Go Bottomclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
 | rcc1215
Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 2 Dallas 
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2004-09-20 96890
We have a farm in SW Oklahoma and intend to reclaim several hundred acres that have been infested with mesquite for many years, litterally thousands of them. They range from an inch to 10" in diameter and many of them are very bushy with lots of limbs and wide crotches. There is some interest in the wood - mulch, bedding and so on - and we're looking into selling it. The thing is, each use needs a different size chip.
We've cleared a small test plot and chipped (shredded is more like it) the trees with a rented Vermeer that was truely ancient. We won't be doing that again: too small, too slow, poor quality chips.
I've been researching and am baffled by the options. Bigger seems to mean less trimming, PTO seems to mean more power/speed with less cost. I'm thinking a 10 inch, PTO powered chipper is the ticket, and have found one that allows for the chip size to be adjusted: Hud-son CH260.
Being a family farm, we have tractors, trucks, and trailers but little cash. The Hud-son goes for 12K plus...my dad almost fainted. Is that chipper over-kill for what we're trying to do? Are there better choices or problems I've overlooked?
Any and all suggestions will be gratefully accepted...
RC
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada 
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2004-09-20 96896
Too bad you can't turn it into a cash crop.
I actually go to the store and BUY mesquite chips for my BBQ. ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
| paulss
Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 60 Lavaca County, TX
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2004-09-20 96898
How about renting a chipper? You can get any size you need. Better yet, sell your "crop" of mesquite to whoever is interested with a time limit on how long they have to harvest it. Either way, someone has a heck of a job ahead of them.
As you probably know, mesquite is very dense and hard and has lots of thorns. Down here in Texas, some folks use it for furniture or flooring but the majority of it ends up as wood or chips for BBQ pits and smokers. It has to be dry, cooking with green mesquite will leave a taste reminiscent of #2 diesel. Also, it is imperative that you get the long, main tap root on mesquite or it will just grow back.
Good Luck. ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
| rcc1215
Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 2 Dallas
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2004-09-20 96903
Yeah, the tap root has been quite a topic of conversation around here. We intend to run cattle on the land, so we're hesitant to use poison, but there are so many trees (and some are really big) that pulling them up one by one doesn't seem practical. We haven't solved that one yet but one way or another, the trees are going.
One of our problems is that we're fairly remote. The first chipper we rented was the only one within 50 miles we could find, and it didn't do such a great job. Getting people to come out here is a challenge and often expensive.
We haven't considered the BBQ angle...I guess we should look into it, too. ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
| paulss
Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 60 Lavaca County, TX
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2004-09-20 96904
To do it properly, you have to use a dozer/rootplow to get the stumps out. Otherwise, you end up with thousands of little mesquite "shrubs" that have billions of thorns.
Most of the time we bulldoze, stack and burn it. ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
 | kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2004-09-20 96912
Just a couple of thoughts. I bought a used 1998 12" Bearcat chipper with around 800 hours on it for ~$9k. After we get a few of years use out of it I should be able to sell it for a goodly percentage of that, which makes for cheap chipping. Also, here in Oregon they give 35% tax credits for chipper purchases to encourage chipping instead of burning. You might check to see if a program like that is available in your area. Good luck! ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
| re: mesquites ad nau
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2006-03-25 126648
We are neighbors, I have a ranch in East Texas, and have your problem, but not to the extent where the mesquite have taken over YET. I have been cutting them down and cutting off the large log parts, then taken branches into piles where I burn them... I then take roundup and annoint the stumps. I am mowing all the while, so "new" growth gets the cutting edge, and I again annoint them with roundup. The advice to "sell" or give the wood is good, provided the taker stacks what he leaves behind so it can be burned. Also, advice to rent chipper is good. I have enough logs for a century of use, and give away the rest.
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
| JAZAK5
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 276 coxsackie,ny
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2006-03-26 126679
With that kind of acrage it sounds like you need a small tub grinder /hammer mill or pallet grinder. you can controll the size of the chips and do the stumps too.!!!! ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
 | earthwrks
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3853 Home Office in Flat Rock, Michigan
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2006-03-26 126681
As far as the chipper goes, there is big difference between a drum-type and a disc-type. Drum-types are usually what tree services use--they're high-powered and extremely quick but produce long, thin shards of chippings. Disc-types are usually lesser-powered, louder to operate and much slower, and "choosey" on what branches will feed easily versus ones that have to be forced through it. However, the chips are much smaller and consistently sized, and perhaps more saleable. As far as removing the roots I regularly use 2 (or more) forks on a pallet fork attachment for a skid steer. It works great for grubbing out roots and even whole trees depending on root structure and tap roots (has the same effect as a dozer with a root rake). ....
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Add Photoclearing and chipping mesquites lots of them help
| Woodie
Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 109 Michigan lower
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2006-03-26 126682
Some times its worth a try to check with the state surplus office. I know here in MI the state auctions off all sorts of equipment like forestry type stuff -chippers. As with auctions sometimes you can find a 'dirty' diamond or a 'rock'. Check out the 'auto trader'type magazines for farm ,heavy/construction equipment there's usual some chippers forsale there. ....
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