Forestry Mulching in West Alabama

No. The head grinds standing growth and can take a stump flush with the dirt, but the root ball stays in the ground. That suits trails, pasture, lanes and open woods. If the stumps have to come out for a slab, a house pad or a field you will disc, that is clearing work with the dozer and excavator, and we do that too. Tell us the end use and we will price the right method.

On our machines the working range runs up to roughly six to eight inches on the stump for standing hardwood, along with everything smaller: briars, privet, kudzu, saplings and whips. Stems near the top of that range take several times as long each as light brush does. Bigger timber gets pushed with the dozer or lifted out with the excavator. Many tracts need both methods, and we price them together.

Some of it will. Privet, sweetgum and kudzu sprout from cut stems and roots, and Alabama Extension says cutting privet alone does not give satisfactory control because the stumps sprout fast. The chip layer slows regrowth, and keeping the ground mowed or grazed holds it. A second mulching pass a year or two later is much quicker than the first. Anybody promising a permanent kill in one visit is guessing.

It depends on what is standing. Light briars and two-inch saplings go fast. A thick stand of hardwood understory near the top of the machine's range is slow going, and slope, wet ground and rock slow it more. Any acres-per-day figure given sight unseen is a guess. Send us the county, the acreage and a few photos, or let us look at it, and you get a number you can plan around.

Often, yes. Both mulchers run on tracks with low ground pressure, so they work soft ground without cutting ruts, and a chip cover is the right finish on a slope because it keeps the dirt from washing. Very wet ground still slows the work, and sometimes it pays to wait for a dry spell. Hillside jobs take longer than flat ones. You hear both things before the job starts.