Timber Stand Improvement Question

[Jarred525]

I currently have a logger working on a 12 acre project for me. He is taking everything out except the white oak and red oak that I went through and marked. Goals are 3 fold. To create shooting lanes through the property to improve hunting, clean out a couple of 2 acre food plots that I left some trees in that are robbing the plots of water and sunlight, and increase bedding area and natural browse.

My question is concerning the small trees that are left after the logging project that are undesirable. Do you recommend I just cut them, or cut them and follow up with a herbicide treatment on the stumps? If the answer is herbicide treatment, do I only cut and not treat the ones close to desirable trees to prevent risk of killing desirables? I have some Arsenal left over from a few years ago, but would also love to hear recommendations on herbicide if that is the right answer here.

Thanks,

Jarred

 

[treefarmer]

A couple options. I cut my standing trees low to the ground and spray arsenal/water on the stump using a hand held spray bottle. If you have a lot and they are thin bark trees a basal bark (bottom of trunk) spray of oil/herbicide using a backpack or hand held sprayer will kill the standing tree. I don't worry about nearby trees because I'm not using a lot of herbicide and I haven't seen a problem on the 25 acres I've done this on.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Treefarmer is right on the money.

I use a mix of 1 part Garlon 4A and 5 parts diesel for basal spraying the bottom 10-12" of each stem. How big are these trees and what species?

 

[treefarmer]

Like Boll Weevil I used Garlon 4A years ago and it is very good herbicide. It doesn't have any soil activity to harm any nearby trees.

 

[Jarred525]

I have a number of different species (ash, hickory, beech, cedar, etc..) saplings that will be left. He is doing a pretty good job of getting everything cut including the junk so I will be able to treat the stumps in most cases. Treating the stumps and doing hack and squirt on the standing ones would be easiest if you do not believe that will impact the remaining oak? Not a lot of remaining trees but a few there.

Where do you get your Garlon 4A? Would 1 part Garlon 4A to 5 parts diesel be O.K. to use for both the stump treatment and hack and squirt treatments (sounds like specifically the hack and squirt around my remaining oaks would be fine)?

Thanks guys!

 

[Boll Weevil]

You may be able to get from your local Co-Op but i just order online from keystonepestsolutions.com though you might want to look around for best price and shipping. My guess is there are other online distributors. Garlon 4 is not soil active; it leaves very little residual in the soil and degrades quickly. What this means for non-target trees is that the likelihood of damage from translocation of chemical through the soil is very low. Yes, it'll work with hack'n squirt too.

This time of year when the target trees are dormant is the perfect time for basal spraying. In just a few months most will be dry, brittle, and you'll be able to just them push over or snap them off. By this fall most saplings will have probably fallen over on their own. A couple of years ago I rolled through an area in January and by turkey season could hardly recognize the place.

One more thing I learned some years ago quite by accident is that certain species don't stump sprout so there's no need to spray them. Cedar for example...once it's felled you're done fooling with it. Sweet gum on the other hand will put out new shoots from a stump within months. Chemical is expensive...might save you a little and no need to waste any.

Good luck to you.

 

[treefarmer]

I have been buying my forestry herbicide from Red River Specialties, http://www.rrsi.com/forestry/ although if you can find a generic at the Co-op that is a good way to go. I'll need to check out Keystone, I'm not familiar with them.

 

[Jarred525]

Great Info, thanks guys.

Would be interesting to know what stumps resprout versus not. That will save me a lot knowing cedar does not. Would basal spraying the stumps work given that I would be treating them days or weeks after they have been cut instead of immediately?

 

[treefarmer]

I haven't tried it but I doubt spraying a stump that was cut days or weeks ago would prevent sprouting. The herbicide needs to get into the live tree and a dry cut stump may not work.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Would be interesting to know what stumps resprout versus not.

This surely won't be a full list and maybe a forester or logger with way more knowledge than me chimes in but hopefully it helps.
- Eastern red cedar, loblolly, red, longleaf, or slash pines won't sprout at all from a stump that I've seen. Cut'em and done.
- Black walnut, poplar, ash, hickory, and red oaks will sometimes depending on moisture, sunlight, and other competition so I'd paint fresh cut stumps on an open hillside to be 100% sure if you want them gone. White oaks somewhat less likely but if they are up higher on a dry ridge are a little more likely.
- Any of the gums, beech, sumac, elm, locust, river birch, and invasives like privet...totally saturate a stump especially if they have access to sunlight. I've sprayed dual stems of privet or Sweetgum where half is dead while the other is just as green and happy as it could be just a month or 2 after treatment.
- Ironwood, sourwood, myrtles...drown'em.

Some of these species will even shoot stems that dont even seem to be out of the parent stump but are several feet away. This is only my experience from trial and error. And error. And error. It's like you half-kill one and 12 come to the funeral for some.

I think gums actually like a drank of herbicide on occasion. It's almost like Gatorade.

 

[MickThompson]

Like Boll Weevil said- Conifers don't resprout. top kill them by cutting or burning and they're done. Hardwoods (deciduous trees) are the ones you need chemical for. This is also a big reason that hardwood silviculture is usually natural regeneration, and pine silviculture is plant, harvest, and replant. Generally the more you want rid of it, the more tenacious it is to resprout.

 

[Jarred525]

I haven't tried it but I doubt spraying a stump that was cut days or weeks ago would prevent sprouting. The herbicide needs to get into the live tree and a dry cut stump may not work.

How about spraying the stump around the base?