Rhododendron removal

[veners]

We have been asked to price some rhody clearance work, and the price has to be per hectare, taking the rough with the smooth based on up to 7 hectares depending on price

 

Mixed broadleaf wood with a variety of aged rhody from diameters of 1cm to 15cm at a mix of densities but would say medium to heavy.

 

All material to be chipped and removed from site (not mulched on site unfortunately) and the stumps treated. They also want a price for the root removal with diggers and then also taken off site.

 

We were planning to put a mog in there to chip the brash then a 13 tonne machine with rake on to pull the roots out.

 

Does anyone have any rough ideas of timescales or costs for the for any of these parts as we have only mulched rhody in the past. Chip tip off very close by not sure about the roots yet.

 

If anyone is interested in pricing this just send me a message

 

Cheers

[Charlieh]

roughly where is the Job? I think there are a couple of guys on here that have done the work your describing, is the woodland SSSI?

[veners]

Just outside North London, I dont believe its a SSSI

[happybonzo]

I have two small woodlands and have a similar problem.

I have loads of Rhodi to get rid of. It is killing everything and, as far as I can make out, does nothing but provide cover for Roe and Muntjac. The ground underneath is dead and devoid of any other forms of plant life.

 

I have been told by the people who shoot the woods that it provides cover for Pheasants but I have never seen any Pheasants using it as shelter. I have asked people I know who are running very big Shoots if this may be right and they are of the opinion that Rhodi is a menace as well.

 

What is the best way of dealing with it? Is it best to cut the "plants" and burn it? What should one treat the stumps with: Roundup or drill the stumps and fill the holes with a Nitrogen fertiliser?

 

A woodlands adjacent to mine has wonderful displays of Bluebells and I'd rather see them than the horrible dead green Rhodi leaves.

 

Is it any use as a firewood because if it is then I will use the bigger branches for burning in an enclosed fire and also to make Charcoal. I know that in Nepal it used as a fuel.

 

It's got to go... any help and/or suggestions would be welcome

[nepia]

Is it any use as a firewood because if it is then I will use the bigger branches for burning in an enclosed fire and also to make Charcoal. I know that in Nepal it used as a fuel.

 

It's got to go... any help and/or suggestions would be welcome

 

 

The medium-sized stuff is excellent lightweight firewood - the sort of stuff to put on the kindling before the big stuff. The big stuff is good but a bit short-lived as you'd expect; dry it out and it's feather light.

But don't pass on the opportunity to use it; I love it.

 

Removal: I don't know your circumstances but if you've got large shrubs, verging on tree size, I'm guessing that one of them will be covering a large ground area. A Tirfor winch will pull the stumps with no problem at all as rhodos are shallow rooted so a few minutes setting up and tweaking and you've cleared a good area as well as grabbing yourself decent firewood.

I'm at exactly that game myself in a large garden next weekend.

 

For onsite disposal rhodo burns fast and furious once you've got it going.

[zeroluke]

I removed what i thought was loads of that with hand tools and a winch with BTCV when I did my NVQ with them. The assessor said it doesn't really burn for long, might be good for starting fires but thats it - it rages like mad and then you've got to throw loads more on. We could not burn it where we were working as we were working along side the top dam at Lady Bower in derbyshire. I'd think twice before starting a fire on moorlands. The hill was like / so it took some doing. It was fun I would do it again. Would be better still if i was paid for it

[Matthew Arnold]

We just cleared 6 acres of laurel n rhody. Most of the stuff was tree size with lots of smaller regrowths. There was 3 of us chainsawing with 6 people dragging and burning. Was a heavy slog over 2 weeks but we got it done. Here is a pic of one of the massive fires we had. The base was 12ft long x 9 ft wide x 4 ft tall at the end of the day.

[garth mc garth]

i helped clear 20 odd hectares of rhody a few years back. we had 2 x 21 ton machines with hawk forks ripping it out roots and all then piling it up, forwarder moving it from the woodland to a clearing where we had an air burner being fed by a 13 ton 360.

Main problem we had by doing it this was soil contamination from the roots causing it to burn slowly. we tried mixing in waste construction timber by the artic load per day to speed it up which helped but we certainly werent burning it as quick as we were extracting it.

Perhaps getting rid of the brash first then dealing with the roots later would be a quicker way of dealing with it

[Matthew Arnold]

i helped clear 20 odd hectares of rhody a few years back. we had 2 x 21 ton machines with hawk forks ripping it out roots and all then piling it up, forwarder moving it from the woodland to a clearing where we had an air burner being fed by a 13 ton 360.

Main problem we had by doing it this was soil contamination from the roots causing it to burn slowly. we tried mixing in waste construction timber by the artic load per day to speed it up which helped but we certainly werent burning it as quick as we were extracting it.

Perhaps getting rid of the brash first then dealing with the roots later would be a quicker way of dealing with it

 

Thats what we have done. Cleared the brash first then gonna get in there with my favourite bit of kit... Forest Mulcher. Probably set it at 0 height then minus 6 height to rip up the roots. Got alot of well seasoned Sweet Chessie and Ash on the deck from the 1980s storms. The area we were clearing is ravaged by Honey fungus. 2/3 of the trees in the area were affected by Honey Fungus. Most of them were dead or dying. Whe i am in the area i shall get some pictures of the hung up ones in there. Might borrow EA's winch tractor to pull em back over.

[doobin]

i helped clear 20 odd hectares of rhody a few years back. we had 2 x 21 ton machines with hawk forks ripping it out roots and all then piling it up, forwarder moving it from the woodland to a clearing where we had an air burner being fed by a 13 ton 360.

Main problem we had by doing it this was soil contamination from the roots causing it to burn slowly. we tried mixing in waste construction timber by the artic load per day to speed it up which helped but we certainly werent burning it as quick as we were extracting it.

Perhaps getting rid of the brash first then dealing with the roots later would be a quicker way of dealing with it

 

We use a grapple- it lets you give the thing a good shake to get rid of most of the soil. Rhodys usually grow on sandy acid soil so this shakes easily off the shallow roots.