What to do with brush piles?

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

My ideal approach would be a chipper. I have lots of uses for wood chips including the compost pile and as mulch. All I need now is the money to get a chipper. In the meantime I get a bit crazy cutting rounds down to rather small diameters before I give up. The village here collects and chips branches if you leave them at the street but they don't leave the chips here for me to use them so I end up buying bags of chips when I want mulch.

I hear you, 47. Wish I lived nearby, I'd bring my chipper over and give 'em hell with you. They should leave the chips for you!

 

[armanidog]

If you can find the folks clearing tree limbs for the power company, ask them to dump a load of chips at your house. It saves them the cost of going to the landfill and if you are close by they are glad to do it.

 

[Rangerbait]

Fire pit.

That's my solution too...the kids get excited when they see the brush pile in the pit [emoji2]

 

[Dobish]

i have a small chipper, but it is not very effective, and it needs the carb rebuilt I think (its my brother in laws). It also doesn't do much more than 1", so it is pretty useless. i use chips for a lot of things too. I put a call in to my tree work friend, and he may bring over his chipper, but he won't touch the rose bushes. Those will probably go to the fire pit... or the dumpster option.

 

[xman23]

I used to chip the limbs. But now I drag them in to the woods. Pile them high and cut them up with the chain saw. In a few years they rot out and disappear.

 

[HisTreeNut]

The kiddos turn the brush into kindling and/or fire pit wood. Stuff I do not want, we put at the end of the driveway and call the town. They come and pick it up in a day or two, usually. The joy of small town life.

 

[Dobish]

So I got from a week vacation last night at midnight. Dumpster delivered at 6am, mini excavator picked up at 7am. I ended up tearing up 6 of the rose bushes, a few of the willow clumps, and threw some of the elm and maple branches that were in the burn pile. I almost filled the 30 yd dumpster with just that. I still have a lot of rose bushes to get rid of, but those are on the other side of the creek. Not sure when I will get too those! I went out and raked out a lot of the stuff that had been building up for the last 20 years, so I will try and get as much of that in the dumpster as I can.

I found a whole pile of rocks for my stove wall, and graded a few spots so I can actually walk back there. Still a lot of work to do, but I'm glad I made progress.

Best part is, the wife loves the idea of fruit trees along the property line, and a wood wall. I did manage to knock into the swing set, and two wood piles. All three need attention now...

I'm still thinking about a huge dumpster fire...

Pics to come tomorrow

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

So I got from a week vacation last night at midnight. Dumpster delivered at 6am, mini excavator picked up at 7am. I ended up tearing up 6 of the rose bushes, a few of the willow clumps, and threw some of the elm and maple branches that were in the burn pile. I almost filled the 30 yd dumpster with just that. I still have a lot of rose bushes to get rid of, but those are on the other side of the creek. Not sure when I will get too those! I went out and raked out a lot of the stuff that had been building up for the last 20 years, so I will try and get as much of that in the dumpster as I can.

I found a whole pile of rocks for my stove wall, and graded a few spots so I can actually walk back there. Still a lot of work to do, but I'm glad I made progress.

Best part is, the wife loves the idea of fruit trees along the property line, and a wood wall. I did manage to knock into the swing set, and two wood piles. All three need attention now...

I'm still thinking about a huge dumpster fire...

Pics to come tomorrow

At this point, it sounds like you are just having fun with that mini-excavator. It does sound like fun.

I guess I'd have rented a big chipper instead of paying for the dumpster so I could have kept all those nutrients in my new orchard rather than hauling them off to the landfill.

Still something to consider, you are going to need mulch, and it seems a little crazy to haul off all that mulch in the making, only to have to import some back in when you get those fruit trees planted. Sort of like paying a tree service to haul off logs, then buying firewood.

 

[Dobish]

At this point, it sounds like you are just having fun with that mini-excavator. It does sound like fun.

I guess I'd have rented a big chipper instead of paying for the dumpster so I could have kept all those nutrients in my new orchard rather than hauling them off to the landfill.

Still something to consider, you are going to need mulch, and it seems a little crazy to haul off all that mulch in the making, only to have to import some back in when you get those fruit trees planted. Sort of like paying a tree service to haul off logs, then buying firewood.

There was no way I was going to chip those rose bushes... I get free mulch from my tree service friend, so no worries there! There are also lots of piles of the smaller branches and brambles that didn't make it to the dumpster, so I will get to use those for mulch. I still have quite a few of these to get through, most of those will get burned.

We have a while before we get around to completing our master plan for the backyard, so it will probably be a year or two before the fruit trees go in. We are just trying to get it to a state that we can manage it. Given we are in Colorado, we aren't going to be trying to grow a nice lawn...

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

There was no way I was going to chip those rose bushes... I get free mulch from my tree service friend, so no worries there! There are also lots of piles of the smaller branches and brambles that didn't make it to the dumpster, so I will get to use those for mulch. I still have quite a few of these to get through, most of those will get burned.

We have a while before we get around to completing our master plan for the backyard, so it will probably be a year or two before the fruit trees go in. We are just trying to get it to a state that we can manage it. Given we are in Colorado, we aren't going to be trying to grow a nice lawn...

Sounds like you have it all covered. This has been a fun thread, thanks for sharing your stories and thoughts. And, it even included a side trip to Florida. I could use some Florida right now, it was 11° this morning.

 

[Dobish]

here is a picture of it mostly cleaned out. . I will try to get a few more. I am going to stand by one of the smaller bushes for reference...