Post-Christmas Land Clearing: How to Turn Fallen Trees into Free Mulch

When the Christmas lights are still hanging but your wooded land looks like a storm zone, it’s time to think about land clearing, not decorations. Winter storms leave trees, small trees, branches, and brush scattered across job sites, farm lanes, and yard edges. All that “waste” can feel overwhelming — but with the right land clearing equipment, it becomes a resource: free mulch.

Instead of paying contractors or trying to rent land clearing equipment every time a storm hits, many acreage owners are switching to their own PTO wood chipper setup from Farmry. Hooked to your tractor’s PTO, a Farmry WCAP-series chipper can turn storm debris into fine mulch for paths, garden beds, and erosion control — and do it far more efficiently than dragging piles to a burn pit or dump site.

This guide walks you through how to choose the right equipment, why a PTO chipper is a smart choice, and how to make quick, safe work of your post-Christmas land clearing tasks.

1. Why Post-Christmas Land Clearing Matters

Winter storms don’t just drop snow. They snap limbs, topple small trees, and scatter debris across uneven terrain. If you leave all that wood and vegetation where it lands, you’ll face:

• Hazardous job sites and farm lanes

• Harder construction and landscaping projects in spring

• More insects and rot in piles of logs and brush

• Slower farming and agricultural tasks when machinery can’t pass

Good land clearing equipment makes preparing your site part of a long-term property plan, not just a panic response. A PTO-driven wood chipper is the core machine for turning fallen trees and branches into usable mulch instead of expensive disposal.

2. Land Clearing Equipment Options: Big Iron vs Tractor-Powered

If you talk to contractors or commercial forestry operations, you’ll hear about:

• Excavators with grapples and stump buckets

• Compact track loaders and skid steers with brush cutters

• Huge tow-behind chippers driven by diesel engines

Those tools are great for massive forestry or highway job sites, but they’re overkill for many acreage owners or smaller sites. The cost of heavy machinery, plus fuel, transport, and operators, adds up fast.

For most small farms and homesteads, a simpler approach works better:

• A tractor you already own

• A 3-point PTO wood chipper as your primary clearing equipment

• Maybe a loader bucket or grapple for pushing piles together

This setup keeps you in control of your project, lets you work when it fits your schedule, and avoids constantly having to rent land clearing equipment or pay for hauling services.

3. Why a PTO Wood Chipper Is a Smart Choice

A Farmry PTO chipper like the WCAP130 or WCAP150 is equipped to do exactly what post-Christmas cleanup needs:

• Connects to the tractor’s PTO instead of a small gas powered engine

• Uses a heavy flywheel and rotor to deliver serious torque

• Features sharp knives and teeth on robust cutting edges

• Sends chips out a chute into a trailer, pile, or directly onto paths

Compared to small gas powered chippers, a PTO unit:

• Handles larger diameter branches and logs, increasing chipping capacity

• Uses the power and hydraulic pump of the tractor for stronger hydraulic infeed

• Stays more productive on uneven ground and rough terrain

And because you’re using the tractor you already maintain, you avoid duplicating engines, filters, and replacement parts across multiple small machines.

4. Matching Chipping Capacity to Your Tractor and Property

Choosing the right Farmry PTO chipper is all about matching capacity to your tractor and your land clearing tasks.

4.1 Tractor Power and Direct Drive

A good PTO chipper is designed to work with the tractor’s PTO speed and direct drive the rotor via belts or gearbox. When you pick models like WCAP130 vs WCAP150, consider:

• Tractor horsepower

• Typical branch diameter on your wooded land

• How many storm events you handle each year

Smaller, lighter chipper attachments may be perfect for smaller sites with light brush and small trees, while larger models give you more chipping capacity for heavy land clearing around fields and fence lines.

4.2 Access and Limited Space

On real acreage, you’re often working in limited space between fences, buildings, and trees. A 3-point PTO chipper:

• Stays close to the tractor, helping you maneuver around tight corners

• Works on uneven terrain where trucks and trailers struggle

• Is often quick hitch compatible, making hookup faster and safer

This is how you keep the project moving instead of fighting your own equipment.

5. From Fallen Trees to Fine Mulch: A Step-by-Step Workflow

Once you’ve picked your Farmry PTO chipper, here’s how to turn a post-Christmas mess into fine mulch that supports your soil and landscaping.

Step 1 – Assess the Site and Plan Your Tasks

Walk the site after the storm:

• Mark downed trees, broken limbs, and large logs

• Note any hazards: wires, fence posts, rocks, or stumps

• Decide where you’ll stack material and where your final mulch piles will go

This plan helps you choose the efficient path so you’re not double-handling wood and debris.

Step 2 – Buck Logs and Sort Material

Use a chainsaw to:

• Cut long logs into manageable lengths

• Remove soil-covered or rotten sections that could dull knives and teeth

• Sort clean branches and brush into piles that are easy to feed into the chipper

Sorted material keeps your chippers working smoothly, increases safety, and protects cutting edges from rocks and dirt.

Step 3 – Position Tractor and Chipper

Back your tractor and PTO chipper into a flat or gently sloped ground area:

• Aim the discharge chute toward the place you want your chips (trailer, tarp, or mulch zone)

• Make sure you have a stable stance on terrain, especially on uneven ground

• Engage the tractor’s PTO and bring the chipper up to operating speed

This is the heart of the operation — a strong flywheel and rotor spinning with enough torque to handle real land clearing tasks.

Step 4 – Feed Material with Control

With proper PPE and clear communication if others are present:

• Feed branches butt-end first

• Use the chipper’s hydraulic infeed (if equipped) to control feed rate

• Avoid overloading the machine; let it “eat” at its designed pace

A good PTO chipper is essential for making quick work of storm piles. It converts trees, wood, and vegetation into uniform chips that fall exactly where you need them.

Step 5 – Use the Mulch to Improve Your Land

Now you have fine mulch — and it’s not just waste:

• Spread around trees and shrubs to protect soil from erosion

• Build paths through wooded land or garden areas

• Cover muddy approaches to barns or construction site entrances

This is where your land clearing equipment stops being a cost and starts saving you money by replacing store-bought mulch and reducing erosion and weed growth.

6. Safety, Maintenance, and Protecting Your Investment

Any machine that eats logs and branches needs respect. A few key rules keep your Farmry PTO chipper safe and productive for many seasons:

6.1 Operating Safety Basics

• Wear eye, ear, and hand protection

• Keep bystanders and animals well clear of the chute and infeed

• Never climb onto the infeed or push wood with feet or tools not designed for it

Treat your chipper like the serious machinery it is, and it will serve you well.

6.2 Protect Knives, Teeth, and Flywheel

After each job or workday:

• Inspect knives, teeth, and cutting edges for chips, cracks, or dullness

• Clean out packed debris from around the rotor and flywheel

• Check bolts, belts, and any hydraulic pump components

Sharp, well-maintained blades keep the chipper efficient, reduce fuel use on the tractor, and lower stress on the entire equipment system.

6.3 Storage and Replacement Parts

When you’re done with land clearing for the season:

• Park the chipper under cover to protect it from weather

• Touch up paint where needed to slow rust

• Keep essential replacement parts (knives, belts, bolts) on hand so a small issue doesn’t stop the next project

This is how you keep your Farmry PTO chipper ready for the next storm or construction phase without emergency downtime.

7. PTO Chipper vs Renting Land Clearing Equipment

It’s tempting to just call a rental yard and rent land clearing equipment whenever a big storm hits. But over a few years, the numbers change:

• Daily rental rates for big clearing equipment, plus hauling and insurance

• Time spent learning each new rented machine

• Scheduling conflicts when equipment isn’t available during your ideal weather window

Owning a Farmry PTO chipper that’s always sitting on your property, equipped and ready to hook to your tractor, gives you:

• Immediate response after storms

• Control over your own timeline

• A reusable, long-term attachment you can pair with other tools (like grapples or buckets)

For most acreage owners, that’s the smart choice — especially when you consider the value of all that free mulch you’re creating every time you run the chipper.

8. Turning Winter Damage into Long-Term Value

Post-Christmas land clearing doesn’t have to be a never-ending chore. With the right Farmry land clearing equipment — especially a PTO-driven wood chipper matched to your tractor and your property — you can:

• Keep job sites clean and safe

• Handle land clearing tasks on your own schedule

• Turn storm debris into useful chips and fine mulch

• Save money on hauling, burning, and store-bought landscaping materials

Instead of seeing fallen trees and broken brush as a headache, think of them as free raw material. Hook up your Farmry PTO chipper, fire up the tractor’s PTO, and start making quick work of winter damage — one branch, one log, and one mulch pile at a time.