Thread: Clearing Jungle

And we have an other problem. We cut a lot of grass and small bushes to clear this land.



Now what to do with it ? Let it rot on the ground ?


_

Originally Posted by Perota

Now what to do with it ? Let it rot on the ground ?

If you leave it on the ground it helps to prevent new growth for a few weeks but when it decomposes it will aid new growth.

If it is dry enough after a few days, try setting it on fire as it lays (don't rake it) as this will burn seed as well as the dead grass.

No idea about the pond weed, but if it is that floating stuff can't you just pull it out and lay it on the ground?

Originally Posted by Perota

Can anybody suggest a third solution ?

Bring in a contractor with a midsize to small backhoe with a material handling bucket.

Pond will be cleared/cleaned within ½ day.

Keep up on growing grass (cutting it back) so it doesn’t get out of hand in the future.

Introduce some good sized Chinese Grass Carps (Ctenopharyngodon idella), cultivated here for food, and after a few weeks you will see the weed/vegitation disappear...

Sources might be well stocked fish nurseries, the fishery department of your local agricultural university or a commercial fish pond nearby...

Not sure about the Thai/local name, there seem to be many: Common Names List - Ctenopharyngodon idella

Originally Posted by Perota

Difficult. People in our area are rich and no contractor will be willing to come for such a small job.

There are many quite well-off 'chaa naa's' (rice farmers) in my area and they rent those green back hoes - Makros, all the time to clean out their klongs around here. 3K THB per hour. From the picture, you have at least a 3 hour project or more?

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Originally Posted by Perota

Difficult. People in our area are rich and no contractor will be willing to come for such a small job.

There are many quite well-off 'chaa naa's' (rice farmers) in my area and they rent those green back hoes - Makros, all the time to clean out their klongs around here. 3K THB per hour. From the picture, you have at least a 3 hour project or more?

In our area there are no big farms, but mostly resorts and a few contractors. So, offer and demand, they do what they like and they usually don't bother to come for less than a full day job.

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

but when it decomposes it will aid new growth.

...and you'll find yourself tripping over the last lot of debris when it comes to cutting it back again.

Burn it. Burn it all.

^ Agree. A hundred thousand years of FIRE! can't be wrong.

Originally Posted by somtamslap

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

but when it decomposes it will aid new growth.

...and you'll find yourself tripping over the last lot of debris when it comes to cutting it back again.

Burn it. Burn it all.

I know, I've experience of walking in knee deep rotting grass, it's not very pleasant.

Originally Posted by somtamslap

Originally Posted by withnallstoke

but when it decomposes it will aid new growth.

...and you'll find yourself tripping over the last lot of debris when it comes to cutting it back again.

Burn it. Burn it all.

Controlled fire for the grasses [surrounding] only would suffice.

Half a dozen hungry buffalo's should clear that in no time at all!

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Originally Posted by Perota

they usually don't bother to come for less than a full day job.

If you need to give them a full days work, then make two passes up the slope [to the top of slope (red line) in the picture below] on each side of the pond, starting from the bottom of slope (next to the waters edge) cleaning the pond out, clearing the slope and sloping (placing all grass/weeds/brush in a windrow towards the top of slope) while moving around the pond.

With the second pass (on the high side of the windrow) around the pond, move the windrow of debris (weeds, small brush) into a truck to be hauled away while sloping and clearing to the top of slope.

Depends on how many trees you want to keep; around the pond, will determine the time it takes to complete the small project. If you want to keep the small trees it will take the operator more time to avoid and work around them.

If you clear most everything around the pond,…small trees, brush and grass you’ll end up paying more to haul the debris away.

That's what we will probably do, combine a couple of jobs so it will be worth for the contractor to come and for us to pay him.

The problem is to have the big picture in head before the contractor comes. When the back hoe is in your land waiting for your instruction, it's not the right time to start thinking about what you will ask him to do. But when the land is covered by tall grass and jungle, it's difficult to figure out what to clear and what to leave in order to keep the "jungle feeling" but at the same time be able to exploit the land.The general idea is to have a mix of small scale farming and a couple of bungalows for rental. So for the time being we try to clear small patches by hand in order to get a better feeling of the landscape below the jungle and then we will call the contractor.