On this page
- Underbrush Clearing: Palmetto and Undergrowth Out, Slash Pine Left Standing
- Mulching, Hauling and Land Management: The Difference in the Clearing Work
- Brush Cutting and Mulching Methods: Rotary Cutter, Forestry Mulcher, Root Rake, Hand Crew
- Palmetto, Gallberry, Wax Myrtle and Camphor by County: Types of Land We Clear
- Selective Clearing: Keep the Live Oaks and Slash Pine, Remove the Palmetto and Vine
- Pasture Reclamation and Fence Line Clearing in Nassau, Baker and West Clay
- Fence Line, Trail, Ditch Bank and Firebreak Clearing
- Why Jacksonville Brush Comes Back and How We Slow It
- Brush Clearing Cost per Acre in Jacksonville
- Clearing Brush Across Northeast Florida From the Middleburg Yard
- Questions About Clearing Brush in Northeast Florida
Underbrush Clearing: Palmetto and Undergrowth Out, Slash Pine Left Standing
Underbrush removal takes everything under 8 inches and leaves every pine over it. The mulcher head runs between the trunks with 2 feet to spare, grinds the palmetto crowns and gallberry, and lays the mulch back down as ground cover. On a 3-acre lot off CR 218 in Middleburg we cleared the palmetto under 40-year slash pine in 2 days, $5,400, and flagged two gopher tortoise burrows at 25 feet. Brush and underbrush come out; brush and trees together is a different job and a different price. Mosquitoes on wet flatwoods hold the morning briefing, so book this one for the dry season.
Mulching, Hauling and Land Management: The Difference in the Clearing Work
Jacksonville land clearing and brush removal are three different invoices. Mulching cuts and grinds the understory in place; nothing leaves. Brush removal hauls it: brush piles loaded and gone at $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load, for lots with no room to leave mulch. Land management is the repeat visit, every two or three years, that keeps a tract from going back to a wall of palmetto. Lot clearing, full clear to dirt and tree removal services sit on the land clearing page; this page is the lighter work. A property owner with 5 acres of pine usually wants the first and the third.
Brush Cutting and Mulching Methods: Rotary Cutter, Forestry Mulcher, Root Rake, Hand Crew
Four tools, one rule: match the tool to what grows back. A rotary cutter on a tractor mows palmetto fronds and leaves the root crowns to resprout by fall. The forestry mulcher drum grinds the crowns 2 inches into the sand, which is why it is the first choice on every flatwoods lot. The root rake pulls roots where a pad goes, $165 an hour. A hand crew with saws and cut-stump herbicide handles camphor, privet and small trees and brush under live oaks where a machine would bark the trunks. Our mulching equipment is a tracked skid steer with the drum head, and the 300-hp machine for anything over 5 acres. Forestry mulchers leave the lot driveable the same afternoon, with no clearing debris to pick up.
Palmetto, Gallberry, Wax Myrtle and Camphor by County: Types of Land We Clear
Saw palmetto is the brush on every flatwoods lot in all six counties, and density sets the price. Wax myrtle takes over old pasture in Nassau and Baker within five years and grows to 15 feet. Camphor and Chinese privet own the old homesites inside the city, and that overgrown land is a grapple job. Brazilian pepper and palmetto removal is the coastal job, from Ponte Vedra down the St. Johns and Flagler shore; the pepper resprouts from any root left alive, so the cut gets treated within minutes. Tell me the county and what is growing, and I tell you the row on the sheet.
Selective Clearing: Keep the Live Oaks and Slash Pine, Remove the Palmetto and Vine
Selective clearing on a live oak hammock runs $2,000 to 3,200 an acre, and the oaks the county protects at 8 inches DBH stay. On the walk-through we tape every keeper, then I walk the line with you and move the tape where you want. The St. Johns, Clay and Nassau codes protect oaks at 8 inches; City of Jacksonville Chapter 656 at 11.5 inches in Duval. Vine comes off the trunks by hand first, because a mulcher pulling grapevine out of a live oak takes the limb with it. Unwanted vegetation goes, the shade stays, and the lot reads as land cleared without looking scalped. Last spring on a Nocatee-area lot we kept 3 live oaks that way, one day, $2,700.
Pasture Reclamation and Fence Line Clearing in Nassau, Baker and West Clay
Pasture reclaim runs $1,400 to 2,300 an acre on wax myrtle and volunteer pine, by the day on the 300-hp mulcher for anything over 5 acres. Near Callahan we cleared 12 acres of myrtle and pine off old bahiagrass in 3 days, $12,300 plus transport. The grazing land came back the first spring because the mulch sat on top and the bahia roots were never touched. Rural properties under greenbelt classification keep it when we mulch, because the ground stays usable land in bona fide agriculture. What the listing calls a ranch is usually 20 acres of old pasture and fence lines lost in myrtle; fence line clearing runs by the hour with the skid steer. Large acreage clearing on planted pine is a separate quote. Send me the acreage and the year the pasture went idle.
Fence Line, Trail, Ditch Bank and Firebreak Clearing
A 10-foot strip along fence lines, a trail or a ditch bank clears at about 1,000 feet an hour on the skid steer, $2,700 for the day. Firebreaks are the spring job: Florida Forest Service wildfire season runs March to May, and a 30-foot mulched break around a pine stand on the Osceola National Forest edge in Baker keeps a lightning fire on the far side. Ditch banks get mulched, not grubbed, so the bank holds. Brush control services on overgrown brush are a two-year cycle on flatwoods and three on scrub, and the second pass is half the first.
Why Jacksonville Brush Comes Back and How We Slow It
Palmetto resprouts within one season from any crown the drum missed, which is why a mowed lot looks cleared in April and is knee-high by October. Lots overgrow fast on flatwoods sand; the hardpan keeps water and roots up top. Camphor and Chinese privet come back from the stump unless the cut is treated the same day. A 2-to-4-inch mulch layer shades the sand and slows palmetto and gallberry by about a year. Erosion is not the problem on a mulched lot; it is the problem on a scraped one. Long-term land usability is a pass every two or three years, improving land each time, and we schedule it on the calendar before the trailer leaves.
Brush Clearing Cost per Acre in Jacksonville
- Skid steer mulcher: $2,700 a day, transport included inside Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker and Flagler north of Palm Coast. Stems to about 8 inches.
- Dedicated 300-hp mulcher: $4,100 a day plus transport, 3 to 5 acres a day on flatwoods.
- Palmetto and pine flatwoods: $1,400 to 2,300 per acre by density.
- Trail Ridge and coastal scrub: $1,100 to 1,700 per acre.
- Live oak hammock, oaks kept: $2,000 to 3,200 per acre.
- Brazilian pepper removal and camphor with cut-stump treatment: by the day, chemical included.
- Haul-off of brush piles: $650 to 1,200 per 10-yard load. Wet season, June to September: one extra day on flatwoods.
Free estimate on-site anywhere in the six counties, and the written price is the invoice. Dense brush costs more than light brush, and I say which yours is on the walk-through. Professional land clearing is a price you can read before the trailer leaves. Call (904) 406-7990 or pick a walk-through slot on the calendar.
Clearing Brush Across Northeast Florida From the Middleburg Yard
Whitfield provides land clearing, mulching services, including forestry mulching, and site preparation services across Northeast Florida from the yard in Middleburg, Clay County: Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau and Baker with transport included, Flagler north of Palm Coast the same, a transport line south of it. Residential lots, commercial land and commercial development along US 301 and SR 200, rural properties off CR 218, and the land developer starting a new construction project in Nocatee or Wildlight all share one sheet and one service area. Land services we do not sell: concrete, wells, septic, house demolition. The land clearing services page lists the full clear and the pads; this page is the brush, the first land clearing project most lots need. To get your property cleared on a date, pick a walk-through slot on the calendar or call (904) 406-7990. I text you the same evening, and we leave the lot squared away.
Questions About Clearing Brush in Northeast Florida
How much does brush clearing cost in Jacksonville, FL?
$2,700 a day for the skid steer mulcher with transport included, or $1,400 to 2,300 per acre on palmetto and pine flatwoods. Scrub runs $1,100 to 1,700, hammock work with the oaks kept $2,000 to 3,200. Dense brush under old pine sits at the top of each range; light brush on a mowed lot sits at the bottom.
What is the difference between brush clearing and land clearing?
Clearing brush takes the understory and leaves the trees; land clearing is vegetation removal down to dirt, stumps included, for a pad or land development. Brush is $1,400 to 2,300 an acre here; a full clear is $2,800 to 5,000. Most lots want brush work everywhere and a full clear only under the house, the drive and the septic area.
Does the brush come back?
Palmetto comes back from any crown a mower leaves and much less from a mulched one; gallberry and myrtle slow down under the mulch for about a year. Camphor and privet return unless the cut is treated the same day. Plan on a pass every two or three years.
Is mulching brush the same as brush hogging?
No. Brush hogging is a rotary cutter on a tractor that mows stems and leaves the crowns and roots to resprout by fall. Forestry mulching to clear land grinds the crowns and lays down mulch that holds the sand. Hogging is cheaper for the afternoon and costs more by the third year; mulching is how you make your land stay clear.
Do I need a permit to clear brush in Clay County?
Not for brush under the tree size. The Clay County LDC wants a clearing permit over 1 acre or before a building permit, and protects oaks at 8 inches DBH; palmetto and myrtle under that need nothing. The FWC gopher tortoise rule still applies: survey within 90 days on sandy ground, no work within 25 feet of a burrow.
