Fruit Trees vs. Native Trees

[Hunter 257W]

I have a new (2yr old) bunch of fruit and oak trees starting in an old field. My question/concern is that there are a lot of wild Honey Locust trees coming on that are about the same size as my planted trees. I want to turn this area into good deer cover as well as the obvious feed the planted trees will provide in the future but I'm thinking that the honey locust probably need to be bush hogged about every other year so they don't shade the trees I planted. Obviously buch hogging would reduce the amount of cover but it would be foolish to let these wild trees choke out my fruit trees.

I'd sure appreciate the thoughts and experiences of others who have planted trees and how they handled competition with native/wild trees.

 

[lpo1981]

I'd bush hog them down if it were me!! I would want cover to but not trees that will compete with the fruit trees I planted.

 

[Football Hunter]

Yeah,plus honey lucust seem to be way down on the deer list,rarely if ever seen em eat the pods.

 

[Hollar Hunter]

I see them eat the locust pods all the time after it gets cold around here but I to would keep them cut down still...

 

[PickettSFHunter]

A method I have used to control that situation is to plant green firebreaks around the trees or keep bare ground around the trees I want to keep and burn the field off in the growing season. Bushhogging to of course.

 

[Hunter 257W]

OK, I'll cut the honey locust down. I guess I knew that was the answer all along but I've got so little cover on the farm that it pains me to even cut one weed down. I think I will wait until early August though so I'll have good fawning cover this Spring in the 8 or so acres where my new trees(and the honey locust too) are.

Yeah, I remember the 1st time I read about deer eating honey locust. I though to myself that nothing short on a rhinocerous would fool with a honey locust but apparently deer do eat the buds to a fair degree. Of course it's like any food source for deer - what is eaten commonly in one area is hardly touched in others. Still whether they are eaten or not, I can't think of a better way to creat a sanctuary than let a honey locust thicket grow up which is what I'm going to do on the other end of this field where I did not plant any trees.