Finally eliminated frozen bamboo grove

[jamesp]

Before removal, killed by freak freeze 3 years ago. Served as a wind break for plant nursery. About 200' X 50'.



After removal.



View looking down 200' dimension. Bamboo began to fall on power line past transformer pole.
Pulled the next power pole down. Could not set fire due to power line and heat and adjacent greenhouse until some was cut back.
When cleared enough, fire was set and flames were indescribably high.
This 70' X 200' spot will serve as a fire pit show area. Flanked by tall bamboo to the left.
Will hire heavy equipment to level soil and remove stumps. Probably graveled if funds allow.



A fiasco. Grove very dense. Canes puncture tractor tires so a lot of hand work. Access road about blocked.



Amount of canes in about a 10' X 10' area.



View looking back toward transformer pole.



Another larger and much cold hardier bamboo will be allowed to spread for new wind break just to the north.
P. Vivax, 3-4 inch canes good to -20F.
ETA about 3 years. Shoots heading in the correct direction toward sun heated ground from existing grove.
Large bamboo easy to wipe out. Larger spacing allows one to walk through with a small chain saw and lay down, then set fire.



P. Vivax, note ATV in background. Snuck behind a residence in Macon Georgia and stole an escaped cane 20 years ago.



Closer in, Vivax to left, will be coaxed to grow completely to right using deep plow, sunlight, water and nitrogen fertilizer.
Deep plow and fertilize a path toward hot moist sunny ground(to right) and it will follow rapidly. If cane height is 50 feet (Vivax), it will spread 50 feet/year.



Nursery barn being cleaned out and minimized for shrinking nursery business and used for the welding barn it was originally designed for.
Overhead pipe will easily handle bridge crane. Plenty of elbow room and 200 amp feed.
Looks like retirement work will be welding, plant biz too hard. Will continue high end plants.
Clean out a WOP.

[Intheswamp]

James, you never cease to amaze me. Downsizing is good on some things, seems like you've got a plan. Last week was a tough one for me...got me thinking about things...wish I had your skills!!!!

[jamesp]

Apr 3, 2016 7:26:19 GMT -5 Intheswamp said:

James, you never cease to amaze me. Downsizing is good on some things, seems like you've got a plan. Last week was a tough one for me...got me thinking about things...wish I had your skills!!!!

Everything is a crap shoot Ed. Slow economy is a bummer.

Skills ? How about stubborn brainless activity. Glad that project is DONE.
Remember the old Deerborn 2 disc plows ? Have a 1940's model with 30 inch discs, weighs 900 pounds. Evil, cuts 6-8 inch roots.
You should see the 'wheel' bearings I replaced in that thing.
Getting ready to plow the crap out of those roots before that crap starts coming up in April.

Similar, from images

[toiv0]

Amazing how life interferes with plans. Listening to the govt. the economy is robust. Traveling all over for work I just don't see it. So when you plow the roots it doesn't make 2 stalks out of 1?, do you have to keep the soil black until they burn all their stored energy? The disk plow I have never seen, does it just cut and move everything over or does it flip everything like moldboard plow? Want to see pictures as its happening.

[Fossilman]

WOW,the photo with the busted bamboo and tips showing,reminds me of our "Survival" bush training in Army Boot camp 40 years ago!!!!
Lethal stuff!!!!

[Intheswamp]

James, that's a badnews set of discs right there!!! I like'em!!!!! I'll bet they do cut up some roots...seems like would be great firelane tool.

toiv0, the economy *is* brisk, it's business as usual....inside the "beltway"....the political muppets haven't a clue what regular folks are up against.

Fossilman, I think (if you're looking at the same picture that I am) those are young shoots coming up. I first thought of punji sticks, too.

[radio]

What a project!!!Looks like you have a handle on it though. That disc would make two perfect discadas I pm'd you about :-)

[jamesp]

Punji sticks fossilman Intheswamp

Very rarely does a machete get used. Probably just getting a few canes to start a fire at this spot.

1) Pops tractor tires
2 A danger to those moving around in the grove. Fall and you've had it.

[jamesp]

toiv0 I think I paid $250 for the disc turning plow. Replaced bearings 20 years ago. My neighbor has one with 6 discs, 150 HP tractor. mine 38

Plow dropped 6 inches in hard packed clay. If sandy or crop soil then 12-18 inches if the tractor is man enough.
Note tractor running sideways like a cat, the tail wheel needs adjusting deeper in the furrow.
Bamboo totally wasted. Will plow again in a month or so. Yes, tiny canes will come up only to get plowed back in.

Faster you run the tractor the further it throws the soil, basically a mold board plow with a disc cutter. Less horsepower, cut big roots.




before



after 1.5 hours. Had to dodge 9 stumps



Roots brutalized radio, all downhill at this point

[Fossilman]

I would run a track,instead of a wheeled tractor...........

[Intheswamp]

Apr 3, 2016 17:26:52 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Punji sticks fossilman Intheswamp

Very rarely does a machete get used. Probably just getting a few canes to start a fire at this spot.

1) Pops tractor tires
2 A danger to those moving around in the grove. Fall and you've had it.

Definitely danger to tires and man!!!!   Our rural electric cooperative hires out it's ROW clearing....usually a crew of Hispanic guys.  They only know how to leave dagger-sharp spikes sticking up where they butcher the ROW.  I've got a small spot of hayfield that has a ROW area just at it's brushy edge...they just came through and wacked it down....tractor beware!!!!!!!

[jamesp]

It's either lopers or a saw Intheswamp, and even at that small canes still manage to pierce tires.
A real hot fire does the best, felt good to finally get a plow under the roots.
Have had to hire track machines to reclaim land under groves.
Thought about getting spare wheels for the tractor and welding up steel wheels like in the old days.

[Intheswamp]

I hear you on the lopers and saws. Those daggers are BAD!!!! Yeah, even a small cane could wipe out a tractor tire. Canes are bad news as I've seen CORN STALKS go through 10-ply light truck tires...sheese, under the right conditions *anything* will go through a tire....but bamboo, it's pretty much a given that if you run over it goes in...maybe some Firestone Forestry Special steel shield skidder tires might handle it, but...I wouldn't want to try it. I'll try to get some pictures of the ROW daggers around here...it's really a massacre of the electric company ROW.

Welding up some steel treaded wheels for your tractor...that would be interesting. I predict a "little bit" of a rough ride.(Envision Abraham Lincoln holding two fingers apart about 1/2" when his wife asks if that dress made her butt look big.<g>)

[fantastic5]

Any arrowheads? Or is that not the field that you find them in?

[jamesp]

Apr 4, 2016 7:33:23 GMT -5 fantastic5 said:

Any arrowheads? Or is that not the field that you find them in?

Found a few behind the greenhouse Ann. That spot was a wash/ravine and has a lot of sedimentary deposit sitting on it.
BUT, whilst the turning plow is on the tractor I am going to bust the indian camp behind the house. Wait for rain of course.
I take children over to hunt it when nieces and nephews are around; would make allowances for Ann too .

Basically 4 little camps on the property, two pretty much destroyed by buildings/lawn.

[jamesp]

Apr 4, 2016 7:14:24 GMT -5 Intheswamp said:

I hear you on the lopers and saws. Those daggers are BAD!!!! Yeah, even a small cane could wipe out a tractor tire. Canes are bad news as I've seen CORN STALKS go through 10-ply light truck tires...sheese, under the right conditions *anything* will go through a tire....but bamboo, it's pretty much a given that if you run over it goes in...maybe some Firestone Forestry Special steel shield skidder tires might handle it, but...I wouldn't want to try it. I'll try to get some pictures of the ROW daggers around here...it's really a massacre of the electric company ROW.

Welding up some steel treaded wheels for your tractor...that would be interesting. I predict a "little bit" of a rough ride.(Envision Abraham Lincoln holding two fingers apart about 1/2" when his wife asks if that dress made her butt look big.<g>)

You've seen them Ed. Hear ya on corn stalks, small bamboo a 100%. Large bamboo sawed flush is quite safe. No more small bamboo, to pesky and hard to control.

[jamesp]

Took a double row disc smoothing harrow to smooth the rough ground. Smaller plowed area to left has been fertilized to draw the larger bamboo at far left.
Plow hit half a dozen of the larger bamboo's roots at left side. Colonization will be 100% success.

Lower patch in front of tractor received an application of herbicide. It has sharp bamboo stumps, must back into it with large mower.
It was the first area to be cleared and has started to grow back.

[fantastic5]

Apr 4, 2016 7:56:52 GMT -5 jamesp said:

Apr 4, 2016 7:33:23 GMT -5 fantastic5 said:

Any arrowheads? Or is that not the field that you find them in?

Found a few behind the greenhouse Ann. That spot was a wash/ravine and has a lot of sedimentary deposit sitting on it.
BUT, whilst the turning plow is on the tractor I am going to bust the indian camp behind the house. Wait for rain of course.
I take children over to hunt it when nieces and nephews are around; would make allowances for Ann too .

Basically 4 little camps on the property, two pretty much destroyed by buildings/lawn.

Just let me know when you plow and I will make the drive. My mechanic was telling me about a friend's field in middle Tennessee that has had a lot found on. Need to ask for permission after a plowing and before planting.
Apparently near a TN agate site, so a wide variety of material used. Quickly asked about the agate, but word is that owner hates collectors.

[jamesp]

Had a heavy rain 2 days ago fantastic5. No chips and no arrowheads at that spot. Keep your eyes out around Chattanooga. Clearings near water are dead ringers.
Found more arrowheads in metro Atlanta than anywhere else simply because they grub the trees and their roots out. Then hope for rain. Makes fine preparation for artifacts.
Often land that had never been farmed and artifacts picked over years ago.
Many flat building sites are perfect, as they are above flood zones. Amerinds rarely set up camp on a flood plain.

You also have the Elk River west of you. That place is a gold mine for artifacts, as is the Tennessee River. Catch impoundments when they are low.
The banks of the Tennessee River close in proximity to Chattanooga had stone covered burials for miles.
Farmers destroyed them intentionally for the reason of trespassing artifact collectors long ago.

[jamesp]

Bamboo roots came to the surface in a hurry. Soils fell away from them as they were re-harrowed.
Installed a scape blade and dragged them into a low area at the bottom of the slope in short order.
They interlock and stick together and the tractor was about to bog down due to dragging their weight.
Very prickly roots. Soil rich from high organic loading of bamboo for 20 years. Bamboo drops leaves 365 days a year.