Can I burn rotting pile of brash in field that I suspect is harbouring rodents or other suggestions?

[Stere]

Just use a chainsaw or brushcutter with blade if theres  brambles or use some loppers near the wire etc  to cut stuff free.

 

 

Old branches etc are nearly  always dry enough to burn and once the fire gets going  even green freshly cut  stuff & wet stuff will burn also.

Edited February 13 by Stere

[roys]

I regularly leave piles of brash, some of them get left to the nature gods some of them I burn depending on location. The burn ones are usually left about 6 to 12 months to dry out.

As mentioned in the thread I start a fire about 2 meters away from the brash pile usually on an old pallet and just hand ball the stuff across, my brash piles are big but you can rattle through them in a couple of hours, the worst bit is the smoke chasing you around trying to sting your eyes. PS don’t wear your good fleece as it will be covered in spark holes by the end of it.

We have hedgehogs and there is no way I would just torch one of the piles without moving it.

[Steven P]

Photos of the brash piles might be handy when you are visiting.

 

If you have 2 acres to look after then it would be prudent to have a few tools to do work like this, get a saw with a chain that you can afford to trash should slice it into portions that you can move.

 

However, if there are many rodents like you suggest they are not eating rotting leaves, they are going after another food source. That is where your problem lies.

[scbk]

Aside from the wildlife, trying to set fire to a large piles of branches usually has a low success rate, so you're going to have to move it anyway.

 

Best off starting a small fire and adding the material to it, then you can have a nice clean fire, safe, everything burnt, and with the least ground damage.

 

 

On the 2 acres is there not space to just leave the stuff to rot down? Better for nature.

[Ledburyjosh]

Sounds like you need to not be lazy and put some effort into moving it onto a smaller adjacent fire.

 

Most of what you wrote sounds like your trying to justify burning other animals to save you some effort of moving it onto an adjacent fire.

[Doug Tait]

The discussion has already taken longer than the task might have, the animals will have died waiting.

 

Edit. Get someone in to deal with it for you. A lot of people would consider it a nice quiet day feeding a fire.

Edited February 13 by Doug Tait
Serious suggestion

[smallguy]

14 hours ago, Stere said:

Just use a chainsaw or brushcutter with blade if theres  brambles or use some loppers near the wire etc  to cut stuff free.

 

 

Old branches etc are nearly  always dry enough to burn and once the fire gets going  even green freshly cut  stuff & wet stuff will burn also.

I don't want to use power tools. Just have a range of hand tools and don't intend to get any due to the increased risk. Maybe that is the difference of why people are assuming it is easy work and I am being lazy as power tools are just the norm.

 

I enjoy using hand tools anyway, in general, as getting exercise is part of the enjoyment of being outside.

 

Of course this is just an exception with this pile which makes it hard to make any progress with the hand stuff but that was put there before I came with a digger so it is not an occasion I would have dealt with otherwise.

[smallguy]

13 hours ago, roys said:

I regularly leave piles of brash, some of them get left to the nature gods some of them I burn depending on location. The burn ones are usually left about 6 to 12 months to dry out.

As mentioned in the thread I start a fire about 2 meters away from the brash pile usually on an old pallet and just hand ball the stuff across, my brash piles are big but you can rattle through them in a couple of hours, the worst bit is the smoke chasing you around trying to sting your eyes. PS don’t wear your good fleece as it will be covered in spark holes by the end of it.

We have hedgehogs and there is no way I would just torch one of the piles without moving it.

In these cases how do you break up the pile? I am guessing power tools again?

[Mark Bolam]

Hand tools are fine, maybe even beneficial in this case.

Picking it apart slowly and feeding a small fire will give all the critters a chance to escape.

 

With enough time and patience you can piss a hole in a stone.

[smallguy]

12 hours ago, Steven P said:

Photos of the brash piles might be handy when you are visiting.

 

If you have 2 acres to look after then it would be prudent to have a few tools to do work like this, get a saw with a chain that you can afford to trash should slice it into portions that you can move.

 

However, if there are many rodents like you suggest they are not eating rotting leaves, they are going after another food source. That is where your problem lies.

As above like to use hand tools.

 

Well there is no big food source except wildlife as this is an empty field and no other human sources for a good way. I don't leave food out that is for sure. Only before I knew about them and that would have been once or twice.

 

Maybe it is just voles since they can naturally live in fields? Haven't been over there enough to know the extent of the situation for sure just the gnaw marks and droppings is the evidence.

 

I don't know what constitutes many. I have seen a few droppings and a lot of gnawing. Maybe it is only a few doing a lot of damage?