On Jul 24, 10:52?am, beecrofter wrote:
On Jul 23, 10:48 pm, wrote:





We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

Well , you don't say where you are but I will remind you that some
vines are poison ivy so be sure you know what you are looking at
before you dive in. Most vines (bittersweet,poison ivy,english ivy)
can be tamed by working with a partner one severs the vine as close to
the ground as possible and the other applies brush killer to the stump
straight from the can or bottle with a brush. (Brush B Gone). After
the foliage dies you can unthred them easier. Try to disturb the soil
near the stream as little as possible lest you cause silting and bank
erosion.
This is really a job to take a little at a time with hand tools,
loppers, pruners, bill hook etc and do a small section at a time well.
A buffer strip (undisturbed) of a good 10 feet from stream bank in is
a good way to help maintain the streams health. Until you can identify
the underbrush please don't try to just cut it all down as you have
plants that are adapted to their surroundings and you could carefully
select the better ones.

Grab a lawn chair and just sit and observe what wildlife comes and
goes and then consider what they need for food and shelter.

Agreed. And it's a good idea to check with local government agencies
before hacking down vegetation on property abuting water, there may
very well be riparian issues... a stream can be a tremendous benefit
or a curse, depending on ones point of view.

Personally I'd clean up the trash, then leave the area undisturbed
except for any trees threatened by choking vines (I'd not kill or
remove the vines, just prune them back and periodically manage them,
you need those roots). You definitely do not want to denude the area,
and being there only recently you've no idea about flooding and
erosion during periods of spring thaw and heavy rain. What's a little
meandering stream during mid summer can turn into a raging white water
torrent come spring. That underbrush is very likely what's holding
the soil over the entire area and keeping that stream's banks from
washing away. My advice is to take nothing but pictures and leave
nothing but footsteps, and go very stingy on the footsteps. Rather
than eliminate vegetation I'd suggest installing a raised narrow
wooden walkway to the stream, keep it rustic an unobtrusive. Live
there a few years, speak to the old timers who abut that stream. Once
you clear that land you may never be able to put it back how it was...
and it doesn't take much clearing to start an erosion point, then it
spreads rapidly like a highly invasive cancer... when the rains come
what you see will definitely scare the bejeesis out out of you... that
thick underbrush could well be what's keeping your house from washing
away. Been there, have scary pictures... Mother Nature can be an
angel and a bitch.