Anyone wanting to get rid of SRC Willow

DGC1 · Oct 20, 2017

blatant plug!!
we mulch and root rotovate uneconomical SRC willow.
Working as far south as Norfolk to northern scotland.
Fendt / ahwi reverse drive mulchers + meri forestry rotovators
[email protected]
07702 421 638
(Also XMas tree plantation mulching & prep)

Willow man · Oct 21, 2017

How deep do you go? Do you do it on alive or dead plants? Standing or harvested crops? Can I drill wheat straight after?

steveR · Oct 21, 2017

Interesting OP. I have a small area or around 0.5ha that is in a stewardship agreement that is in effect, SRC willow nowadays. I flail it every year to stop it getting too much for me to handle and then allow reqrowth. However, it is due to finish in a couple of years and I am wondering on the best way to kill the stuff and allow agriculture back.

I was pondering repeated Roundup and time for the stools to rot down...??

DGC1 · Oct 21, 2017

Done all sorts of bits over the years, 100's & 100's of ha's back to Agri.
A standing crop can be mulched down, rotovated & put back to wheat all in the same day!
Mulch
Deep rotovate to app 8/9inches with purpose built meri crusher.
Plough
Power Harrow and drill.
--
It's best to use power Harrow and disc drill combo as this stops trash dragging.
Lime.
Extra N to counter and woody breakdown.
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Even if crop has been harvested it still needs a surface mulch to tidy it up pre rotovator.
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Just done 30ha in Norfolk but for smaller blocks we can group them up and do a tour to reduce travel costs.

Willow man · Oct 21, 2017

What sort of price are you charging to return a harvested crop back to a seed bed per ha DCG1?

DGC1 · Oct 22, 2017

Willow man said:
What sort of price are you charging to return a harvested crop back to a seed bed per ha DCG1?

all depends on the location, ha, thickness of crop and soil type really
pm me some specifics and I will try to price up.
--
most folk that have started using us on a ha rate have subsequently opted to just get it done per hour on subsequent visits
dg

Pond digger · Oct 23, 2017

Do you get much re-growth?

DGC1 · Oct 23, 2017

Pond digger said:
Do you get much re-growth?

No issues as far as I'm aware,
Obviously once in crop the combine & chemicals can eliminate anything that's coming back.
Some folk get us to mulch to ground level then they allow regrowth to come back & then glyphosate pre rotovating but I really don't think it's nessesary.
Mulched/rotovated plenty thats then been ploughed / seeded straight away and as I say never heard of any regrowth issues

Willow man · Oct 24, 2017

DGC1 SORRY I've not pm you about prices
Can you not just rotovate instead of using a mulcher which must be expensive and time consuming ?

DGC1 · Oct 24, 2017

Rotovator needs mulcher to leave a tidy job first.
Mulching is the quick part, if the surface veg is not too heavy then it flies across

Willow man · Oct 26, 2017

Taking willow out after harvest in the spring before regrow their is no need to mulch and any growth after that can be simply topped of with a flail mower so a front mounted flail and a rotorvator on the back do the job in one pass or if prefer rotorvate second time at angle this time using the full width of the rotorvator. One thing not to do is convince the client it is a hard crop to get rid of slow yes

Walton2 · Oct 26, 2017

Any before and after pics.......

steveR · Oct 26, 2017

So no pre mulch/rotavate herbicide used, just physical destruction??

DGC1 · Oct 26, 2017

99% of the time no herbicide has been getting used
re the mulching, if its a young crop then its easy to get rid of with flail mower/farm type rotovator but 95% of stuff we get asked to do needs the mulcher to shave the surface stuff down to ground level and then heavy dutu meri rotovator is needed to take out the root profile.
there is nothing complex about it but we have been to 10+ bits where others have started and failed
if its done properly as detailed above then the ploughing and seeding is easy enough (although its never 100% perfect given the nature of the job) but if its 1/2 mulched 1/2 rotovated the ploughing is a struggle at best and the seeding is a mess.
a flail mower will be destroyed trying to shave stuff low enough so imo the surface mulching is a fast and cheap operation to then facilitate the rest of the job

Walton2 · Oct 26, 2017

So ..no pics..

DGC1 · Oct 26, 2017

steveR · Oct 27, 2017

DGC1 said:
99% of the time no herbicide has been getting used
re the mulching, if its a young crop then its easy to get rid of with flail mower/farm type rotovator but 95% of stuff we get asked to do needs the mulcher to shave the surface stuff down to ground level and then heavy dutu meri rotovator is needed to take out the root profile.

Thanks for the info. Most useful.

steveR · Oct 27, 2017

The vid is after mulching I am assuming? Looks pretty well cleared and ready before the rotavator wentr in

DGC1 · Oct 27, 2017

yes video is taken after mulching
it looks like the rotovator isn't doing much but if you tried to plough it you would only get 2m and the plough would be a solid mass of roots.
the rotovator is doing more than it looks and this field was ploughed and powerharrowed the following day

steveR · Oct 27, 2017

Impressive results for two passes I have to say! Why plough though, after that working down, i would have thought you have a seedbed! How successful is it establishing a grass ley afterwards, straight onto the worked land?

Anyone wanting to get rid of SRC Willow

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