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steering desired species regeneration

Started by maple man, October 24, 2016, 08:34:32 PM

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maple man

Hi folks,
I just had 5 small patch cuts done on my 50 acre lot in Dixmont ME totaling about 10 acres. 3 were clearcuts to remove low value fir and remains of past high grading and 2 were crop tree release cuts leaving 25% and 40% of the best looking oak, maples and ash with a few white and yellow birch seed trees. My goal is to maximize the component of oaks, maples and yellow birch with white birch being welcome in moderation. The ash will almost certainly have to be cut with the next entry but I am hoping to get another 5-10 years growth before the ash borer gets here.

I am trying to minimize softwood growth, popple and beech which in this area is almost always diseased but has a high sprouting rate.

My questions are what can I do to achieve my goal and what problems must I guard against in this early succession stage?
 

Ron Wenrich

Seems to me that you should think about regeneration before you do any cutting.  Most people don't and you end up getting what you get.

If you clearcut, you'll end up with pioneer species, unless you have advanced regeneration.  That could come from a shelterwood cut, that would favor more intermediate tolerance and are generally more heavily seeded.  Shelterwood cuts often take out the understory and some overstory in the first cutting.  After that, seedlings are allowed to get established before the overstory is removed.  An acceptable amount of seedlings are 1,000/acre. 

Even in areas where you indicated leaving 25-40% of desired trees, you might have some light seeded species seed in.  You'll also get stump sprouting that can lead to heartrot down the road, or poorly formed butts.  What was in the understory when you thinned?  You probably will release them, especially where you have a decent clearing and sunlight can reach them. 

Beech can be a tough one to eliminate.  It stays hearty in the understory and is very tolerant.  Best thing to do is to remove them either as a non-commercial thinning or whenever they reach a usable size.  That can be done through hack and squirt herbicides. girdling or cutting.  Same goes for other unwanted species.  Leaving dead snags can be beneficial to wildlife.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

maple man

Ron,
Thanks for your reply. Looking at what seems to have happened on this lot in the past, areas that have received some  direct sun on the ground such as old skid trails have produced excellent growth of oak saplings. with some maple and ash. Areas that were opened even further have a large aspen and birch component with a good number of oak and maples mixed in however there is not much popple in any of these newly cut areas so I am hoping for fewer root sprouts . I have had a lot of success with slowly releasing the oak and maple saplings and now have 6"-8" d poles with good form and 15'-25' to the branches. The best of these poles are losing one layer of lower branches each year as they continue to grow in height.

The theory on this cut was to gain four sides free to grow on the remaining crop trees and to replace the fir in the cleared areas with any hard woods (even aspen).  I am expecting to have to prune epicormics on the crop trees but most of those were previously released to some degree so I am hoping they have enough of a head of steam that they will not sprout too much. The areas where I have been having success with pruning and slowly releasing saplings were about 10 years old when I started working with them. I am 62 now and am hoping to be able to do some steering earlier as I doubt I will be able to do much chain saw work in 10 or 15 years. I will be recutting the beech stumps once they start to sprout and applying glyphosate on the cambium. Lots of work and I don't want to neglect releasing and pruning the best trees on my other 40 acres!

maple man

Ron,
A question about your advice re stump sprouting. Do you find heart rot and other problems even if one u-connected whip is selected early? I am seeing very fast growth on these but obviously will not be around to see the final results. Like wise would this be more of a problem with different species?

Also a bit more info about this last treatment. There was very little desired understory present in these areas. Where there was oak or maple saplings they were retained and everything else was cut right to the ground.

Ron Wenrich

In my area, we get a lot of stump sprouts off of chestnut oak.  A lot of times you'll find clumps of them, even in the sawtimber sizes.  Other oaks will do it, and we find some in tulip poplar.  Heartrot seems to come about from the sprouts growing around the old stump.  How long the stump stays around is probably part of the problem. 

Most people don't work with the sapling stage of forest development.  It would seem that a sprout would have all the old root system to use for future development.  But, you have to wonder if there isn't an age limit on how long the root system works as well as a juvenile system.  I would think that the faster growth may be more of a product of increased sunlight.

Epicormic branching can often prune itself when the canopy expands and gives shade.  When I was sawing, I sometimes found where the epicormic buds had been present, then cleaned up in the next cut.  That would indicate it was a problem for about 10-15 years, with no pruning.  Pruning would be the most beneficial on the butt logs.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Clark

Quote from: Ron Wenrich on October 27, 2016, 06:04:20 AMMost people don't work with the sapling stage of forest development.  It would seem that a sprout would have all the old root system to use for future development.  But, you have to wonder if there isn't an age limit on how long the root system works as well as a juvenile system.  I would think that the faster growth may be more of a product of increased sunlight.

Amen to Ron's words above. Most foresters (myself included) are oblivious to how fast saplings grow, what promotes the best development, how stump sprouts develop over the rotation compared to seed-source sprouts, etc. There are lots of questions that can be asked and the answers will undoubtedly differ by region and species.

Northern MN is not known for growing hardwoods but there are pockets of them. I just measured some basswood that I released from clumps 5 growing seasons ago. Each clump was thinned down to the single best stem. # of stems removed varied from 1 to 6 with an average of 3. Diameters of the best stem were from 3.3" to 7.7". If the growth observed in the first 5 years continues, these trees will add an average of 2.25" in diameter over 10 years. For comparison, really good growing red pine in this area will add 2.5"/decade.

All of which is to say, you're doing the right thing working with the saplings and controlling the future of your stand by choosing the winners and losers right now.

Clark


SAF Certified Forester

maple man

Thanks Ron and Clark for your comments. This lot is my hobby so I am able to spend time doing things which would be impossible for a commercial manager.  I have been very pleased with the results I have had so far but am now at a point where I need to start clearing out competing trees which are too big and or difficult for me to handle. Therefore this was the first commercial cut with another ten acres to receive a similar treatment in about five years. I am hoping to learn from this experience and to use any added knowledge I can get to achieve even better results with the next cutting.

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