How to clean up after hydroaxe?

[Dunbar]

The skid steer hydroaxe shredded 20' high jungle into 6 inches or so of wood debris on the ground. What's the best way to clean up? Landscape rake to burn piles? Front loader with Piranha bar to scrape and load? Box blade it into the dirt to break down? I have a wicked root grapple on order but that'll be a couple of months before delivery. It looks like we're were carpet bombed. The ground is hard sand and there are roots from hundreds of trees that I want to keep. I know the wood chips will eventually break down but I want to level the ground to prep for construction and landscaping. Appreciate your ideas.

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[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yea a grapple would be best, landscape rake will do it to some extent just plan on it also mowing a lot of sand in with the tree debri.

 

[D2Cat]

I'd suggest getting a tooth bar like this and bolt to your bucket. Tip the teeth down and use it as a rake. You can put the material into pile and load to relocate if you choose.

If you put the material in piles out of the way, spread some nitrogen fertilizer on it and it will beak down much quicker.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-REMOVA...ADER-COMPACT-TRACTOR-bobcat-cat-/362437139135

 

[SRG]

Hydroaxe peeked my curiosity, i had to look it up. HAHAHA what a beast of an attachment! In case anyone was wondering like i was....
Beast mode engaged
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvz7lKAWKN0

 

[Sodark]

Thanks SRG. Was just about to look it up, myself. And now I want one...

 

[In Utopia]

I used a combination of a landscape rake on my tractor and a grapple on a skid steer to clean up several acres of shredded cedar at my neighbors place in Utopia, TX.
In places where I couldn't get the tractor I curled the grapple all the way towards me and used it like a rake. Some of the stuff had been laying there for several years and was packed pretty tight, and nothing, not even weeds would grow on it.
About a month later native grass was starting to grow.

 

[jnldr]

Ratchet rake!!!!


huntfishquest.com

 

[Kingcreek]

The electric coop did the same thing to me recently with a track machine and hydroshredder. They took out 820' of over 100 year old Osage orange hedge row and shredded old fence wire and all. Then they cleared a path 40' wide through my timber and left it looking exactly like yours.
They have the easment and I couldn't stop them but I complained about the mess they left me. They came back and went over it 2 more times and mulched it finer. Theirs was a rotary drum shredder with teeth so they could even run it a couple inches in the ground.
I sympathize with you. Your pic could have been taken at my place 2 weeks ago.

 

[Dunbar]

I got my EA 55" Wicked Root Grapple on Monday and got a chance to put it to work today. It is exactly what I need for my property. Not only does it clean up the mess in my OP pic but it is perfect for managing my forest drop. The thing is awesome and has me laughing like a maniac when operating it.

 

[majorwager]

Neighbor owns this older unit. No experience w/ a grapple but they seem capable. Old school york rake user.

 

[Jchonline]

I got my EA 55" Wicked Root Grapple on Monday and got a chance to put it to work today. It is exactly what I need for my property. Not only does it clean up the mess in my OP pic but it is perfect for managing my forest drop. The thing is awesome and has me laughing like a maniac when operating it.

I had about 10 acres forestry mulched 2 years ago with a Fecon FT128. You think that hydroaxe is wicked you should see this thing. It threw large chunks of wood 100 ft. You could be nowhere close to it when operating. We had hundreds of beetle kill pines. The finer stuff is breaking down nicely and will leave a fantastic base for vegetation. The larger stuff I am going to use my grapple to rake it up and burn it. Key is to try not and get much dirt! The grapple is an amazing attachment!

The only issue I have is some of the ground is uneven. I have to reach out and rake it smooth, move that material somewhere, then go back and get the next few feet. Sometimes it is slow.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Think I'd push into a big pile and roast it next year after it seasons out.

 

[Cathy Liebchen]

we leave the debris biomass on the ground and its rotted out in a year. The contractor recommended leaving it for soil health and erosion prevention. Now we are in a humid almost tropical climate here so anything on ground contact rots immediately