VERY OVERGROWN LAND

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VERY OVERGROWN LAND
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Flamin'Panda

Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Azores

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 7:26 am Post subject: VERY OVERGROWN LAND
We have a large piece of very overgrown land, about 30 years worth. Intermingled with everything are some trees that I would like to keep, but there is also a lot of bamboo (not cane). Any ideas would be helpful. If we weren't going to be away next winter I would buy a goat or a pig. Would seriously like to get it done asap...

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 16002

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 9:22 am Post subject:
I would suggest trying to get a brushcutter (heavy duty strimmer with cutting head rather than string) in there to see what there is to start with. You can leave the trees undamaged, and once you have cut the top off the rest of it, you might find it is a lot less bad than you think. After that, perhaps a rotovator?

Flamin'Panda

Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Azores

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 9:28 am Post subject:
Yup, I think a strimmer (not string type) is the way to go.... My first thought was lots of petrol and a match... but I'm still growing my hair back after the last time! The only problem with the mechanical route is the effort, not that I adverse to it, but wow, there is a lot of growth there. Please keep the ideas coming...

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 9:33 am Post subject:

caroline1 wrote:

My first thought was lots of petrol and a match...

Very bad idea. If you want to go that route, then a flamethrower is the way forward.
Where are you based? I do have one...

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 9:40 am Post subject:
If it's seriously fenced, short term pig loan might help.

woodsprite

Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 2943
Location: North Herefordshire

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 10:45 am Post subject:
Or if youre in the Azores and having to go away, i'll be your pigherd! ;0)

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 12:03 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure what the bamboo is you're referring to but assuming it's a creeping plant that grows from pieces of root/rhizome I would definitely not rotavate as you'll just chop up the roots into thousands of new cuttings.

Digging it out is going to be the only way unless you resort to lots of weed killer use. I had a large overgrown end of a garden with nettles, brambles and other deep rooted weeds. Digging them out with as much roots as possible was very successful, if hard work, but then I only needed to do it once.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46249
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 12:12 pm Post subject:
pandas?

Flamin'Panda

Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Azores

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 12:31 pm Post subject:
Wow, thanks for all of that, so all I need now is a Panda who can operate a flame thrower.... has anyone got one? Yupthe land is in the Azores, but you would have to bring a tent as we don't have a house on it yet and are still living on our boat..... Please keep the ideas coming...

mousjoos

Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 12:38 pm Post subject:

caroline1 wrote:

Wow, thanks for all of that, so all I need now is a Panda who can operate a flame thrower.... has anyone got one? Yupthe land is in the Azores, but you would have to bring a tent as we don't have a house on it yet and are still living on our boat..... Please keep the ideas coming...

The panda/flame thrower combo on a boat sounds hazardous, & fraught with potential difficulties

get pigs..they have terrific "sea-legs" & look quite dashing in a life jacket

Finsky

Joined: 10 Sep 2011
Posts: 847
Location: Notts.

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 12:41 pm Post subject:
I would get friendly with one of the neighbours who would like to make use of some free foraging ground for their pigs. Make 'contract' for a certain time scale and the pigs will eat their way through the undergrowth and fertilize the land same time Before they set their feet to the area...slash/hack down all the unwanted growth leaving those that you want to keep upright.

Flamin'Panda

Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Azores

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 12:43 pm Post subject:
Now, we're just being silly, of course I wouldn't let the panda play with the flame thrower on the boat... As for pigs and lifejackets, um, let me see, I'm sure that I have a spare one just the right size...

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 1:46 pm Post subject:

Flamin'Panda

Joined: 09 Feb 2014
Posts: 464
Location: Azores

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 1:56 pm Post subject:
On a more serious note, thank you for all your ideas, do please keep them coming. The land is not fenced, but I could put in an electric fence. My current thought (panda aside) is a pig, then asking a neighbour to look after it whilst away..... the great thing about pigs, unlike mechanical clearers is that I can eat it at the end...

Finsky

Joined: 10 Sep 2011
Posts: 847
Location: Notts.

Posted: Sun Feb 09, 14 2:09 pm Post subject:

vegplot wrote:

...picture worth of more than thousand words...

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