I won’t touch those large dead trees. I killed a lot of those wild rose bush. Also red burnt bush, wild (Russian?) olive and tree honeysuckles. It is going to be a slow process.
Just not sure if it is wise to plant anything there, like daffodil etc. I do have some extra to find good home for.
I really like to see how you guys manage your woodland.
It seems that area is between two sections of woods? How much sun you get?
The area in post #1 is North-South. Dense woods. It gets little sun penetration.
I do get two garden areas that at the South side of the windbreaker woods. They get almost full sun. I grow grapes, berry and some fig plants. Also my vegetable garden. My biggest challenge has been deer population.
I call it a Hollow (Brambleberry Hollow)… I live way up a private drive and its very secluded.
I get less sun then my parents did…and they got less than the folks that sharecropped… little by little the canopy takes over… I have felled about 30 trees and that gives habitat and has allowed more things to grow in their absence.
My property is over 100 acres and the properties that abut me are over 100 acres… so technically i am surrounded by about 400 acres of woodland that never ever gets any traffic…its like living in a small state park.
If i take a 4 wheeler up into my property i can access about 30 acres of fields that we grew tobacco on… it would be a fantastic orchard but a nightmare to protect or maintain.
If you like wildlife… get some red and black rasps going… and some native blackberries… each critter will eat and drop seeds…and provide more food and habitat. Get some vetches going if u like pollinators.
I take a drive in the Fall up and down backroads and fill a trash bag full of native flowers and milkweeds and things that grow good along the road with no care… i scatter those trashbags full of seeds all along areas that dont have such things on my property…
Girdle some trees if u dont want to fool with cutting or chopping… at least that will help the sunlight penetration. Also will provide habitat and food sources for things that eat things that eat dead trees.
My bee population seems to grow and grow and grow…the more things that grow with flowers.
So maybe i do manage a bit… i manage to give more and more back to the areas that i dont grow things to eat myself.
My woodland floor does have the eco diversity. I like all the red oak trees of various sizes. I’ve started to cut down some of the wild red ciders and wild pear trees. They are not healthy anyhow. I still like the traditional woodland setting, not the savanna setting. But I do want to remove all the thorny plants, like wild rose and brambles. So ideally I like native trees of various sizes, very limited bushes and grass floor. After all is done, I just need to keep watching for the invasive plants. I get plenty area to garden. So I like to keep the woodland to be natural area.
The development near me left 30 acre of land as green space. It was a farm land. After that area becomes vacant and un-managed, it has overgrown with wild invasives like autumn olive, rosa multiflora, honeysuckle. Probably red cedar and callery pear will follow. Before I liked to go to take a look at open field. Now, nothing to see.
As separate note. I do see some mature large oak trees. Just wonder how much the commercial value is for each tree. There is no deed restriction. I do not plan to sell any trees. But still like to get some idea what the trees are worth in that one acre woodland.
for one acre a forester will not be interested in coming in for red oak. if it were me I would aggressively pursue getting rid of the red cedar if you are planning on apples because of CAR. Is the 30 acres available? Sounds perfect for an orchard. How much does land go for around you? I couldn’t find anything near me that I could afford.
I have been clearing mine as a deer food plot with apples trees as soft mast. So that’s 3 acres of 61. The rest are for the biodiversity factor
That 1 AC is a separate lot that has no restriction. It is not related to my main lot. So I can do anything with that 1 AC lot. I have given up growing apple due to the cedar rust. Even my Asian pears are affected. When fruit trees grow larger, it will be hard to spray them.
That 30 AC land close to me will be too costly. I believe that is preserved for the existing development.
After the wild cedar and wild pear trees are removed, I may plant some pawpaw trees. I also have a couple mulberry seedlings. Not sure if I’ll spread more beast to the forest. I can also plant some hazelnut seedlings. Those are the ones that I have extra plants. Also walnut seedlings.
All the things that you listed to me are more worth seeing than a naked open field…
I looked at and mowed and tilled our open fields for the first 1/4 of my life… honestly i did it again in the 2000s… but in my last phase of life and ownership i am planting trees and things like my berries that will continue to make me happy until i am gone.
Nothing wrong with anything u listed… i think some folks graft onto callery pear. I hate multiflora too… but once u really take a look at it… critters and pollinators like it…even birds. I have hillsides full of autumn olive… but honestly i dont live on those hillsides and will never grow anything there… again it seems to help more than looking at a barren hillside.
Just try to imagine what u want to see when you are 50yo…60yo and beyond…and do that now. I really wish i would have done what im doing now a decade ago… maybe two decades ago.
I have 30 acres… 3 acres cleared (ridge top fields)… where my Home and orchard is… the part that is not cleared is mostly hills and hollows… timber… mostly a mix of white, red, black, post oak… chestnut oaks… hickory (reds, pigs, mocker, a few shag) poplar, maple, etc… my elevation ranges from around 900 ft to 700 ft.
Oh yes… and lots of persimmon trees.
Here are a few pics from around my place including my woods.
What species of oak are they? What size trees? And hardest to answer, what is the quality of the logs? It might go without saying, but the value of the logs depends entirely on being able to secure a market for them.
Here’s a current price sheet for the timber buyer just down the rd from me: Middlebury, Castelton, and Rockingham Vermont - Google Drive
The highest grade of veneer, fetches $1.5/ board ft. That means a 10’ 6” x 18” diameter log would be worth ~ $250 You’d have to harvest said log, though, and truck it to a mill willing to purchase it. Generally speaking, IME people tend to overestimate the monetary value of trees/timber. Truly high quality timber is uncommon, but can be worth quite a bit.
Here is part of the woodland with several mature wild black walnut trees.
One tree bears nuts heavily. Others sparse. Not sure why. I believe they are all native trees spread by animals. Probably 40-50’?
Most of the other trees do not thrive there. Just a few wild bushes etc. So I plant a few things to experiment with. They seems not affected greatly by the black walnut roots. The roots do smell bad when I dug.
My daughter and son in law… bought a home and 4 acres out in the county here… their home and fields are in a high spot just above a creek and creek bottom.
I have looked it over and found several persimmons, pawpaws, black walnut (many loaded with walnuts)… they have hickory including mocker and shag… and two huge old pecan trees (which I can find no sign of pecans on).
Is it possible to graft onto huge pecan trees and get some pollination partner stuff happening so they produce fruit ?
