I have a 100 ft wide levee and can only safely mow about about 60 ft of it before it gets a little steep on the bottom. Will it be okay to let that grow up or should I find a way to mow all of it. Thanks.
IMO, and only IMO. Mowing is mostly aesthetic.
Perhaps use some loppers to keep the trees from growing on the levee???
Don't know your part of the country so it might be different there. But here, if we do not mow something it turns into brush and shrubs in ten years and a forest by 20 years.
So for us it is pay me now or pay me later. If we let something grow up that we did not want to grow up, we spend big money with a dozer in twenty years to clean it back up. If we keep it mowed or otherwise maintained, it costs us something every year we maintain it, but no large cost down the road.
I suspect in drier climates things are different. But anything we don't mow, spray, cut, burn or otherwise maintain turns to forest. If we are good with forest eventually being there, we let it go. Or sometimes if we just don't get around to doing all we need to, we let it go anyway. Then the next generation gets to worry about it.
We have bought and rented several farms that were let go that we have cleaned back up with a dozer. Working on one right now.
Whatever you decide to do and however you decide to do it, DO NOT take unnecessary risks to get it done!
Use the proper equipment and take all personal safety precautions, please!
We just recently had a PB member who (fortunately) escaped what could have been a tragedy with a Zero Turn mower!
Safety first!
I think that the level of woody plant control required on the 40-feet that cannot be mowed easily depends on the shape of the dam. How far back from the water is the core of the dam? In any case, controlling woody plants may be easier if the appropriate herbaceous plants are established, especially if you can safely conduct prescribed burns.
The guy I lease my pastures to shreds the back side of my dam twice a year. He has a 15' bat wing and backs up the ~60' incline. Too steep to do it any other way.
I used to back up our dams with a bush hog also. If there's room to maneuver at the bottom, it works pretty well.
DrLebel, I've had good luck having my zero turn throw the cut grass downhill, and letting it blanket the unmowable areas. For areas I shred, I use the backpack blower for the same thing. At that point, a match usually cleans up the majority of the problems.
Of course sensitive areas, terrain, and winds should all be taken into account before burning anything. I have to keep telling myself that.
Mowing what you can and burning/killing off the woody growths annually is a good solution. That's what I've done for the past 7 years or so on my larger pond for the same reason (too steep in portions) and it's working just fine. Seems like every year after I burn it off the grasses come in heavier...which is the goal...
A controlled burn can improve established grass, especially native grasses that once depended on wildfires to control woody plants naturally. Our area was once covered in native bluestem with nary a tree in sight except for around creeks where the fire would not burn hot enough to control woody plants. Once settlers came in and wildfires stopped, we grew up in timber any place that is not otherwise controlled.
When burning to improve grass, either native or fescue, it is important to burn in late fall/winter when the grass is dormant or early spring before regrowth. If a person lets too much green develop it can actually kill the grass, especially if done repeatedly. The root reserves that create new spring growth will eventually be depleted. It also creates an excessive amount of smoke when a lot of green is burned in with the dry undergrowth.
For controlling the woody portion of the equation (sumac, briers, sprouts etc.), a fire hot enough to destroy a portion of the outer bark is what is needed. Either a very hot fire or a medium fire that burns longer around the brush.
Years ago when I was a kid, back before we owned brush type rotary mowers, it was an annual event for my dad to burn road ditches and sloughs to control briars and sumac from taking over areas we did not want to grow up in trees. Controlled burning is an art mostly lost in our area. Now we mostly mow.
My preferred method these days. Although my introduction to Crossbow has taken some of the sweat out of the picture.
I should have also emphasized the safety precautions that need to be taken when burning. A controlled burn that gets out of control can be bad. Proper timing, and weather (temp, humidity, and wind) are important as well as having good fire breaks and a lot of help on hand. It can actually be an annual social event if desired. Its best to have someone on hand with experience until you get some yourself.
Ditto what RAH says. City friend that has some property in the country got a nasty bill from the rural fire department when he let a fire get away and had to call them.
We used to use wet burlap sacks soaked in a 5 gallon bucket of water when I was a kid for fire control (along with back fires, etc.). Now the weapon of choice are several different water sources including small 3 gallon hand sprayers, 20 gallon ATV mounted electric sprayers up to a 55 gallon tank mounted on a UTV with gasoline engine power pump and small fire nozzle. (We still have to burn wheat field stubble occasionally although we no-till soybeans into the stubble without burning if at all possible).
As long as flames are not very big, it is amazing what a 3 gallon hand pump up garden sprayer will do in controlling foot tall flames or less.
If you're inclined to do a controlled burn, check with your local forestry commission. They can assist you with it. At least the GA Forestry Commission will.
I have done three controlled burns on my place. I did a lot of reading about controlled burns before I lit it up. On the first burn I contacted both fire departments in the area because my place is on the line as to which fire department would respond. The response to my notification was not what I expected. The marshals acted like they did not want to know about it before hand and one fireman told me on the side, "just call if it gets out of control" . And I'm thinking "OH Carp" what if I gets out of hand. Anyone ever see a forest fire in the East Texas forest? If u burn be sure to be prepared!!
Tracy
For about half a second I thought about removing my bad advice, but I said it, so I felt it was best to leave the post up and let common sense by other members correct my advice.
At the very least, now is not the time to be burning much of anything.
Guys, in the future please disregard anything I say related to matches and road flares.
About 25 years ago a neighbor was burning trash on a windy day. He was pretty young at the time and had just moved out of town. He tossed an old cotton mattress on the fire. Pieces of burning cotton got airborne and my place, along with about another 1,000 acres, burnt off.
Luckily, it was during the Winter and the sap was down in the oaks. In the Spring everything came back beautifully. A couple of years ago, a fire got out of control in my area but didn't get to me. It was during the Summer and the trees in that area have never recovered. That area still looks pretty nasty.
Al, I don't think that burning is necessarily a bad idea. Just another tool that we can use. Those of us that are in the wildlife management plans are actually encouraged by the State to use burning. But like nearly everything else in life, timing is everything. Due to this conversation I'm giving it some serious thought to burn off the front side of our dam this winter.
The State guy recommended that I do a controlled burn. CONTROLLED???
Ain't no way.
Yeah 'control' is the keyword for a controlled burn. Burning/mowing/digging fire breaks, understanding wind and humidity, having plenty of knowledge of fire behavior and also plenty of help is very important.
If you want to know what happens to a brush fire in dry windy conditions just turn on your TV. 7 million acres burned as of yesterday out west, and still out of control. More acreage than the entire state of Vermont.
Anyone besides me find it a little sad that the forum has multiple threads running right now concerning liability, and the possible repercussions from misusing advice given over the internet?
I've said it before here...what the hell ever happened to common sense? Why must we continually lower the bar? When did it become allowable for someone dumber than a fencepost, to be able to blame someone else for their own mental shortcomings and lack of foresight??
We burn a lot. Never had an issue or a problem, thus far. Sure, things happen even to the best laid plans. But courting disaster by not knowing what you're doing is another story entirely.
People....America....just because you saw it, read it, or watched it done on YouTube, in no way qualifies YOU to do the same. It's seldom as easy, or as straightforward, or as legal, as it looks on the internet.
Why do we even need to explain that?
I am dealing with a liability situation right now, and the bar is already very very low. It is very depressing, but none the less, true. Win or lose, you lose.
If anyone decides to do a controlled burn, I would suggest checking with the local fire dept. Some of the volunteer fire departments will come out to help. They consider it training. My Dad had a brush fire get away from him. The local fire dept asked him to call before started another fire. Said they would come out. Of course that was a few years ago.
I apologize ahead of time for the strange music...