Tools to cut down urban overgrowth

[branimal]

I have a small multi family house in brooklyn ny and the backyard (19 wide x 40 deep) has some serious overgrowth.

I need to get back there and cut stuff down. There are some weed trees with a 1” thick diameter trunk.

I’m thinking my recip saw will do the job.

I’ve got a corded ryobi and a ridgid job max recip saw.

I can also grab my Dad’s weed wacker and hedge trimmer.

What else would you guys bring to a job like this?

Kinda afraid there’s bee hives back there. Or worse rats nests. Yikes.

Long pants and boots for sure.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Eric29]

I'd think of using a Woodman's Pal

 

[JiminAZ]

Do you want to keep the plants or kill them/clear the deck for new plantings?

If so getting to the "root" of the problem will be the work. Bring a shovel and a strong back. The rest is just ripping the vines off of the walls.

Otherwise the hedge trimmer is your friend.

 

[MrSurly]

At least one of these, you'll find them waaaaay faster than saws for most of the stuff

 

[Mr Ratchet]

I use my hedge trimmer for that kind of work. Works great and just mows right through that kind of stuff.
https://www.stihlusa.com/products/hedge-trimmers/homeowner-hedge-trimmers/hs45/

 

[ChaseDE]

At least one of these, you'll find them waaaaay faster than saws for most of the stuff

That was my first thought. A large, quality, sharp, hand pruner will surprise you with what it can cut very quick and easily.

I would think about knocking it down chemically first but everyone has their own opinions on that I guess. I used crossbow (chemical from home depot) to knock down an area about that size about 2 weeks before I went in and physically removed it from my backyard.

 

[jonesg]

I have a small multi family house in brooklyn ny and the backyard (19 wide x 40 deep) has some serious overgrowth.

I need to get back there and cut stuff down. There are some weed trees with a 1” thick diameter trunk.

I’m thinking my recip saw will do the job.

I’ve got a corded ryobi and a ridgid job max recip saw.

I can also grab my Dad’s weed wacker and hedge trimmer.

What else would you guys bring to a job like this?

Kinda afraid there’s bee hives back there. Or worse rats nests. Yikes.

Long pants and boots for sure.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Its easier in winter after foliage falls off. I use big shears and elec chainsaw.

 

[strutaeng]

Are cutting them down completely? All you need is a machete.

My Dad gave me one he got down in Southern Mexico. I have not seen them here in the States. It is curved and allows you to cut branches up to 3-4" and with the hook you can pull all of that vine ****. There's a technique to it, but man is it efficient taking down smaller vegetation with it!

I cleared my property that had been overgrown for 20 years with mostly a machete and a chainsaw for larger trees. The thing was a jungle!

 

[WWheeler]

I'd hit that with a mixture of Glyphosphate (Roundup or AquaNeat) and Arsenal or Tordon or Imazapyr, but that's just me. That would kill not just the plants you see but also the roots, as long as you don't cut down the dead growth for at least 6-8 weeks after spraying. After that cleanup would be a lot easier and it would not be so quick to grow back. You could then seed or plant something more manageable or landscape it so nothing grows back.

Of course you may be restricted by law from using such products where you live. You could consult with your local extension agency and/or a licensed commercial applicator co who would know all relevant regulations and perhaps hire them to do the spraying for you.

 

[branimal]

I plan to eventually cement the backyard and then throw pavers on top. But I’m at least a year from that project.

What concerns me now is all the vegetation is attracting mice into my building. Had a complaint from a tenant.

I don’t want anything growing back there unless it’s in a pot.

Sounds like getting some chemicals sprayed out there with a garden sprayer and then wait a couple weeks. Then cut down and bag that stuff.

As one poster suggested, waiting until winter might be ideal but the vermin situation is freaking me out.

Thx!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ChaseDE]

Just saw a post on Facebook where I guy will rent you his goats, leave them in your yard and let them eat all that ****, at least at ground level.

Sounds funny but I bet it works and is fairly economical. Might not have the same service in Brooklyn though.

 

[theoldwizard1]

My nephew just went though the same thing. His was worse because it was a much longer chain link fence. It took him WEEKS and multiple people and dumpsters to clean out about 10 years of overgrowth.

Start with the biggest pair of "loppers" you can find. By the end you will have used every "cutting" tool you can imagine. Use glyophosate after you have cleaned it out.

 

[pfaustus]

Growing up, we called this a billhook. It should cut through those vines and brush with ease. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C57F5UU/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[TRWham]

Put up a sign that says "Free Kale." It'll be gone in a few days.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

scatter $100 in rock salt, nothing will grow for a very long time.

 

[WWheeler]

Growing up, we called this a billhook. It should cut through those vines and brush with ease. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C57F5UU/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Some folks call it a slingblade.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sAgSUFT4cVk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[bob15]

Round-up and it will also kill the roots. With a machete or pruners the roots are still there and the vine will grow back in time.

Spray it now (wait until you get 3-4 days of no rain and spray it on day one), this way the leaves will absorb the Glyphosphate and start the kill immediately. If you wait until winter, it isn't really that effective.

 

[PMD1966]

Cold Steel heavy machete works for me.

 

[jives]

Don't start with Round up. It will kill, but the plants will still be there, and you will make an herbacidal mess. You will still need to cut and remove the plants.

The cheap route is cut with a billhook/machete or Fiskars big loppers with mechanical advantage. The Fiskars is one of my best purchases ever and has taken more abuse than any tool should. Cut low. Easier with the loppers. Easy to cut at ground level.

More expensive is a quality hedge trimmer. Cut low.

Whichever way you cut, spray the stumps with concentrated Roundup or a stump killer.

 

[bob15]

Don't start with Round up. It will kill, but the plants will still be there, and you will make an herbacidal mess. You will still need to cut and remove the plants.

The cheap route is cut with a billhook/machete or Fiskars big loppers with mechanical advantage. The Fiskars is one of my best purchases ever and has taken more abuse than any tool should. Cut low. Easier with the loppers. Easy to cut at ground level.


More expensive is a quality hedge trimmer. Cut low.

Whichever way you cut, spray the stumps with concentrated Roundup or a stump killer.

Do you understand how Roundup (glyphosate) works? It is absorbed through the leaves, NOT through the branches, stalks, stumps, etc

 

[wolf_from_wv]

scatter $100 in rock salt, nothing will grow for a very long time.

Just make sure you don't get the "plant safe" rock salt... It doesn't work. Sigh...

 

[Al Borland]

Brush blade for a Sawzall.
Dab roundup on the stumps to kill the roots without making a mess with chemicals.

 

[M_George]

All you really need for that small plot is a bow saw and loping shears.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EALGQ8/?tag=atomicindus08-20

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BX1IB6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[theoldwizard1]

Don't start with Round up. It will kill, but the plants will still be there, and you will make an herbacidal mess.

Round Up completely biodegrades within 3 days.

 

[jd_1138]

Harbor Freight sells a machete for $6. Just don't cut yourself with it. Also, you may have to use loppers, hedge trimmers, recip saw, weed whacker, etc..

Being in NYC, that little piece of land is probably worth $1 million.

 

[paulm12]

Round Up completely biodegrades within 3 days.

Respectfully, most scientists are now saying that glyphosate is not truly biodegradable, and is probably carcinogenic. I may be a bit of a tree-hugger, but my vote is to start with pruning and cutting. You can always come back later and spot treat. If you choose to use the chemicals, be sure to protect yourself properly.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Do you understand how Roundup (glyphosate) works? It is absorbed through the leaves, NOT through the branches, stalks, stumps, etc

Glyphosate will kill a stump if you drill some shallow holes to hold it long enough to soak in properly. I did it to some heavy hedge stumps as an experiment to prove it out at work.

 

[JimNC]

Given the concern about vermin I would spray and tell the tenants to stay out of the area for a few days.

Then I’d go in with a weed wacker with a circular saw blade mounted in place of the string to get most of it and a machete and lopper for bits of cleanup.

Of course I’d then rake it in a pile and burn it, but then I don’t live in Brooklyn.

 

[Kev442]

I would grab my hedge trimmer (lithium battery powered) and my loppers. I love using the hedge trimmer first to get foliage out of the way to see what I am doing with the loppers.

 

[branimal]

Weed wacker with a circ saw blade....

.

Just threw out a ratty old blade yesterday. #%^}{




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CR888]

I've cleaned up many jobs similar to the OP's, I also own about every tool in this thread. I'd start cutting it all back with an 'articulated hedge trimmer' attachment that would couple up to one of my trimmer power heads. In have Stihl Kombi system, Echo & Solo attachment systems. I have big 30" hedge trimmers too but the articulted attachment on a pole will allow for adjustment to attack it from multiple angles and also from a distance where rat & bee nest won't be a problem. However your more likely to find possum & bird nests in there not bees or rats. I'd also take to the job a pair of loppers, a rake to clean up and bin green waste, gloves & lanolin spray oil for trimmer blades. About an hour would have that all done. Keep an eye out for wire hidden in the bush, hedge blades & wire don't get along.

 

[captain14]

The other half of the battle is disposal. Bags, trash cans, dumpster, pickup truck bed?
Is there alley access?

 

[WWheeler]

Glyphosate will kill a stump if you drill some shallow holes to hold it long enough to soak in properly. I did it to some heavy hedge stumps as an experiment to prove it out at work.

To use this method properly you only need treat a stump with the herbicide right after cutting it, and only the cambium layer, the area around the circumference just inside the bark, is what needs coated. We'd typically use a spray bottle but it can be brushed on also.

If more than a few minutes has elapsed you should recut the stump a little lower and apply the glyphosphate or triclopyr immediately after. If doing a lot of trees it's best to have a two-person operation with one cutting and the other applying. You can coat the entire stump cut area but everything applied to the inner rings is just wasting your chemical. If you are going to drill holes (unnecessary but can be done) you should likewise drill only around the edge just inside the bark and apply immediately. The herbicide is absorbed systemically only through the cambium layer and only for a few minutes after a stump is cut before it has had time to seal.

You'd be better off in the OP's situation to spray the new growth/tops of the plants/vines and let it die off good to give it time to kill off the root systems before cutting and removing it. Hit as many of the 'canopy' of leaves as possible. Spraying lower growth and on the ground is just wasting the chemical. One application will do it.

 

[MrDeerHunter]

Glyposhate is what you need. Wait 4-6 weeks to cut anything down. Don't mix the stuff heavier. 3 oz to a gallon of water. If you over use the product it will not kill it all the way down to the roots just the top of of the plant. Cordless sawsall and lopers for final clean up.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[theoldwizard1]

Respectfully, most scientists are now saying that glyphosate is not truly biodegradable, and is probably carcinogenic. I may be a bit of a tree-hugger, but my vote is to start with pruning and cutting.

I would also start with pruning and cutting.

What you are referring to was the recent lawsuit against RoundUp. The real issue there was the person applying it, almost daily for months on end, was not using adequate personal protection and the label was not very strongly worded about that.

If you feed mice enough of anything they will get cancer also.

There are some seed companies trying make bio-engineered corn, soybeans, etc. that will stand up to glyphosate so it can be used as a general purpose selective herbicide on those crop fields. DUMB IDEA !

 

[PugetDude]

The Fiskars is one of my best purchases ever and has taken more abuse than any tool should.

+1 on the big Fiskars Loppers. Easy to use and they cut with a satisfying ...click... I've cut 2" diameter rhododendrons with mine...

Every drug cartel enforcer probably has a pair...

 

[anndel]

Machete or Woodsman's Pal.

 

[kctyphoon]

Fiskar loppers,.. if ya can, order the set with the forgded cutters.. or u can do what I do, and hope that ISIS will detonate a low yield dirty bomb in Queens so I don't t have to go there anymore..

 

[branimal]

I ordered some concentrated roundup. I’ll spray the backyard with my garden sprayer this weekend. The backyard has a 1st floor extension with a roof. I can access that roof from my 2nd floor unit and hit the canopy pretty good.

I won’t have backyard access this weekend bc I can only be there early in the morning and my 1st floor tenant wants to sleep in on Saturdays. Understandable.

I’ll come back in a couple weeks and if the place looks good and dead, I’ll cut the stuff down.

While I’m out there I’ll assess the size of the weed trunks to figure out which fiskar lopper I should get.

My local HD has 18”, 28” and 32”.

As far as cleanup, it doesn’t appear to be a dumpsters worth.

Hiring a guy to bag and tie up might be the way to go.

Thanks guys.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[branimal]

Given the concern about vermin I would spray and tell the tenants to stay out of the area for a few days.

Then I’d go in with a weed wacker with a circular saw blade mounted in place of the string to get most of it and a machete and lopper for bits of cleanup.

Of course I’d then rake it in a pile and burn it, but then I don’t live in Brooklyn.

30 years ago in Queens Nyc, I helped my dad cut down a decent amount of overgrowth and then we set it ablaze. There were some raised eyebrows in the area but by and large he got away with it.

That’s not happening today in Brooklyn.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk