Anyone here use a skid steer for grubbing mesquite? If so, what size machine are you using and what size brush can you handle?
I have 1994 Mustang 940 skid steer that I have been using since 2001 to clear mesquite. It works well in certain soils and moisture levels. I grub small mesquites(less than 1 1/2" diameter) and large ones. The ones in between are the problem-not enough weight or power.
WHen you say large ones, how large are you talking? Some of my mesquites are single-stem, but most are multi-stemmed from re-sprouting after failed control attempts with chemicals. Mostly under 6' in canopy height.
The large mesquites are trees from 6" to2' in diameter. You must have fairly moist soil to grub any mesquites. In the hill country where my farm is, the mesquites' roots are long and grow out in all directions around the tree up to about 2' deep. Usually I reach up as high as I need to and test the tree to see if I can make some roots buckle and to see if the tree has enough movement. You will know quickly whether or not the tree will be fairly easy to dig. I dig all around the tree with my grubber and pull up or break all the roots that I can. Then I reach up as high as I need to and start pushing the tree until it starts laying over. If you can get the tree to lay over somewhat, it will expose more roots. I will post some pictures of my grubber and modifications that I have made to it if I can figure out how to post them.
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I cannot help you with sprouts. I have some sprouts where I have broken off a tree at or below ground level. You will continue to have sprouts until you are able to dig up the broken off stump. If you keep working around the stump getting all the roots that you can, then most stumps will eventually come up if they are not too big. I try to dig up little mesquites and work to keep them down before they get too big. You don't want to cut the small mesquites in two. Dig up the whole mesquite-root and all. I will send a picture of my set up when I am able to post it.
I think I have figured out the picture attaching feature now. I will send a picture of the grubber in its original form. It will be shown on my Mustang 940. The grubber was made out of two elevator weights from a junk yard. One weight was split in two and makes up the vertical pieces. The weights were about 10" x about 37" x 1.25". I then mounted the other weight across the vertical pieces for strength, extra weight, and as a surface to push on larger mesquite trees. The vertical pieces are 16" from outside to outside. If I were to make this grubber over, I would have made it no more than 12" from outside to outside. It would not take as much power to operate. I used 3/4" plate across the bottom and then welded a piece of a cedar grinder blade backwards to it. You don't want a sharp blade because it will cut the mesquite (small ones) in two. The blade that I used will catch the mesquite and pull it out if you can maintain contact with the mesquite. Some people made a similar attachment but they have used a v-shaped cutter blade. I don't want to cut the mesquite in two. I want to pull it up and out of the ground. I have added to my original grubber giving it more weight and reach.
Thanks for the pics and information. I was thinking about trying something like that. I had also seen the v-blade designs, but was thinking more along the lines of something like this, which is what similar to what I have on the dozer, only smaller for a smaller machine.
I got my idea from seeing one hanging on a dozer years ago.
Just got back from the Texas Hill Country. Hot and dry. This is the modification that I made to my original grubber several years ago. It worked well with my Mustang 940. I tried it this weekend with my new Bobcat S175 and it really works good. Of course, I am sure that it would work even better if we had some two inch rains to soften the soil. The picture with the mesquite was taken back in April when we had some of those good rains. The reason for a modification was because I could not get up next to fences to grub mesquites, prickly pear, or turkey pear. I would have to tilt the original grubber forward to take the ground and this would cause me to get tangled up with the fence. I can tilt the forks up and use the original grubber or grub with extra reach. The extra weight up front helps when you are grubbing up hill.
I'd settle for an inch of rain. I've not gotten much at all, and not hardly 10 miles from here as the crow flies, some folks got 5" in one rain. I'm not sure what they are a payin' their preacher, but........:beatsme
North Texan, What kind of soil are your mesquites in? Are they large trees, small, or a combination of?
I never thought of using the forks like that. Looks like it works pretty good!
Depends. Much is fine sandy loam. Some is clay. A few places are sand. Some are very shallow, rocky soils, but I don't worry so much about them. The trees would be small. Most with stems 2" or less in diameter.
North Texan, Do you have a skid steer? I bet you can grub those mesquites with one. It will probably take longer and you will have to dig around the stump to sever all possible roots. One good thing about those sprouts, they will identify those stubborn stumps that you need to keep working on. They will eventually give up and you will get them out when the soil conditions are right. I have some that I work each time I make my rounds grubbing the new mesquites that have come up. I am assuming that you are planning to do this grubbing on your place and not for hire. I have only done work on my places. I am trying to get all the new mesquites and eventually get most of my large ones. We had an inch of rain last week but with this heat and my schedule I won't be able to get down and grub any mesquites.
I grew up in the Panahandle and I can tell you that you need to be mindful of those underground wasp nest sometimes around mesquite trees. Personal experience with a D-5 open cab and they had my butt moving off the cab and it took a few hours to get the dozer moved with a loader and get the nest covered.
I have been following this thread and although I have no idea what mesquite looks like, apart from the pictures here, it does appear to cause problems similar to our boxthorn. A local chap here came up with an idea for pulling boxthorns and I was wondering if it could be applied to your mesquite. Here is a link, where he appeared on a local inventors programme. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s1597455.htm Rn'R.
Interesting to hear mesquite is like a weed down there, I wish you could ship what you collect up to me!! A plastic bag full of mesquite chips can cost $4 to $5 for BBQ use! I've always assumed it was a somewhat rare wood.
Good Lord no......you can get a truck load the asking if you'll pick it up. Its a miserable pest of a plant that spreads and takes over vast areas of land choking out the grass. Its only redeeming quality is in a smoker.
Not right now. I have rented some for other jobs, just never grubbed a mesquite with one. I'm thinking the same thing. However, my dad disagrees. Thus, no skid steer at the current time. I've been knocking some of them out with a grubbing hoe. It works for the house pasture, but it would be two full time jobs trying to clear all of the pastures. That is why I have been spot spraying. The trouble with spot spraying is I need to be running a combine or a tractor at the same time I need to be spraying. From about October to March, the only thing the farmland needs is rain. Correct. Between this year and next, I will be finishing up the aerial spraying for mesquites on everything. The prickly pear have all been sprayed, and follow-up treatment will start next year. The large mesquites that are left, I plan to grub with a JD 750 dozer. For anything very large, I'll use that. I had .6" on July 5th. Didn't fill the tanks, but it did melt the clods and moisten the soil enough maybe the plow will take to the ground this time around. It doesn't take it long to get dry and hard.
I've not had a lot of problems with wasps, other than paper wasps on trees I was knocking over. I've had more problems with bees than anything. It's kind of creepy watching the swarm and ping the glass on the dozer or tractor cab. I just hope the engine keeps purring and the tracks/wheels keep turning.
Pulling works if the soil is really soft and wet. Otherwise, the stupid things break off and come back with a vengeance. And the soil here is not soft enough with moisture most of the time.
There is a guy in town that all he does is process mesquite wood for that. Makes good money, too. He won't pay for the clearing of large trees, but once grubbed, he will have crews come out and harvest the wood, then in return, rake the remaining roots and branches into piles so they can be burned and the pastures seeded.
Boxthorns look like what we call blue thorn in the Texas Hill Country. The tree or bush looks different but the thorns are the same. They are easy to grub but I am extra careful to stay away from those thorns. A sure flat if you are not careful. The root system is not even close to a mesquite root system on a large tree. I will have to take some pictures of the roots of a larger mesquite.
Believe it or not, Mesquite can be found here in Florida. I got suckered into helping remove one from a chain link fence. That tree was a nightmare because it had nasty thorns and a colony of enormous red ants to guard it. A 4x4 truck and a chain was a lost cause, and chainsawing the thing was a painful disaster. Finally I brought the bobcat and the hydraulic pole saw and got it cut back. We got the stump out after washing the roots and cutting with the saw, then pulling with the Bobcat. Within a month a bunch of new sprouts came up from the roots! The roots went everywhere as after the lot was cleared of weeds sprouts could be seen 30 feet away. I had never seen mesquite before but since I use trash wood as a fuel I was able to determine what the nasty tree was. I used to t hink mesquite was a rare wood as well, but now I know better!
Cheeky invention I reckon! Yes those Box thorns are much like our Mesquite. But mesquite is good for smoking beef on the grill and makes for some awesome BBQ yank style! :wink2
Grubber modified again North Texan, Hopefully you have been receiving good rains. In the hill country we have received 10" since Labor Day. The rains fell slowly and soaked in. The only problem has been that we didn't get our tanks full. It was so dry and the rains fell so slowly that it all soaked in and our tanks are about half full. It had been so dry down here that I am way behind in grubbing mesquites. I have modified my grubber again. The first modification was to add forks to the original grubber(Pictures on page 1). That worked out great in grubbing mesquites close to fences, etc. but I felt I was putting more pressure on my skid steer arms and would cause the pins to wear out sooner. I still use the forks near fences etc. I use a chain to hold up the forks out of the way when I am using my original grubber. Several reasons for modifying my original grubber. It was 16" wide and I decided that I was moving too much dirt. I loved the way that my forks modification would take the ground and grab the mesquite. They were only 12" wide. So I went back to my original grubber and welded 1" x 3" x 20" iron pieces to it. I put a 4" piece with slots between the two pieces (see pictures) making me a set of smaller forks. This extended my new forks about 14" past my orginal grubber. This new setup has really been doing a good job of popping up the mesquites. Of course the super wet soil doesn't hurt either.
Well good to hear you all got that much needed rain which will help keep the fire hazards down for a while. Hopefuly more rain will happen over the fall and winter and get the supplies back on track.
We got some much needed rain. Some tanks caught full, others did not. Would have liked to have had the wheat in, but I'll take the rain regardless. Here are some pics of the mesquites on the place: These are near some corrals. Since cattle are often concentrated around these areas for working and feeding, and since they eat mesquite beans, these areas often have numerous sprouts all the time. Hard on pickup and trailer tires when it is time to move and haul. The first pick is off a mesquite that has previously been sprayed. It was top-killed, but as you can see, it is resprouting, as it has already done at least once before. The second and third picks are just east of the corrals. Very dense stands of small mesquite, and the blue around them is where I spot sprayed them using the high-volume foliar method.
A few more: This pasture has previously been cleared using a skid loader and bucket (rented a NH 170). Prickly pear was very thick, and was cleared using a the loader. B-Dahl Bluestem was seeded by hand were the loader cleared. Mesquites were subsequently treated using the high-volume foliar IPT treatment. A few resprouted, and as you can see, the resprouts were re-treated. Also note the difference in grass cover between treated areas in this pasture and the untreated areas in the other pastures.
A few more: The first picture is one more of the pasture that was treated a few years ago (2004 I think). The second picture and third pictures are areas that were sprayed with a helicopter last year. Some growth persists, but it will probably take another year or two before all of the trees that are going to die will finally give up the ghost. Prickly pear and other cactus in this area have also been treated using the IPT spray method prior to mesquite control. The remaining pictures are of untreated trees. You can tell from the trees in the picture that this pasture was treated previously. In the 1960's, this pasture was chained. Most of the trees were not killed, only top-killed, and resprouted as multi-stemmed plants from the base. Prickly pear and tasajillo were also spread by the chaining.
And just a couple more: While these trees were sprayed, you can see how thick they really are. When hunting in these pastures, most shots are very, very close due to the amount of brush and limited visibility and shot opportunities. I've had more success with dogs when hunting hogs, because they are not as limited by the heavy brush as a rifle.
The mesquite is all over my area down here. The best way I have to deal with them is with my dozer. They are tough trees though. Here's some pics of some mesquite clearing I did at my entrance after installing an electric gate opener a few weeks ago. The backhoe helps too.
Did you get your B-Dahl from Clayton?
A friend of mine builds grubbers for skid steers basically like the pics but his has a V cut into it where he can bite the tree and the pull up and forward at the same time. Works well he sells them for about 1000 dollars
Turner Seed in Breckenridge.
W B Dahl Bluestem Clayton Brosig down at Concho County sells a lot of B Dahl also. He's a Super good guy. When it first started raining after the big drought we partnered up with Clayton selling stock cows. We was gathering them up and sending them to him at Paint Rock. He sold most of them off the farm but every now and then we would slip some in the specials down at Jordon's at San Saba.
My first attempt at building a grubber (Post #7) was to attempt to use the notches to grab the mesquite but it was too broad. I then tried using a set of old forks (Post #10) joined together with the same notched metal. It took the ground much better than my first attempt but was too long. I had seen the V cut advertised in several places but it didn't look like it would grab the roots on larger mesquites. On smaller mesquites you have to be careful not to cut through the root. I decided to modify once again (Post #27) to make it like the forks but shorter. In my soil this works well. I can dig down and pick up the roots. By digging around and getting the roots on a big mesqute I can topple some pretty big mesquites.
North Texan, Hope this rain is getting up your way. We had a little over 7" on the Monday before Memorial Day. Parts of the county had over 9". The mesquites should be easy to grub if I don't get stuck.
I have problems with my Bobcat 843, I can unlock hydraulic system, I replaced lock sensor but still problem, back and fw. ok steering OK. just I can used bucket no move . Thank you LOU
Funny, I have since planted one of the mesquite seedlings in my yard and am surprised what a nice looking, slow growing bush it is. Hopefully I am not making a terrible mistake.
Tiger 41, could you provide more info about the grubbers your friend builds? Some pictures would be great! How do we get more info about the grubbers?
Has anyone ever used a mist sprayer for killing mesquites?
We made it through wheat harvest without a rain delay, but have since gotten a couple of inches. Should make it easy for the 9150 to get over all the wheat ground. This past winter, I leased a 252 with a cab and air from the Cat dealer. Also leased a grubber from them. It worked very well, although I think a little bigger machine would have worked even better. A little more heft and a little more power from a little larger machine, and I think I could get a lot done. Will be busy farming until September, but after that, will probably get serious about pricing a new machine.
I've used a spot sprayer on my ATV for a while, and it works decent on smaller trees. The key is to get a good spayer with a good pump. I burned through a lot of Shurflo and Flojet pumps spot spraying, and regardless of what anyone claimed, they just never held up to a lot of spraying. I use a Pumptec now, and it is WELL worth the money.