still do it, but you might want to look at other method of clearance.
If it’s simply inaccessible, it isn’t out of the question that a path might be cleared to the job site to allow the machine to get in, or potentially multiple smaller machines might be employed to the same effect rather than one large one that can’t get through.
Preparation and Initial Clearing
After the initial assessment preparation and the initial clearing of the land begins. Forestry mulchers are modern monuments to destruction, but they can’t get through just anything.
Old structures, metal debris, large stones, and anything else that might stop or damage the cutter must be removed or marked, as must any property that needs protection from the operation.
Likewise, no-go zones, protected habitats, and mature trees that the property owner wishes to keep must be marked with high-visibility paint or flags in order to prevent destruction. With hazards and valuables either moved away or marked, the job can begin.
Mulching
Now comes the fun part. The mulcher is either transported or driven to the job site, started up, and then starts hacking through all of the vegetation and the first few inches of soil.
Depending on the type of machine, the mulch might be sprayed or scattered out of the cutter or it might be vacuumed up into a storage container built into or towed behind the vehicle for later use and distribution.
Assuming there are no breakdowns or other problems, the only limitation on the mulching process is the endurance of the human operator, the availability of fuel, and prevailing conditions.
Grading
With all of the targeted vegetation cleared, the mulcher itself or a separate piece of equipment is used to grade the site to the desired slope. This will prepare it for subsequent use.
Mulch Collection (if desired)
If the forestry mulcher does not have a vacuum, a separate one or human workers can collect the mulch for storage, use, or transport as desired.
If the land is simply being cleared to start fresh, for aesthetic purposes or as a firebreak it can be plowed under, raked aside, or left where it is.
Final Cleanup
Any trees that were too big to handle along with other detritus that was turned up can then be hauled away from the site once mulching is completed and distributed as needed.
That’ll be a wrap for the job, and then the land is ready for whatever use or construction project the owner intends for it.
Is Forestry Mulching Safe?
Yes, but with a lot of asterisks, if you know what I mean.
Obviously, using any kind of heavy equipment entails certain unavoidable dangers. One of the biggest dangers is to any people, animals, or property that are anywhere near the mulching operation.
These extremely powerful machines have a nasty reputation for hurling rocks, chunks of wood, and other debris at high speed they can do some real damage or inflict major injury, potentially even kill someone.
Good machines will have screens and reinforced cabs with shatter-resistant windshields to prevent flying object hazards.
And you don’t need me to tell you of the horrible fate that will befall anyone or any animal that is unfortunately contacted by the operating drums or discs of the machine itself…
Another major hazard is the use of a brush cutter attachment or rig to push over or attempt to cut down trees.
Obviously, trees can fall in unintended ways and will crush whatever is beneath them. This is a major hazard for smaller machines that don’t offer much in the way of operator protection or a reinforced cab.
Sadly enough, brush cutters are pretty bad about starting fires. It makes sense, because the extreme heat generated by the friction due to contact with the ground, plant matter, rocks and more can easily lead to sparks or spontaneous ignition.
And with lots of fluffy, minced fuel lying around in the wake of the machine, a fire is a distinct possibility, particularly in dry conditions.
On the other hand, forestry mulching can be a lot safer than trying to do it by hand with power tools or manual tools, even.
You won’t be exposed to swarming, stinging insects that might be disturbed if you are safely inside a cab, and barring catastrophic malfunction, the tool itself won’t be able to injure you unlike a chainsaw or handheld trimmer.
As with all such endeavors, there is no truly correct or best option: is all about trade-offs, and forestry mulching has many advantages in terms of safety, but also some disadvantages that you must work to minimize or eliminate.
Are There any Downsides to Forestry Mulching?
There are a few The downsides are mainly expense and those attended with the passage of heavy machinery over soil repeatedly, particularly in the case of wheeled vehicles.
Let’s face it, these attachments and self-propelled machines are expensive, and if you need a heavy-duty machine for a big job it’s going to be very, very expensive.
Even hiring it out will be very costly. Professionals will charge anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per acre depending on the machines needed, the scope of the job, and other factors such as slope, rough terrain, and whether you have ample vegetation.
Depending on your circumstances in the size of your property, this might be a bargain compared to buying your own machine – or it might not.
Another thing to keep in mind is, heavy machinery moving back and forth over the same patch of land can cause serious compaction which can interfere with future planting.
Then there’s the obvious downside of habitat destruction. Virtually no woodland creature can or will survive the passage of a forestry mulcher, and the ones that decide to run will be deprived of their homes, be it burrow, nest, or something else.
This, obviously, is the necessary cost of “doing business” but forestry mulching is totally destructive in a way that pulling and cutting back unwanted shrubs and other low-growing vegetation simply isn’t. Whether this is of concern to you or not is a personal decision but one that you should think about.
Not All Kinds of Property are Suitable for Forestry Mulching
Unfortunately, not all property types are candidates for a forestry mulching operation, either professionally or in a DIY capacity.
If your property is very steep, extremely rocky, covered in boulders or if it is absolutely strewn with debris like old wire fencing and stuff like that you’re only going to endanger people, property, and the costly machine itself.
Likewise, if you cannot reasonably expect to get the machine to your patch of land, maybe because the approach is very steep, the ground is soft and boggy, or any number of other factors you’ll have to look at a different solution.
It’s also worth checking to see if there are any restrictive covenants, state or federally protected habitats, or other legal considerations before you start.
Doing something as destructive as forestry mulching on a protected or restricted land, or even adjacent to it, might open you up to significant legal liability and immense fines or other costs.
Like all big terraforming projects and property improvement plans, you must do your homework even if you have sole rights to the property!
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Tom has lived and worked on farms and homesteads from the Carolinas to Kentucky and beyond. He is passionate about helping people prepare for tough times by embracing lifestyles of self-sufficiency.