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Thinning an abused woodlot

Started by Jubal, January 02, 2015, 06:39:37 PM

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Jubal

I recently acquired 10 acres of abused woodland. It would have probably been converted to row crops if part of it was not seasonally wet and lower elevation. Almost every mature tree was cut for pallet wood. I would like to restore the habitat. More than half of the lot has  small hard wood maples aprox. 6" DBH or smaller growing close together. When thinning how do I select the trees to leave and which to remove ? How far apart should the trees be in a balanced wood lot ?
TANSTAAFL "There ain't so such thing as a free lunch".
Heinlein

Banjo picker

There should be a forester along shortly to give you an answer, but I can at least give you a warm welcome to one of the best sites on the net.  Banjo
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

WDH

Pick the leave trees based on crown health.  Leaves grow wood.  Get rid of the forked, leaning, twisted, spiral, or ones with wounds.  Make sure the leave trees are free to grow on all sides of their crowns. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

mesquite buckeye

You could have a walnut, or cherry tree or 7 in there. Watch for them when you thin. ;D
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

thecfarm

Jubal,welcome to the forum. I have no idea what you are using to get the wood out,if you are using it for firewood. But whatever brush you don't want,cut it up into small pieces,really no longer than 3 feet. The short lengths gets the brush on the ground and it will rot faster and you will be able to drive through it too. Have fun with your forest!!
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

Clark

Largely I concur with what has been said but would reverse the order that WDH suggests.

I would start by removing those trees that will never grow into a better product class. Like WDH said, "Get rid of the forked, leaning, twisted, spiral, or ones with wounds." Depending on the quality of the stand that might take out enough trees to leave you at a good density of trees/acre.

For density of trees/acre...I don't know your local condition so this is based entirely on numbers but I would suggest that a stand with 6" average diameter in hardwoods you should leave about 500 trees/acre.  That would mean about 9' between trees. If maple does really well and you don't expect much mortality then you might want to lower that number. A local forester would be able to give you a better idea of how many to leave per acre.

If you've thinned out the truly bad trees and you still have too many then you need to start looking very critically at the remaining trees. The more subtle features of the tree (which end up influencing future tree form) like sweep, large branches, propensity to produce epicormic branches, top leader that is a bit mangled, stems growing ovoid instead of round are all minor details that I would look at the second time through.

You might want to look into crop tree thinning as I think that applies to your situation:

http://washtenawcd.org/az/croptrees.php

Clark
SAF Certified Forester

Magicman

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Jubal.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

John Mc

Your spacing may also be influenced by how windy things get in your area. If the stand is currently overcrowded, over-thinning might result in blowdown of some of the trees remaining after a heavy thinning. If that is a concern, you might consider doing this in stages: do a bit now, then come back in a few years and thin a bit more, after giving your "keepers" a bit of time to firm up.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

g_man

There is a very good book  that my county forester gave me which is a more detailed description of what Clark is saying. Very understandable for the layman landowner like me. It is called Crop Tree Management In Eastern Hardwoods put out by the USFS. You can send for a copy here:

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/ctm/ctm_index.html

BTW Welcome to the Forestry Forum

gg

Jubal

Yes, this is one of the best sites on the net. There are several desirable species in the proposed cutting area. Walnut, cherry, butternut and shagbark hickory, and a sycamore. Thinning will favor these trees. I will use the culled for fire wood, reduce the rest, and probably make a few habitat brush piles. Thank you for the informative responses.
TANSTAAFL "There ain't so such thing as a free lunch".
Heinlein

Banjo picker

Thanks g man for the reference...I gave it a quick look and put it in my favorites to go over again later. smiley_thumbsup  Banjo
Never explain, your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you any way.

John Mc

I've got a hard copy of the USFS publication G_man recommended. It's a good resource.
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.   - Abraham Maslow

thechknhwk

A link to their "how to" table of contents.  I started reading the other pub, thanks.

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/howto.shtm


mesquite buckeye

One other small comment re opening up the stand. Consider ice storms as well when thinning. Those skinny trees kink real nice loaded up with ice after thinning. My preference would be to thin part of the area each year, a section of the stand, to some intermediate stand level to both allow the better trees to reveal themselves and to spread out the risk from storms over several years. The first year following the thinning is usually the most damage prone, with each year after the risk dropping as the trees thicken as a result of crown increase and movement thickening. ;D 8) 8) 8) :snowball:
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

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