I'm cleaning up some meadows which are full of Honey Locust. The thorns on the Locust range from small needle like on the knee high versions to 4-6" daggers on the full size tees.
My plan is to cut, treat and stack the locust on the meadow edge. Then, come through with a 6" rental chipper to finish the job. I'll be blowing the chop back into the meadow but assume it will be harmless after going through the chipper.
My question is how worried do I need to be about a lost thorn or two? I'm clearing out all I can but its not unreasonale that some small pieces get burried in the grass. I'll be mowing after I cut and clean. Any thoughts or experience with these nasty trees?
Thanks,
I had some Honey (nightmare) Locus scattered throughout just shy of 2 acres. I hired a forestry mulcher and it worked great for the most part, but it did not get all those thorns mulched up sufficiently to remove any risk of any flat tires in the future, which was one of the biggest reasons to begin with. So long story short, I ended up with a dozer to clean up, and burn the rest. If I had it to do over again, I would have started with the dozer equip. But thankfully when it was finished, I never got a flat, but I can sure see how its possible.
If feasible $, and considering your time and physical abilities, especially dealing with "full size trees" and how many you have, you
might want to consider either renting a small 6-way dozer or hiring someone to take on this project, as it should be a one time deal, if kept maintained afterwards. Curious how big this project is you have and I see your last post was Jan 27th so hope all is going well.
Depending on how many acres you need done, you could create piles made to burn later, which then you could reduce and re-burn if needed with the use of your front end loader. If the Locus are concentrated in specific areas, you could plan accordingly and make piles in those concentrated areas to help save dozer time. In the hope to remove as many thorns as possible, it might be beneficial to have the dozer lightly scrape the top of the ground in the path(s), where the trees are moved from, and pushed to the piles. When most, or all the work is done, consider mowing or doing any addition work with your tractor when the ground is wet or very moist if possible, for the next several months?. Its not a guarantee, but something to consider.
Something else to consider is any additional dozer work that you might need done while you had it on the property.
All this might be way off base, but just wanted to give you more options or ideas to consider, and good luck.
