Brush and Underbrush Clearing in Florida: Palmetto, Gallberry, Wax Myrtle and Brazilian Pepper Control
Brush in Florida is a root mat with leaves on it. Saw palmetto, gallberry, wax myrtle and pepper grow back from what you leave in the ground, so cutting is half a job. Our crews run forestry mulching for brush clearing from Ocala and Punta Gorda, FL: $1,500 to 2,500 an acre on palmetto flatwoods, $2,600 a day for the skid steer within 75 miles of a yard. I have cleared flatwoods since 2012, ten years on FPL corridors before that. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
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Underbrush Removal: Taking the Palmetto Without Taking the Pines
It leaves the slash pine standing and takes everything under 8 inches at the base. The mulcher head runs between trunks at a 6-foot swath, grinds the palmetto to a chip layer, and the pines keep their bark if the operator knows the machine. On the ROW we cleared brush and underbrush under energized lines for ten years without touching a pole; a pine trunk is easier. Figure one acre a day in a chest-high palmetto mat, two in thin stands. Brush and trees under 3 inches vanish in one pass. Tape the trees you want kept and we leave the rest as mulch.
Brush Clearing, Brush Removal and Land Management: What Is the Difference
Clearing cuts it. Brush removal gets it off the parcel. Land management keeps it from coming back. Most Florida land clearing and brush removal jobs are the first kind with a mulcher, because the chip stays as ground cover and no brush piles wait on a Florida Forest Service burn authorization. Hauling means an excavator, 10-yard loads at $700 to 1,300 each, and only when the builder needs bare dirt. Lot clearing for a slab and a full clear to dirt are land clearing, not brush work; see those pages. The follow-up is a bush hog twice a year or a hand crew on the pepper resprouts.
Forestry Mulching to Clear Land, Bush Hog, Root Rake or Hand Crew
Four tools, and the ground picks. Forestry mulchers on a skid steer handle stems to 8 inches and float on wet flatwoods, $2,600 a day. A bush hog at $65 to 95 an acre mows grass and saplings under 2 inches, and it bounces off a palmetto root mat. The root rake behind the dozer, $170 an hour, pulls the mat when a pasture or pad needs the roots gone, and it tears the ground up doing it. A hand crew with saws and cut-stump herbicide handles pepper and melaleuca near oaks, fences and tortoise burrows. Mulching equipment does 80 percent of our brush work. Tell us what the land is for and the tool follows.
Palmetto, Gallberry, Wax Myrtle and Brazilian Pepper Removal by Region
Palmetto flatwoods are everywhere from Jacksonville to Naples: $1,500 to 2,500 per acre by density. South of Orlando the problem is exotics. Brazilian pepper and palmetto removal on a Port Charlotte thicket ran 2.5 acres, 2 days, $6,700 with the $500 pepper surcharge; melaleuca behaves the same. In the Panhandle it is gallberry and titi under cutover pine: 10 acres in Crawfordville, understory mulched for a homesite and pasture, 2 days, $9,500 plus transport. On the Lake Wales Ridge and the coastal ridges it is scrub oak and sand pine on sugar sand, $1,200 to 1,800. Wax myrtle sits in every old field and every ditch line. Mosquitoes bill by the hour here too, so we start early. Name the county and the plants and we quote the density.
Selective Clearing: Keep the Live Oaks and Slash Pine, Remove the Rest
Selective clearing takes the unwanted vegetation and leaves the trees that give the parcel its value. We flag live oaks, mature slash pine and cabbage palms, then mulch the trees and brush we do not want between them: palmetto, gallberry, exotics. Orange County protects trees over 4 inches on undeveloped land, Hillsborough over 5 inches, so the flags also keep you legal. Oak roots run shallow; the mulcher stays off the drip line when the ground is soft. Pepper under an oak gets cut by hand and the stump painted within minutes or it comes back thicker. Mark your keepers before we unload and the job goes faster.
Pasture Reclamation and Fence Lines on Rural Properties
Leave a bahiagrass pasture five years in Florida and brush will overgrow it: wax myrtle, pepper and waist-high palmetto. Reclaiming it is mulching, $1,500 to 2,500 an acre, then a bush hog twice a year. Grazing land and the odd ranch tract carry greenbelt classification, which keeps the county permit simple. Fence lines get a 12-foot pass so the fence crew can work and the wire stays visible. Rural properties with a pond edge: we stay off the wet line until the SJRWMD or SWFWMD boundary is clear, because filling is the trigger, not cutting. Large acreage clearing, any land clearing project over 10 acres, goes to the 300-hp head at $4,000 a day plus transport. Send the acreage and a pin.
Fence Line Clearing, Trails, Canal Banks and Firebreaks
Fence line clearing, trails and firebreaks are priced by the day because the acreage is a strip. A skid steer day covers about a mile of 12-foot fence line in palmetto, less in pepper. Trails get an 8-foot pass with the mulch left as footing. Canal banks in the drainage districts are mulched from the top; we do not disturb the slope below the water line. Firebreaks: the Florida Forest Service wildfire season runs March to May, and a mulched 30-foot break drops the fuel load to ankle height before it starts. Erosion on sugar sand is the one thing a bare strip invites, so the chip stays down. Send a map of the lines you need open.
Why Florida Brush Comes Back and How Mulch Slows It
Palmetto resprouts from the rhizome within a season. Pepper and melaleuca resprout from any stump that was not treated. Wax myrtle seeds in from the ditch. That is why we leave a 2 to 4 inch mulch layer: it shades the sand, holds moisture, and keeps the palmetto fronds short enough for a bush hog. Brush control after the first clear is one mowing pass in spring and one in fall; our control services are the same crew on a schedule. Overgrown brush that was cleared with a root rake and left bare comes back as a solid pepper stand in three years; I have walked those jobs after other crews. Long-term land usability depends on the follow-up, and we quote it with the first day.
Brush Clearing Cost per Acre in Florida
Density sets the number. Every price below is on our sheet.
- Palmetto and pine flatwoods: $1,500 to 2,500 per acre.
- Oak scrub and sandhill: $1,200 to 1,800 per acre.
- Pepper or melaleuca thickets: add $500 an acre for cut-stump treatment.
- Skid steer mulcher by the day: $2,600, transport included within 75 miles of Ocala or Punta Gorda.
- 300-hp mulcher: $4,000 a day plus transport.
- Bush hog follow-up: $65 to 95 an acre, $450 minimum.
- Root rake with dozer: $170 an hour with operator.
- Clearing debris hauled: $700 to 1,300 per 10-yard load.
A gopher tortoise survey, $400 to 900, comes before the price on any upland parcel. June to September on muck adds a day. Free estimate within 75 miles of a yard. Call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
Land Clearing Services Across Florida: Where We Clear Brush
Ocala covers everything across Central Florida and Tampa Bay: Marion, Lake, Polk, Orange, Volusia, Citrus, Pasco, Hillsborough. Punta Gorda covers the southwest and the Treasure Coast: Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Sarasota, St. Lucie. Jacksonville and the Panhandle carry transport beyond 75 miles, billed on the quote. Pellegrino Land Works provides land clearing, including forestry mulching, mulching services, vegetation removal, tree removal services and site preparation services for property owners, land developer clients and commercial land across Florida. Commercial development pads and land development tracts go by the day; a property owner starting a new construction project gets the same sheet. Types of land we skip: anything below the wetland line without a permit. Land services end at the water. Professional land clearing on usable land, dense brush or overgrown land. Get your property cleared before the June rains: call (352) 619-3597 or send the form. Brandi texts you a scheduling window within the hour.
Land clearing across Florida
Six regions, two yards. Pick yours for local rates, permits and the towns we work.
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Questions from Property Owners About Clearing Brush
How much does it cost to clear brush per acre in Florida?
Palmetto flatwoods run $1,500 to 2,500 per acre mulched, scrub $1,200 to 1,800, and exotics add $500 an acre. A skid steer day is $2,600 for small parcels. Clearing work on muck in the wet season adds a day, and the tortoise survey comes first.
Is brush clearing the same as bush hogging?
No. A bush hog mows grass and saplings under 2 inches at $65 to 95 an acre and leaves the palmetto root mat alive. Mulching with the forestry mulcher grinds stems to 8 inches and the mat with them. Most parcels need the mulcher once and the bush hog after.
Does the brush come back?
Yes, slower. Palmetto resprouts from the rhizome, pepper from untreated stumps, and Florida grows twelve months a year. The mulch layer and a cut-stump treatment on exotics are what slow it; a bush hog twice a year keeps it down. Improving land here is a schedule, not a day.
Will clearing wash out sandy soil?
Not when the chip stays on the ground. Mulched flatwoods hold the sand in place through the June rains. A root-raked strip left bare on a slope will wash, so we mulch first and rake only the pad. Make your land clearing plan around where the water goes.
Do you clear brush on land cleared by a storm?
Yes. After Ian we spent six months on debris in Charlotte and Lee, 9 loads off one acre in Punta Gorda, $8,100. Snapped pine tops and brush get mulched, trunks get hauled by the load. Call (352) 619-3597 with a count of trees down and we quote it as a full clear or a mulch pass.
Ready to Clear Your Lot?
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