girdling trees?

[fishboy1]

Can you girdle trees in the spring before green up?
Or will they just sprout around the cut?

Wanted to do some clearing before it gets hot.

 

[birddoginQ]

I would say that it would probably cause sprouting at the site or from the stump. Also depends on what kind of trees you are girdling. Not all trees are prolific sprouters. Like wise not all trees are easily killed by girdling (red maple and beech) for example. Had a picture of a beech in Claiborne county with two chain saw rings in it and survived. It was common practice for loggers to girdle hollow trees rather than fell them (on the particular property I was working on) We found quite a few trees, including oaks, with girdle marks that were still living 50 years after the work.

 

[BSK]

I've seen fairly poor results from girdling. In my opinion, not worth the effort.

 

[fishboy1]

What if you made the groove 1" deep?

 

[BSK]

What if you made the groove 1" deep?

I've still seen very poor results from double-girdling with deep girdles. Hack and squirt works much better and is much easier.

 

[megalomaniac]

Works GREAT on Bodock/ Osage orange...

My grandad fought them forever on our farms over the years. Hack and spray, they would still sprout from stumps.

Finally he tried girdling around 15 years ago. I took a year or two for the trees to slowly die, but after they did, they have not sprouted back or sent up shoots. Of course we now have a bunch of standing dead bodocks on the farms, though!

My cousin takes the wood for homemade knife handles. It's actually quite ornate.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

The only success I have ever had on Bodocks is Cut them down and paint the stump with undeluted round up.

The wood is very pretty if you like bright yellow wood.

 

[fishboy1]

Oh poo. I was hoping we could open up a couple areas down in MS before it got hot. Guess we have to wait until the trees are actively growing to do hack and squirt.