A Management Guide for Invasive Plants in Southern Forests James ...

36Mulchers and Mulching AttachmentsMulchers and mulching tractor attachments are increasingly preferred for reducing bothstanding invasive and native woody plants in dense infestations. Mulching machines arebest for nonselective situations where the cost of selective control is prohibitive. Mulchingmachines are land clearing tools that can cut through dense stands of nonnative plants,reducing them to small pieces of woody debris. A one-operator machine can frequentlycover 2 to 4 acres a day depending upon the terrain, vegetation type, and job requirements.Mulchers are designed as a single machine, while mulching attachments canbe mounted on many types of equipment, tracked or wheeled, and even on the end ofan articulated swing boom. The boom mount results in less trafficking damage to thesoil because front-mounted mulchers must travel back and forth across the treatmentarea. The two basic types of mulching designs are vertical shaft and horizontal shaft.Either type can be equipped with pivoting flail-type cutters or rigidly mounted cuttingteeth. Cutter types vary in the size of their shredded output, with smaller and fasterrotating teeth producing the smallest size.Mulchers can clear understoryshrubs.Dana MitchellJohn KlepacSteven T. ManningJohn KlepacDana MitchellTracked mulching machine.Boom-mounted mulcherhead.Mulching machinewith vertical shaft andpivoting flail-type cutters.Mulching machinewith horizontal shaftand rigid cuttingteeth.After a mulched area has dried and regrowth occurs, prescribed burning can be used to reduce the surface mass,while herbicides can be more efficiently applied to the resprouts. Klepac and others (2007) reported on a trial ofmulching dense Chinese privet followed by Garlon 3A herbicide applications to the stumps. Subsequent applicationsof foliar sprays to resprouts were required because stumps were often hiddenby debris, with a total cost of $737 per acre. Mulching is currently a fairlyexpensive operation, but costs should decrease as the number of competingcontractors increases.BulldozersBulldozers (or tracked tractors) are made in a range of sizes, and the largerones have played roles in forestry operations for decades. Highly developedbulldozer attachments equip them for residual tree sheering and piling aftertimber harvest, soil preparation, tree planting, and fire line plowing. These sameoperations have found use in large-scale invasive plant reclamation projectstackling extensive woody infestation, although smaller tractors and implementsare used. The amount of soil disturbance and compaction is considerable withbulldozers, varying by equipment size, soil moisture, number of passes, standdensity, and tree/shrub size, but often less than with wheeled tractors. Theground pressure of tracks is less than with wheeled equipment.Gena TodiaBulldozer scrapes and piles Chineseprivet.