EXCAVATOR TREE MULCHING / MASTICATING

Excavator tree mulchers are ideal for rehabilitation and deforestation, especially on steep riverbanks, powerlines, pipelines and railway lines. An excavator mulcher can process any material with a certain diameter. They can mulch upright and fallen trees, shrubs and stumps. Applications that an excavator mulcher can help maintain a storm drainage area, make the right path, clear the land, reforest and much more. 

Call Juniper Excavating for All Your Excavator Mulching Needs

Whether you want to clear the area of ​​each tree or you want to selectively loosen it, you can use a mulch to dig up your desired trees and turn them into mulch beds that cover the ground. Nurture the decoration. You can easily find and store excavated sawdust in tight spaces.

You don't have to keep an eye on everything when you have an excavator mulch. You have the option to choose what is left with the blow molding rig, which can save your money on new trees, fillers, etc. Earlier, developers could easily clean everything, but today, the focus is on some plants and mulching to increase the value of the land. 

excavator tree mulcher

Therefore, the number of alternative methods is massive, respectively. However, in most cases, similarities can be identified. For example, manual work is often a substitute for our products. Excavators, burning, and bulldozers, are often used for cleaning.

With all of these methods, three consecutive reasons demonstrate the mulching benefits.

  • Mulching is faster
  • Mulching is more economical
  • Mulching is more durable

Especially when making economic comparisons, mulching can often take the place of a multi-stage process. While masticating clears and removes material or woodland in a single step, a machine or several workers may be needed to fill the stand and collect, remove, and finally dispose of the material.

Also, mulching not only removes but also re-enters the ecosystem in a molded manner. This means that the reduced biomass is distributed in the soil. As a result, after the removal of plants, there is no soil and no erosion due to wind and rain. The process of natural biological degradation also forms a layer of humus, which moves into the soil by microorganisms and makes it more fertile.

Reasons People Need Excavator Tree Masticating Services

  • Road Clearing - removing trees and brush from roadways
  • Wildfire Suppression - Removing fuel for wildfire suppression lines
  • Tree Thinning - Reducing the number of trees in an area 

Many people like the mulching process because it turns trees/limbs into chips so there is no stacking and burning required. 

Operating an Excavator Mulcher

Limitations

Soil Conditions: Rocky soil is faster to notice the teeth and can present a fire hazard. The uneven ground makes head control difficult and can result in poorly processed materials.

Size of tree: The vertical excavation error is limited to the size of the tree that can fall. The size they can handle varies with individual models, but the general rule is between 6- and 8-inches max. The horizontal excavator can handle much larger materials, up to 30 inches, but felling trees of this size can be a hazard to the equipment or operator.

Inclination: It follows the general guidelines for the type of carrier used.

Safety Considerations

  • The biggest safety concern with mulchers is to throw flying objects at the head.
  • Mulching is usually on the ground, so the chances of lifting rocks or other debris are high.
  • Usually, a protective mulch has a shroud that carries the material to the ground. The shroud can be ineffective when the mulching head is raised in the air.
  • Appropriate FOPS shall be applied to the carrier to protect the operator from flying debris.
  • Another safety issue is the cutting of permanent trees. When large, perennial trees need mulching, mulching with the ability to raise the head and cut the trees from top to bottom are safer options.

Treatment Alternatives

Excavated mulchers can be used at high altitudes, more than 30%, or when necessary to reduce soil compaction. The miner does not need to move around in any area, which is more valuable than other types of mines. The accident is that the width of the cover head is at least half the width of the head of other types of machines. This means that there must be more than enough to cover an area. This type of mulch is good as it covers large existing trees.

Automated Setups

Mulcher installs on a variety of bodies including excavators, loaders, tractors etc. They can be customized machines based on any of these machine shapes.

The two basic forms of mulchers are horizontal shaft and vertical shaft

A horizontal shaft mulcher is a rack-mounted shredder. The cylinder rotates continuously as the machine passes through the rack. Some mulches have pushrods to push the felled trees away from the machine, but there is no control over the direction of the fall. Some vertical head gears look like chipping discs but most look-like powerful lawnmowers.

Mulchers mounted on four-wheel loaders, tractors, skid steers, and dredgers are handled by racks. When they cut the stems, the stems are visible in front of the machine and the machines slip on them.

Excavator and wheel loader mulch are capable of covering permanent trees. This gives more control over the process and prevents the head from getting into the dirt. The mulchers, which are mounted on a wheel loader type chassis, have a boom that allows cutting upright trees when necessary.

Determining the type of mulch to use depends on the number and size of existing trees to be cut and the incline. Mulching of large pieces greater than 3 inches in diameter should be reduced to retain coarse wood debris and improve productivity.

Some treatment factors may affect the cost of treatment. These factors can be controlled by prescription. Here are some important things to consider:

  •  Minimize the amount of treated volume.
  •  Releasing 3 inches and large trunks allows thick wood debris to be maintained on-site and helps improve performance.
  • Mulchers should not be used as a cutting machine.
  • For large machines, mulching is generally ineffective at 25 tons per acre or more.
  • When planning a mulching operation, explain the most acceptable fuel size.
  • Reduce travel obstacles.
  • Avoid areas with narrower treatments than 66 feet wide.
  • Avoid working in dense outstanding stands of more than 100 trees per acre.
  • Minimize steep slopes (20% or more) or broken areas
  • Do not apply soil defect barriers unless necessary.
  • Provide adequate access to the service.

  • Goods need access to the road for fuel and maintenance 

Mulching as a System

Mulching as a system can be used to clean the stand after traditional wood or rubbing. Mulchers can reduce limb, topsoil, and cul materials to cut particles on the forest floor that can better stop the flow and return to the soil more quickly. It also lowers the fuel ladder with the tall limbs formed by the small standing trees that remain after the traditional operation.

It can also be considered a complete system in which cutting and processing are completed in one step, but certainly without removing or using the treated material. This type of system is useful for reducing fuel load on-site and reducing the competition for the required species on site.

Applications 

1) Access Routes

The access routes have been constructed to transport timber from the forest to its loaded areas. These trails are usually unpaved or maintained for a long time to reach forest stands. 

2) Prevention of Wildfire

Surface plants work on fuel and greatly increase the risk of fire and its spread. Our equipment can decompose any type of plant, be it trees or underground fuel loads in such a way that it is possible to reduce the damage caused by forest fires with less environmentally invasive methods. 

3) Beatles Infected Wood Removal

Usually, the problem starts with some "weak" insect-infested trees. As time went on the attack spread and the damage increased. For this reason, selected trees should be removed from the forest as soon as possible.

After they are cut down and taken to the collection point, the trees are stripped and the bark is discarded or burned. Nowadays, this process is still done manually in many places. Mulching is an attractive alternative, avoiding the risk of the rapid spread of infection. 

4) Stump Grinding

Grind stump often refers to stump grinding, log cutting or root recycling. This may include treating the root with a site-based stump grinder and leaving the groundwater behind. The second option is to process the log in the ground with a rotary machine. Another method is to mulch or cut logs or root balls on a surface dug in a previous operation, for example using diggers, bulldozers or crawler loaders. 

5) Land clearance

It covers a range of different applications and terms. In many cases, site approval refers to the removal of secondary vegetation and masonry. This may include deforestation of areas reserved for consumers such as wind farms, parks, golf courses, or road construction.

6) Infrastructure Initiatives

Infrastructure initiatives are measures that are operated to construct and sustain infrastructure. These include, among others, complete or selected clearing or land management in preparation for infrastructure construction work. In addition, it includes maintenance of infrastructure and disinfection around existing installations. This includes the construction of roads and highways and the expansion of airports or railways.

7) Farming/Agriculture

There are a wide variety of applications in the farm industry. These range from eucalyptus, pine and similar forests to Christmas tree stands short cycle plantations, oil palm plantations and orchards such as pineapple, banana, apple and more. Only residues and roots to plants or crops. This includes, among other things, the preparation of plants for the next crop.

The soil is often treated with a turner after mulching to remove tree stumps and their roots in the ground. Cultivated, fertile soil works best for planting new seeds. When machinery is used for maintenance and harvesting, roots and crop residues are often overcrowded. One particular advantage in this field is that there is no significant alternative to this technology for creating environmentally and economically sustainable farms.

8) Line maintenance

It includes free maintenance of electricity, overhead cables, ground cables, pipelines and railways. Areas that need to be kept clean are often difficult to reach.

9) Recovery

Re-development is the double-dealing of land for financial purposes, like estates or horticulture. Soil readiness is a typical element of this interaction.

10) Other Applications

Other applications include natural availability, maintenance of landscape, maintenance of the dam, maintenance of habitat, fertilization, regeneration and seismic lines. 

How to Make the Right Choice for Excavator Mulcher

The type of landscape, the type of brush you need to cut and the environment of the job site play a role in making the right choice for an excavator mulcher. Each area has a unique form of invasive species that affects the excavator mulcher's performance. Softwoods like cedar and pine are easier to cut than hardwoods like oak and hickories. Older trees take longer to cut than smaller ones because their trunks get thicker due to aging.

Horizontal and rotary are the two common types of the excavator mulchers. If you want the result to look as beautiful as someone's lawn, choose a horizontal mulch with strong teeth. If there are no houses or people around and the appearance of the result is not so important then the use of a Rotary machine is suitable.

Rotary excavator mulchers perform well in flat areas where there are not very large trees and only a few small brushes. On the rolling ground, your smartest option is to utilize a horizontal excavator mulcher because a rotary excavator mulcher would end up cutting the same amount of soil as it would brush.

Locations We Offer Mulching with an Excavator

Oregon - Eastern, John Day, La Grande, Baker, Pendleton, Hermiston, Prineville, Redmond, Bend, Vale, Ontario, Burns

Idaho - Western, Boise, Nampa, Caldwell, Meridian, Fruitland, Payette

Washington - Eastern, Walla Walla, Yakima, Tri-Cities

Sources

  • https://www.fs.fed.us/forestmanagement/equipment-catalog/mulchers.shtml
  • USDA Forest Service, RMRS. Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; economic uses fact sheet 01: mastication treatments and costs. 2004.