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fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.
For what you're looking for why not look at Ryobi? They've got a small mower and string trimmer that run off their normal 18v tool batteries, which you may be interested in anyhow for other home projects.

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fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.
Does anyone in here know if those electric chippers are actually usable at all? There's a bunch on the market like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/WEN-15-Amp-Rolling-Electric-Wood-Chipper-and-Shredder-41121/305094298 which I figure are all basically the same but are they capable of doing anything other than really light work?

I've got a pretty sizeable buildup of brush now from a bunch of work I've been doing the last year or so, and later in the fall I'll have more after I cut down a bunch of overgrown euonymous to rejuvenate them. I've actually got a proper wood chipper promised to me but it's become a whole thing around it being buried in the back of a shed and the owner of the shed not wanting to get around to unearthing it and not taking my offers to dig it out for him, I think it'll eventually materialize so I don't want to spend money on something bigger but I want to start making a dent in this pile of crap sooner rather than later. There's nothing particularly thick in the pile, it's just a huge volume of stuff in the 1/2 - 3/4" range to go through so I'd think overheating would be the failure mode I would hit. Would this be viable in the sense that I could maybe get through most of my pile before burning out the motor, or is it just going to give up as soon as I try to do more than shred leaves and twigs with it? Thanks!

fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.
Just as a competing data point, I've got the non self propelled EGO battery mower and have had absolutely zero issues with it bogging or needing multiple batteries for my 1/3 acre worth of mixed weeds and some grass. When I moved in in 2018 the lawn hadn't been mowed for the entire spring, so was probably 16-18" tall by the first week of June, and that battery mower was able to plow through even that on a single battery. It is of course twice the price of the Ryobi and about the same price as a good gas mower, but as far as I can see it's just as capable as any gas mower and I don't have to deal with maintaining yet another small gas engine.

fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.
What ohhyeah said, you're going to need to do some forest management here if you want to keep anything you plant on that slope manageable:



I can't tell exactly as I can't make out the leaves of the overgrown viney areas well enough but if you're in New England and the edge of your forest looks like that you've almost certainly got Oriental Bittersweet in there. This poo poo is a highly aggressive perennial woody vine that can grow to 80-90' with an 8-9" vine diameter which will completely overrun your forest edge and choke all of the trees to death, then turn the whole thing into an invasive monoculture thicket. It's unfortunately a ton of work to keep on top of it as it'll keep resprouting from root fragments for years after removal, and spraying isn't very effective on it unless you can get young shoots as they're coming up or treat the cut stump ends immediately after cutting the big stuff. It'll happily colonize that entire slope and start moving into your yard via root runners though, so definitely a priority to look in to.



You've also got a tree of heaven growing there, which is another invasive that'll spread via root runners - though less urgent to deal with. Just check the area yearly for new sprouts and consider taking down the parent tree if you're ambitious.

fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.
I'll admit I'm not 100% on that ID given the resolution available, it looks like how the tree of heaven tends to grow on forest edges around me but sumac is a real close look alike. Get some close ups of the leaves, especially at the ends of the branches and we can probably make a more certain ID.

fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.
That is exactly how it got introduced to the area and spread so widely, the berries on the decorative wreaths would get picked off by birds and spread that way or would just germinate wherever the wreaths were disposed of after the fall.

There is a native bittersweet that isn't a problem since it doesn't grow nearly as large as oriental does, but oriental bittersweet was the preferred wreath making bittersweet because it grows berries along the entire length of the vine instead of in clumps at the ends of the vine. American Bittersweet is relatively less common now, largely because it's being out competed by the much more aggressively growing Oriental Bittersweet.

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fralbjabar
Jan 26, 2007
I am a meat popscicle.

amethystbliss posted:


Sumac vs. tree of heaven


This definitely looks like a tree of heaven to me, the tell to me is that the leaflet margins are smooth while a sumac would be serrated all along the margins of the leaflets. Additionally this slight lobe towards the bottom of the leaflet:

Is typical of tree of heaven. If you really want to be sure crush up a couple of the leaflets and give them a sniff (wear gloves, it can sometimes cause a skin reaction) - tree of heaven has a strong "characteristic" smell somewhere between sewage and rotting garbage when crushed. The bark of the two trees is also fairly different, sumac will be silvery while tree of heaven is more of a dull brown.

Most of this looks like either some kind of ivy or maybe even a wild grape(?) I'm not really sure what the large leaved vines in the foreground are. However hiding in the background there:

This guy with the rounded leaves is bittersweet. Can be seen more clearly in your next photo here:

That vine looping through there is what to look out for. From the looks of things it's present but maybe not very well established yet which should make dealing with it easier. Once you find a bit of it follow it back until you find the woody parent vine, sometimes what might look like a huge infestation is really all just one huge plant.

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