Sort of TSI question

[Daver]

Now that I have completed TSI 101 and know a little bit about what a real TSI program means, I have a question...

The plan at this point is to start a real TSI program next year in my timber, but I want to whack a few more trees now and get some more bedding/browse area established, pre-TSI if you will. If I stick to only girdling big shagbarks and tipping over smaller what I know not to be oaks and walnuts this weekend, can I go wrong with that?

I was thinking about declaring "girdle war" on the shaggies and hinging a bunch of smaller undesirables to concentrate my bedding areas even more. Should I gas up the chainsaw and go crazy or wait until next year?

 

[dbltree]

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If I stick to only girdling big shagbarks and tipping over smaller what I know not to be oaks and walnuts this weekend, can I go wrong with that?


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Seems reasonable to me...I'm not a TSI expert by any means but I pretty much kill all the shagbarks regardless if it is TSI or bedding areas I'm working on.

Just remember your bedding areas will most likely be "butchered" and opened up to allow sun thru and encourage brushy/bramble undergrowth...while TSI will be killing individual undesirable trees that are affecting your oak/walnut timber/mast trees.

I would say let the girdling begin!

 

[FarmlandQDM]

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If I stick to only girdling big shagbarks and tipping over smaller what I know not to be oaks and walnuts this weekend, can I go wrong with that?

Should I gas up the chainsaw and go crazy or wait until next year?

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Well ... if you can't identify your trees I wouldn't advise firing up the chainsaw. The cuts you make will likely affect the quality of your timber for the rest of your life ... that's something you probably want to get right.

Depends on your management goals but when I'm creating a hinged cut "mess" for wildlife I usually leave oak and walnut but also hackberry, cherry, red elm (lumber value), plum, osage orange(hedge), buckeye, hawthorn, honeylocust, cedar, some sawlog hickory, red mulberry, and persimmons and paw paw if I find them. Many of these trees can look similiar when they are young.

You may want to get a DNR forester to help you identify the trees in the area you plan to cut before you actually do the cutting. I usually mark these bedding/hidng areas for clients and let them have fun with the chainsaw. I call it "slash TSI" marking. This prevents them from cutting trees they should be leaving to match their management goals.

 

[Critter]

Just my opinion, but if you're not exactly sure of what you're doing out there, I'd wait until someone with some more knowledge came out to give you some pointers. I went through a friends property that had just completed his cost share TSI, and realized it was more complicated than I ever thought it would be. I by no means am a tree expert, and to be truthful I can barely recognize even some of the simplest trees. Yesterday I set up an appointment with a private lands biologist to go through my property and discuss my options, and get some ideas from him as far as TSI and cost share programs go. He works with the NRCS and will be my contact as far as applying. Hopefully we can form a plan and I can start as early as this coming winter. I'm not saying you aren't capable of doing what you need done, but I know in my case I want to hear from someone that deals with it every day.