Evaluating timber.. Hard to tell what’s what

[j-bird]

Cut down what makes sense and plant what you want. Mother nature is going to provide you with more of the same so to speak. If you cut basswood, ash, cherry and maple.....what is going to come back on it's own will be the very same....plus potentially any invasive plants that you now exposed to sunlight. If you want certain shrubs of trees in that area.....be prepared to plant and give them a fighting chance.

I would look real close for ANY oak saplings come spring. You certainly want to release those. I would think you have at least a few hiding from you in there somewhere. Mark them with flagging tape. I had a guy once tel me he had a part of his place that didn't have any oaks on it. I visited the property and he had far more oaks in that are than he thought! They where just smaller and a different type than he had identified on other areas of the property.

Make sure you have any invasives and or difficult to control species under control before you cut. IF you have jap bush honeysuckle or Multi-floral rose or the like they can become VERY difficult to control once you release them to the sunlight thru logging.

 

[Chipdasqrrl]

Cut down what makes sense and plant what you want. Mother nature is going to provide you with more of the same so to speak. If you cut basswood, ash, cherry and maple.....what is going to come back on it's own will be the very same....plus potentially any invasive plants that you now exposed to sunlight. If you want certain shrubs of trees in that area.....be prepared to plant and give them a fighting chance.

I would look real close for ANY oak saplings come spring. You certainly want to release those. I would think you have at least a few hiding from you in there somewhere. Mark them with flagging tape. I had a guy once tel me he had a part of his place that didn't have any oaks on it. I visited the property and he had far more oaks in that are than he thought! They where just smaller and a different type than he had identified on other areas of the property.

Make sure you have any invasives and or difficult to control species under control before you cut. IF you have jap bush honeysuckle or Multi-floral rose or the like they can become VERY difficult to control once you release them to the sunlight thru logging.

Believe me, I’ve looked absolutely everywhere for oaks, including when I’ve been on the neighbor’s properties (with permission). I definitely want to search a little more next summer and check nearby public land too. The only two that I know of that nobody knowingly planted are two immature red oaks on a neighboring property, roughly 10-15 years old. It doesn’t make much sense, but it doesn’t seem to hurt the deer much. They’re still perfectly healthy with plenty of ag around.

Also somehow don’t have any known invasive trees or bushes around causing problems. When it’s time to cut, I will make be making a plan with a forester so he will keep me from making any mistakes with this.


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[shedder]

Believe me, I’ve looked absolutely everywhere for oaks,
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Given how long it took me to learn oaks and to find them when I knew what to look for I would check the ecology books, etc for your area. Possibly a botanist or a college might have a person to help but you need the right person, too. There are a lot of BS experts.