The Regeneration Opening (pic intensive)

[Raider Bill]

Robert, I get what looks like the same weed/grass in my fields. Locals call it sage. I find it to be invasive with nothing wanting to eat it. Gets to clumping and chokes out everything else.

[SwampDonkey]

I see the grass (round stem) there gone to seed near the pond as you photographed and mentioned.
Never learned the different grasses in college, just the genus because there are so many.

We also have ground cedar up here, not something we see in hardwood though. Usually in mixed timber with spruce and fir, red maple, aspen, birch.

Everything looks quiet for winter.  ;D

[WDH]

I believe that the tall grass is from the genus Andropogon.  Either broom sedge or a bluestem grass.

[Raider Bill]

Yep Sedge not sage is what I was told.

[Corley5]

Does the grass in question have a "turkey foot" shaped seed head?  If it does it's big bluestem.  It looks like it may be big blue to me.  Little bluestem is bunchier in growth, isn't as tall and has a different seed head.  I was told once upon a time that to distinguish a sedge from a grass to remember "sedges have edges".  That is their stems aren't smooth but have edges on them unlike grasses which have round smooth stems.

[SwampDonkey]

Same as Corley said, if it's a jointed stem, round and smooth it's not sedge.

[mesquite buckeye]

That orange is typical of bluestems. There are a bunch of them so you will need seedheads and such. Flora of Missouri will most likely have yours. I have several different ones at my MO farm.

[OneWithWood]

SPRING 2016

March 21, 2016 turned out to be a beautiful sunny day.  As nice as it was it was a bit problematic taking pics with my iPhone because the screen is often hard to see.  Sort of like taking a shot in the dark - old saying.  :

Here are the pictures to record the changes in the openings:

From the top of the observation tower looking east:


 

That is a hared maple that snapped during one of the many wind events that seem to occur with more frequency.  The tree was probably weakened by the last drought.

looking south:


 

The trees with leaves from last year in the opening are the oaks.  8)


looking west:


 

The trees with leaves from last year under the tree line are beech and red maple. 

The same aspect only from ground level:
looking east:


 

looking south:


 

From the southern edge looking back north:


 

The small opening:


 

My battle with the red maples is beginning to show progress as there are fewer red maples visible under the tree line than before.  The ailanthus (tree of heaven) sprouts are also far fewer within the opening.

The pond:


 

The weather as been cooler than normal so the pond is quiet.  When the temps increase just a bit the quiet will give way to the sounds of frogs and toads partying non-stop.

Even though this time of year is somewhat mono-chrome it is a very good time to spot invasive species which green up well before anything native.  Over the years I have greatly reduced the ailanthus population but the multi-flora rose is proving to be much harder to control.  Just about all the green in the pictures is multi-flora rose:


  

 

Here is a sycamore just budding:


 

And a remnant of last year is this casing of a gall wasp in one of the oak saplings:


 

Blackberry canes:


 

For Cedarman:


  

The matted grass layer concerns me as it may prevent a better oak regeneration.  I think a controlled burn would be an excellent thing to do but given the location and proximity to a couple of houses I would need to hire an experienced team and that is not in the budget for now.

 


Now would be a good time to strap on the sprayer with some tryclopir and attack the multi-flora rose.   

[WDH]

Excellent progress. 

[SwampDonkey]

It's nice to watch what we do to influence things and follow it over time. 

Your little pond reminds me of listening for the first spring peepers to sing in the ephemeral pools.

[Ron Scott]

Well done! Great photo story of your implemented management. 

[mesquite buckeye]

A burn would favor grasses and really hurt your young trees. :(

Your vegetation looks a lot like Missouri. ;D

[schmalts]

Great thread you made here. I find it interesting to see the results.  I did the same thing in a one acre clearing but the results were terrible.  The first year the popple came in thick but we had 2 high snow and low temp winters and the deer  destroyed the trees. I now have a nasty briar patch.... but I been using it now to my advantage to plant nuts and have some new growth and the briar act like a fence. I tell you what,  I look like hell when I'm done working in that garbage.  Some of it is as thick as my thumb and my atv barely plows through.

[OneWithWood]

A burn would favor grasses and really hurt your young trees. :(

Good point.  I was thinking I could knock the matting down and eliminate some sycamore.  I can wait until the young oaks have thicker bark.

[OneWithWood]

June 20, 2016

Things have really popped and look so much better in green.    The brambles and sycamores are becoming very prevalent.  The oaks are hanging in there but a few are stressed and one was bent over by the winds.  Invasives are still a pain so I will be spraying a lot this fall and early spring. 

The small clearing:


 

Windthrown Tulip Poplar - Liriodendron tulipifera between the small opening and the pond.  Gonna really have to think about this one before I salvage it.  It is nested in the three smaller trees.


 

Pond between openings:
The bluestem is beginning to take over so I will need to pull some this fall.


 

Large Opening pan east:


 

Large opening pan south:


 

Large opening pan west:


 

Large opening pan east, ground level:


 

Large opening due south, ground level:


 

Large opening pan west, ground level:


 

Wind thrown oak:

 

Quercus rubra (northern red oak) under stress. Not sure why:


 

Some type of red oak seedling.  The juvenile leaves keep me guessing:


 

Quercus alba (white oak) seedling:


 

Quercus rubra (northern red oak) seedling:


 

Bees on centaurea (thistle, not sure which one):


 

Quercus Velutina (Black oak) seedling and Leucanthemum vulgare (Ox-eye daisy):


 

Rubus occidentalis (Back raspberr):


 

Solanum carolinense (Horsenettle):


 

As always if anyone sees a discrepancy please feel free to post it and I will correct the caption on the photo.  It is hard enough to research plant id on the web without a bunch of erroneous files.  :

[Roxie]

That is so beautiful! 

I'd wait and see if nature will fell that windblown Tulip Poplar.  Yikes!   

[OneWithWood]

To see what became of the trees taken off to make the clearing go here:
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=91067.msg1402425#msg1402425

[WDH]

It is getting thick.  The critters love you now.

[mesquite buckeye]

The grass in the pond looks like giant reed. Check out this link.   www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dcr/watersupply/lakepond/.../phragmites.pdf

The good news is you can make your own clarinet reeds now. ;D

[WmFritz]

I went back and reread the whole thread cuz I couldn't remember when you started this project ( always nice to see Mr. Tom's posts).  Things are growing along nicely.

[OneWithWood]

Sept. 21-22, 2016

I had to spread the photo shoot over two days because my iPhone is draining the battery at an alarming rate.  Oh, well, just means I had to stop running in circles and get out on the property  8)

The sycamores are really beginning to assert themselves.  I may have to just call this Sycamore Grove - not really what I had in mind when I started this project  :

The small opening:


 

Slightly different angle and lighting of small opening:


 

The pond between the two openings:


 

The seed head of the unwelcome reed in the pond - I have to agree with Mesquite that it is Phragmite australis - Giant reed. 
I could use some suggestions on the best way to eliminate it without contaminating the pond.  The amphibs have really taken to this pond.


 

It has been a tremendous growing season with all the rain and warmth. 
The large opening from the observation tower looking northeast:


 

From the tower looking due south:


 

From the tower looking northwest:


 

Quercus alba - white oak seedlings on the edge by the tower:


 

Ground level looking east:


 

Ground level facing due south:


 

Ground level facing west:


 

From the southern edge looking back north: 


 

Can't see the forest for the trees (old saying) - I think this is the picture I took of the cedar tree in post #207.  Kinda hard to see it now as it has been subsumed by the sycamores.
 

 

Standing on the southern edge looking west by northwest:


 

Reference Quercus ruba (northern red oak) in left foreground - used to be able to see the observation tower on the northern edge from here:


 

Argh! the Dang Japanese stilt grass continues to be a pain in the patootee  >:(


 

The Plantanus occidentalis (sycamore) jungle 


 

Two Quercus velutina (eastern black oak) leave trees trying to survive:


 

Tick trefoil waiting to hitch a ride on my pants:


 

asters, trefoil, boneset hanging on in a small open area:


 

This one has me stumped.  Any guesses?:


 

[WDH]

You have made the animals happy.

[SwampDonkey]

Looks like a goldenrod Robert, lance-leaved maybe, Solidago graminifolia.

Nice little critter patch,  and the forest doing it's best to take over.  ;)

[g_man]

What a nice thread this is, being able to see such a long term change. Going back to the March 20, 2011 pictures in your first post and watching the development each season pretty informative and interesting.

gg

[red]

This was not just clearing land but a beautiful project started in 2011 . With great pictures.