Gasoline Powered Brush Removal Tools

Brush overgrowth can quickly crowd out trees and swamp cultivated land areas. According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department, keeping brush away from buildings can help reduce fire hazards. If you don’t want to buy goats for a cheap and easy way of clearing land, gasoline-powered brush removal tools are the best option. You’re not hindered by extension cords or generators, and the equipment will keep running as long as it has gasoline.

Garden Tractor

Garden tractors are the big brothers of riding lawn mowers and lawn tractors. They have sturdier frames and more powerful engines, making them suitable for clearing light brush problems. Mowing overgrown grass and weeds and cutting through slim willow or hazel saplings are easy jobs for a garden tractor.

String Trimmer

Another gasoline-powered brush removal tool is a string trimmer. These come with string attachments that zip through slender brush such as blackberry brambles and overgrown weeds. However, the University of Oklahoma Police Department notes that using a string trimmer to clear poison ivy is not a good idea. The plant’s urushiol oil can spray onto the tool and its user causing an allergic rash. Instead, use a brush removal tool that operates close to the ground, such as a garden tractor or rotary mower, when clearing poison ivy.

For more challenging brush problems, consider swapping the string attachment for a brushcutting tool. String trimmer brushcutters have fixed blades that operate like a lawn mower blade, but on a smaller scale and at the business end of a string trimmer. They’re designed to cut through climbing vines, young saplings and to make short work of matted weeds and brambles that can strangle a fence line.

Rotary Mower

A gasoline powered multi-blade rotary cutter looks like a large lawn-mower deck, but attaches to the back of an all-terrain vehicle, garden tractor or full-size tractor. Rotary cutting widths range up to five feet. The blades can cut through saplings up to 3 inches in diameter, depending upon the model you purchase. This capability makes them valuable tools for clearing areas where brush has grown unchallenged for several years.

Brush Cutter

Another handy gasoline-powered tool for tough brush jobs is a brush cutter. Brush cutters look like push lawn mowers, except the cutting decks extend farther in front of the operator. The decks are of heavier gauge steel and they’re equipped with more powerful motors and cutting blades. Deck widths are usually 24 inches, and blades can cut through brush debris up to 1 ½-inches in diameter. Some models are self-propelled and others require that the user push the brush cutter.

References

• Los Angeles County Fire Department: Vegetation Management
• University of Oklahoma Police Department: Police Notebook – Poison Ivy

Resources

• Lawn Mowers and Garden Tractors: Your Guide to a Perfect Lawn
• This Old House: Choosing and Using String Trimmers