At that price point, the engine might be a little under-powered, but hard to say. And since you’re not working with a huge area, being under-powered probably isn’t an issue–and the lighter weight is definitely good.
It’s good it has the different attachments. For vines and sturdy weeds, you’ll want to use that metal three-toothed blade. It will throw material a bit more than the sawblade, but much less than string. And, more importantly, it should eat right through most of the stuff in your pictures.
I have a bunch of weed challenges right now as well (mainly virginia creeper and nightshade with the added challenge of steep slopes; posted earlier in the thread about it) and I’d love to pick your brain also. Gonna come back to this in a couple weeks when I get home from working in the field and post some photos.
You could always rent equipment for a day. It costs around $85. Something like this can knock down 3" trees and chew them up. Rental DR Field/Brush Mower walk Behind. Hit it all with a coat of crossbow and wrap it up in a day or two.
A lot depends on the scale, your end goals, and the slope. Clarkinks makes a very good point, renting equipment is often a great option, depending on how much work needs to be done, how often or needs to be done, and how hard it is.
How big is this area, and how sloped? If you’re going mostly orchard and bramble beds, I’d expect the easiest thing would be to keep it mowed. If it’s not too steep. Vines do not persist when cut often. What kind of mower do you have access to?
One thing that complicates your situation is the higher chance of erosion, so just spraying or ripping everything out might not be so good.
The idea the guy had for a golf course was great. Could always use simulated grass. Just like carpet artificial grass kills everything underneath it. One thing is for sure that is one project i would only do once. @Richard yard looks like a golf course. That is a great landscaping project and irrigation system Irrigation combobulation.
I provided instructions for girdling sweet gum above and believe me, I’ve killed a bunch of them with girdling over the years. Make an 8 inch girdle when the tree has fully leafed out in the spring, chop down into the trunk to make a ring of chips sticking out from the trunk so sap bridges can’t complete.
I’ll admit I was being a bit rhetorical. It’s not impossible, it’s just dang hard.
Even if the girdle have to be very wide and deep/roughly chopped, the stump itself might not die. Sweet gum, being the mutant cancer of the forest tree that it is, can form clonal colonies. Girdling just one stem isn’t a guarantee kill when the tree may have multiple other stems.
On the flip side, I’ve seen where cutting one gum tree and painting the stump with roundup also killed “other” gum trees growing nearby.
My understanding is that glyphosate kills much better if applied in the fall when the plant is building reserves in the roots. So that’s when I spray perennials. On annuals it kills better on small actively growing plants. Which is when you need to kill annuals in order to prevent seed formation.
The government program for bitter sweet calls spraying it not earlier than July 1, preferably later , just before it changes to fall color with a mix of glyphosate and triclopyr.
I had to look up bitter sweet to find out what it is. LOL! We don’t have it down here in southern Tennessee and Alabama. They again, we don’t have gypsy moths either. Alas poor gypsy moth, fire ants got’em.
Thanks to my always go to contractor - DH! The steps are foot wide and low enough to walk comfortably even loaded with tools or materials. All PT Ground contact, I hope it will last! It is my favorite spot in the yard now!
An update: we are getting there! My husband decided to help me with trimmer. But as I suspected long vines make use of trimmer less efficient. You have to stop every minute and clean up the debris. But it is still faster than just manually pulling vines. we have probably 10-15% left untouched. So couple more days and then a pause for 4-6 weeks for new grows to appear, and spray after.
One suggestion is to not get in a big hurry to plant new ground.
So , if you are trying to eradicate aggressive weeds / vines this year, don’t assume they are going to be all gone , ready to plant next year.
I would continue cleanup into next year and see what you have. ?
Can be easier to be sure you have things under control in the second year , without valuable plants in the way. By the end of year two you should know if you have it under control.
