Timber Stand Improvment

[singlecoyote]

Re: Timber Stand Improvment - identifing trees

Does anyone else have acres of ironwood? I waged war on it this week and hardly scratched the surface.

 

[dbltree]

Re: Timber Stand Improvment - identifing trees

Originally Posted By: Single Coyote
Does anyone else have acres of ironwood? I waged war on it this week and hardly scratched the surface.



I have one woodlot that is infested with it so I'm working on eradicating it (if that's possible )

My forester warned me to keep killing it or I'll regret not doing so...

it appears it was man made. The reasons why oaks are getting replaced.

That it is! Intensive logging years ago combined with the pasturing of much of Iowas timber has allowed other species to take over.

Fire was always an important tool that helped elminate other species whle leaving the fire resistant oaks behind.

Landowners haven't bothered with fire orany other type of managment for so long that muck of our white oak habitat is going the way of the bison and passenger pigeons...

Awarness is a key issue and with more habitat concious landowners taking an interest....maybe we can reverse the trend!

 

[letemgrow]

Re: Timber Stand Improvment - identifing trees

It is being reversed on my place that's for sure!!! I hope others follow suit and see what is happening to their timbers instead of just seeing that it is still green so it is in good shape.

Interesting note, one of the passenger pigeon's staple foods was the american chestnut which started dying in 1904 from the blight.

 

[letemgrow]

Re: Timber Stand Improvment - identifing trees

The owner of the farm before me used to run cows in there all year and I can tell that's one reason why the areas that grew up were honey locust and hickory predominately. Large, mature oaks are right around those areas, but I think the cows graze oaks more than hickories so they helped shape the landscape so to speak.

From what I can tell, deer and cows will browse young oaks, but do not seem to touch hickories too much. If that does not help shape the landscape, I do not know what does.

 

[letemgrow]

Here is what the areas where I opened up the canopy look like now....lots of baby oaks!!!

 

[dbltree]

Well it's the end of June and I thought I would share a few pics from my TSI project last winter at this point just looking for "kills" and those that thus far have refused to die.

I didn't get close enough to the girdled tree to see it but you can see the sunlight and undergrowth it creates.

I found that ALL oaks and locusts were very easily killed via girdling, mainly shingle oaks that were interfering with good crop oaks or lessor quality black oak to close to a better crop oak tree.

Sunshine on the forst floor is the sign of success here

A few shingle oaks were clinging to life but aren't long for this world

The smaller hinge cut hickories were still very much alive

But locust trees stone cold dead

You can see the "girdles" here and subsequent sunlight

The problem trees I found to be girdled hickories and maples with the hickories thus far showing no sign of distress while mapes are at least starting to appear "sick".

This girdled maple's leaves have started to turn red while ungirdled maples nearby are healthy and green

I'm going to monitor the hickories as they perhaps will need a dose of Tordon to put them out of their misery...

I have a stand of 70-80 year old white pines and wind sent the top crashing out of one of them.

Just thought I would share in case you might consider (foolishly) to stick stubbornly to your stand in high winds...as I use to...

They do come down and being safely strapped in could prove fatal on windy day...

I haven't checked my white oak TSI project but I'm hoping for some "babies" like letemgrow shared...

 

[Daver]

FWIW, Hickories and TSI (girdling)

Paul - I have had very similar results from my TSI project too, in terms of the hickories appearing to be able to "take it" more than other species. I have multiple double girdled hickories that are still very much alive this year. (These were girdled in Jan-May 2008.)

The hickories have a thinner than normal leaf cover this year, having been impacted by the double girdling, but they are still far from dead. Meanwhile, oaks in particular are deader than a doornail from the same treatment. I was thinking I would re-girdle the hickories this winter.

Even so, the whole area affected is MUCH greener and leafier at the ground level this year. I can really see a difference in the understory in my timber, even with some of the hickories holding on. It is starting to look "jungleicious" in there, something I think the big bucks will prefer.

 

[dbltree]

I was thinking I would re-girdle the hickories this winter.

I would p/u some Tordon TRU from TSC Dave, it's only 16 bucks and a little goes a long ways.

Put it in the fresh girdles or make some "hack" marks with a hatchet or small axe on a downward angle and pour some in.

This pic is kinda dark but these are dead locust trees that my son did the "hack n squirt" on using Tordon RTU, no girdling, just hack marks and Tordon.

This method is a little faster and eaiser then re-girdling trees although those doggone hickories may require both.

Different subject but the elms at my place are dying at a rapid rate...

No girdling needed....

 

[letemgrow]

The hickories I girdled this past winter are still very much alive. I will see how they look this fall and go from there. I do not see how they will not die though, I mean the cambium layer is cut off so they are just going on stored nutrients.

 

[letemgrow]

Here is a pic of took back on 06/06, there are 8 young white oaks growing in this area where the hickories were hinge cut to allow sunlight in. I have 2 giant white oaks left in this general area to replenish the stock after white oaks were taken out over 20 years ago and never replaced so the hickories ran wild being better at handling shade they were just laying in wait.

 

[dbltree]

Here is a pic of took back on 06/06, there are 8 young white oaks growing in this area where the hickories were hinge cut to allow sunlight in. I have 2 giant white oaks left in this general area to replenish the stock after white oaks were taken out over 20 years ago and never replaced so the hickories ran wild being better at handling shade they were just laying in wait.

That's what I'm hoping for by my white oak stand but I haven't check it yet. That picture is a great example of what we are working towards when doing TSI! :way:

 

[letemgrow]

It's amazing what a little sweat and hard work can accomplish.

 

[dbltree]

Took some pictures from the results of last winter TSI projects and what they look like this fall.

I kill competition both by girdling and hinge cutting depending on the situation.

It easy to walk thru and see the dead trees againt the skyline and the released oaks thriving.

Some oaks were small but had no chance under the shade tolerant hickories until being released!

New browse erupts from stumps

and I hinged smaller trees to create living bruspiles

Deer were bedded in among these tops when I walked in

You can see the huge old parent oaks in the background in this pic where I tipped over everything around them

and that allowed new oak seedlings to come up and in time they will take the place of trees I have killed

Always identify your crop trees before firing up the chainsaw and it's usually safer and eaiser to girdle larger cull trees and then hinge smaller cull trees for bedding.

In some areas with no oaks present I interplanted swamp white oaks among the downed tops but it's now so thick in there I haven't checked on them.

Hunting season is upon us so I'll check on the flagged seedlings early next spring and spray them with Oust and keep and undesireable growth killed back.

In time I will turn the tide and return my timber to oak habitat rather then hickory and maple that have little use in my habitat program...:way:

 

[letemgrow]

Here is another area where I have started to work on the hickories:

I ended up planting some hybrid white oak acorns, american chestnut seeds, northern red oak acorns, downy serviceberry, flowering dogwood, shumard oak seedlings, eastern red bud and a concordia oak in this area. The top is flat and this picture is the north facing slope which chestnuts and northern red oaks should do well on.

I took some tree tubes and seeds with me each trip to the stand that fall and planted some either going to the stand or coming out at night.

 

[letemgrow]

This is a picture from one of my stands, the stand is in a big northern red oak. The trees with red circles are all targeted to be cut and are hickories. This is another north facing slope that will be replaced with a few american chestnuts and northern red oaks for sure.

 

[letemgrow]

Here is the view from another stand on the farm...I already cut down all the hickory trees that are marked in the photo so now the oaks can spread their crowns.

 

[dbltree]

replaced with a few american chestnuts and northern red oaks

I have several acres I need to completely kill and start over with interplanted oak and chestnut seedlings. Lot of work but the trees there now are just junk, like box elders and there is no chance of it becoming anything but in several lifetimes if i don't intervene...

 

[letemgrow]

I have several acres I need to completely kill and start over with interplanted oak and chestnut seedlings. Lot of work but the trees there now are just junk, like box elders and there is no chance of it becoming anything but in several lifetimes if i don't intervene...

It is time to get on the ball then!! :drink2:

I will be sitting in that northern red oak next time I am back so I can plant the american chestnut seeds that just came in from the ACCF and the northern red oaks in tubes. Then I will go back in there after deer season and girlde the hickory or cut them down depending on angles etc so the young, soon to be seedlings can thrive where they were designed to grow.

This area had a few northern red oaks taken out, but there are still at least 6 good sized trees dropping northern red oak acorns and I saw a few seedlings around so I will focus more on the chestnuts there since the NRO are already well established. The northern red oak acorns are from trees that were loaded with acorns while others around them had far less and were the same sized trees so either they have better genetics or had a better time at pollinating.

 

[dgallow]

Quote:
Did some TSI this weekend, my body is SHOT!!!



You young guys are such wimps! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

Actually I know how you feel...I felt like I had been beat with a baseball bat... /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

Here are some examples of some young white oaks that could stand to be thinned a little

Nice problem...too many white oaks! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

What is the approximate white oak density per acre be in these pics? About how many would be culled? Just trying to get a 'vision' in my mind of what the proper density should look like!

 

[dbltree]

What is the approximate white oak density per acre be in these pics? About how many would be culled? Just trying to get a 'vision' in my mind of what the proper density should look like!

If at all possible you should always walk your property with a forester and they will recomend the poper density.

In my case no more then 50 crop trees per acre although in some case I have almost none because they are all junk trees. I just keep killing those and re-planting oaks.

Some of my property has very old giant savana type white oaks surrounded by poor quality shingle oaks and hickories, so killing the cull trees allows the acorns from the parent trees to grow.

I like to lower density to a point where it encourages undergrowth...if you can see nothing but wide open space in your timber...it's not the best whitetail habitat....