maintaining trees

[pattyd]

Brought 140 acres upstate richford,n,y, finally ready to make the move not educated at all about maintaining trees. Anyone no how I should start . Please help.

[WDH]

I suggest that you get a Forester to do a management plan for you. 

[thecfarm]

pattyd,welcome to the forum. As WDH said. It's a lot of fun and work to maintain a woodlot.

[chester_tree _farmah]

I agree with using foresters but you can educate yourself quite a bit to start. There is plenty of good information at the end of your keyboard through google.

Trees need light and nutrients. An acre of land will support X amount of wood volume and that varies by soil type and conditions. The trick to forest management is deciding how many and what type of trees you keep and allow to add that wood volume. keep a lot and don't thin and the volume will be split among a lot of smaller trees for a very long time. than natural competition thins them for you. Thin responsible and the volume is added to fewer trees and they get larger faster. It's the same reason you weed a vegetable garden. Trick is keeping those that are of a desirable high value species that are well formed and vigorous.

But all that said - first you need to decide how YOU want to manage it. Managing and harvesting for highest profit may not be the best thing for you if ascetics and wildlife are important to you. Techniques used and what is best kept can vary based on the current condition of the lot and it's soils and terrain.

Remember trees are or should be a long term investment and the crop can take many many years to recover from rash decisions motivated by a quick buck.

Cheers.

[breederman]

Welcome!  You are not all that far from me I don't know off hand where your DEC office is but I would start there. They will come out and do a walk around and a forest management plan for free. They are very helpful and I know the guy that looked at mine was glad to answer my questions and to offer suggestions. 

[pattyd]

Thanks good info.

[clww]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.
Get a pro forester as others have written.

[huck10099]

I second Breederman and would recommend getting in touch with your local DEC forester.   The service is free and their management plan will give you a lot of great information about your property.

[ibseeker]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum. You've come to the right place for great advice.

I was in your position about 8 years ago and fortunately I found this forum. I followed the advice given here and after talking with a TN State Forester, I realized how very little I knew about maintaining or developing my 20 acres. I spoke with numerous Foresters and came up with many more questions. My original plan is far behind me and I continue to struggle with knowing what to do. This is a fairly complex situation as far as I'm concerned. My ignorance combined with changing plans adds to the difficulty. Stubborness might be involved to.
I persisted in doing some things that I was advised against and found out that the advice was correct...like the one about "You can't plant trees in a forest." (Thanks, Phorester). Well, I have about 50 dead pecans and 25 dead hazelnuts to prove that one and 8 hours of labor along with a small amount of money. I haven't given up on that one, just have to figure out how to modify my plans to accomplish it. 

Education, hard work and perserverance will eventually get me headed in the right direction...unless my plans change...again.

If you are willing, the search feature will lead you to threads that will answer many of your questions. However, many of these folks will still answer your questions even though it might be the 40th time that subject has been raised. 

The knowledgeable people who will offer you advice on this forum have forgotten more than I know.
My suggestion is to listen to them.

[Magicman]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, pattyd and huck10099.

[GlennCz]

There is very little you need to do to maintain trees.  You can't water them and I doubt fertilizing them gives you a net value.  (not like my landscape garden which cries for constant attention during the summer!)

First you have to find out what species you have and the age of the forest - meaning when was it last timbered. 

You can just leave the forest be and let nature take its' course.  But if you are interested in timber financial gain at some point, then you have to consider many other factors.

[g_man]

Finding a forester you can work with can be very important. But you will want to be able to convey to him/her your ideas and desires. In order to do that you will need to learn some basic froestry concepts and some woods language. Take your time. Get self educated if that is your interest.  Start reading books like "Working with Your Woodland - A Landowner's Guide" by Beattie, Thompson, and Levine. If you can't tell the forester what you want or are thinking then he/she will have a hard time making a forest plan that goes in the direction you want. Use your county forester as said before and join a woodland owners group or two. There is a ton of knowledgable people out there to help you get a grasp of your woods.

Good luck and have fun.