system for clearing uncultivated land of invasive reed beds, weeds, bushes, shrubs, and ailanthus trees

[barracane]

system for clearing uncultivated land of invasive reed beds, weeds, bushes, shrubs, and ailanthus trees
Hello, we need to clear a plot of land of spontaneous vegetation—shrubs, castor bean plants, ailanthus, black locust, and, most notably, a dense thicket of reeds. Obviously, a spade, pickaxe, and hoe won't get you very far. What kind of mechanical equipment should we use—a standard agricultural plow, an excavator, a bulldozer, or a wheeled or tracked loader? As for the reeds, there’s not much you can do; if you cut or burn them, the rhizomes remain in the soil and grow back even stronger than before. Desperate times call for desperate measures—we need to bring out the heavy machinery. What do you use, and what approach would you recommend? Thanks.

 

[Nick...]

This is what id use.made by bmc and done loads with it.easy to rip up and sort.bare soil in pic was a farm track that i pulled up and sorted all rubble and concrete removed.loosened up over a foot deep.
nick...

 

[Lancs Lad]

system for clearing uncultivated land of invasive reed beds, weeds, bushes, shrubs, and ailanthus trees
Hello, we need to clear a plot of land of spontaneous vegetation—shrubs, castor bean plants, ailanthus, black locust, and, most notably, a dense thicket of reeds. Obviously, a spade, pickaxe, and hoe won't get you very far. What kind of mechanical equipment should we use—a standard agricultural plow, an excavator, a bulldozer, or a wheeled or tracked loader? As for the reeds, there’s not much you can do; if you cut or burn them, the rhizomes remain in the soil and grow back even stronger than before. Desperate times call for desperate measures—we need to bring out the heavy machinery. What do you use, and what approach would you recommend? Thanks.

Try this ;

 

[Monkeybusiness]

Rake everything you can out of the soil and spray any regrowth with Glyphosate.

 

[barracane]

Do you think we can remove the root rhizomes? They’re like onions—all it takes is one, and an impenetrable thicket of reeds will form. Thanks.


I used glyphosate on a bush; it’s poisonous—birds and pigeons died, as did the cats that ate them. For an excavator, a 4-ton (40-quintal) model would suffice. A neighbor of ours cleared some reeds and then removed the roots using a 15-ton excavator; they attached a perforated "sieve" bucket—the kind used for screening—to separate the soil and stones from the roots. It’s a grueling job; you need workers to manually separate the roots and load them into containers. A flamethrower doesn’t work—the roots remain in the ground and grow back even stronger than before. What about a bulldozer with a front-mounted rake to push through and break up the soil—would it only affect the top layer?

Land Clearance Rakes - The Bucket Manufacturing Company

BMC can supply land clearance rakes that can be used for many different applications, such as sorting debris from soil like plant roots or larger rocks, clearing surface vegetation such as brambles, hedges and shrubs. The applications that the rake will be used for dictates the thickness and...

bmc-buckets.co.uk

 

[V8Druid]

I used glyphosate on a bush; it’s poisonous—birds and pigeons died, as did the cats that ate them. For an excavator, a 4-ton (40-quintal) model would suffice. A neighbor of ours cleared some reeds and then removed the roots using a 15-ton excavator; they attached a perforated "sieve" bucket—the kind used for screening—to separate the soil and stones from the roots. It’s a grueling job; you need workers to manually separate the roots and load them into containers. A flamethrower doesn’t work—the roots remain in the ground and grow back even stronger than before. What about a bulldozer with a front-mounted rake to push through and break up the soil—would it only affect the top layer?

View attachment 86014

Land Clearance Rakes - The Bucket Manufacturing Company

BMC can supply land clearance rakes that can be used for many different applications, such as sorting debris from soil like plant roots or larger rocks, clearing surface vegetation such as brambles, hedges and shrubs. The applications that the rake will be used for dictates the thickness and...

bmc-buckets.co.uk

glyphosate is a systemic weeder and is supposedly inert once it touches the ground / plants which absorb it into their systems as far as I am aware - not supposed to kill wildlife ??

 

[Bri963]

How big is the area? A front rake on a dozer is overkill for a small area, you’d be better off with an excavator and rake. More use sorting things out afterwards.

 

[Monkeybusiness]

Glyphosate is used by farmers on wheat to kill it/allow it to dry before combining, so is prevalent throughout the food chain (as horrible as that is to think about!). It won’t have killed any animals that ate the treated plants - they must have been sprayed with a different chemical.

 

[barracane]

"I have about 5,000 square meters of terraced hillside land. One of the terraces used to be an abandoned vineyard with a few citrus trees (lemons, oranges, and mandarins). However, a reed bed has completely taken over, and the slope is now covered in an invasive forest of tree of heaven (Ailanthus). I honestly don't even know where to begin.