Beech Trees???

[mwarren]

I walked my land today with a logger and he said that he would be a bit concerned with thinning things as there are a lot of Beech saplings that are mixed in with the sugar maples. He said that once it opens up a bit the beech trees may take off like crazy. He said that I could cut the saplings and lay them on the ground but he thinks that the small stumps will sprout multiple shoots of new beech growth that may become fairly thick. Anyone ever have issues like this? If so, any ideas on what to do??? I want to open things up a bit to help the maples regenerate but I am afraid I'll end up with a ton of undergrowth that will make it tough to get around the woods in.

Any thoughts.
Mike

[adk1]

actually I think he is right. they will resprout. If they are small is there anyways to go through and literally pull them out of the ground? i.e. the beech whips/saplings

[mwarren]

Most of them are already rooted fairly deeply. Plus there are thousands of them. I couldn't really pull them all as quickly as I could cut them. Maybe I should just leave them the way they are before I make things worse by trying to get rid of them....

[Acer]

cut beech and you get a beech thicket.

40% glyphosate hack n squirt works good at my place. stump treatment works too but it has to be fresh cut.

http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/forestconnect/web/american%20beech%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

[adk1]

well, beech is a great firewood so I wouldnt want to get rid of all of them that is for sure. thin them out. thin out around your maples and leave the rest

[wally]

sugar maple and beech are about equal in terms of shade tolerance. if you remove beech that is competing with the sugar maple directly, the maple will be "ahead" of any beech that sprouts from the stumps. also, there may only be a single sprout from small stumps of 1" diameter. for bigger beech stumps, you'll get more sprouts, and root suckers.

[red maples]

well, beech is a great firewood so I wouldnt want to get rid of all of them that is for sure. thin them out. thin out around your maples and leave the rest

yep he's right you will get lots of new shoots off of them.

but on a possitive note if can think of it this way sustainable wood supply. beech is great firewood, so what I would do is start with the biggest ones and get rid of those. make your realease cuts to give your maples some space and light. Then work your way down from there and do it every few years this will allow some of the maples to grow bigger and fuller(better crown ). just don't log it all at once. less light for the saplings to grow and better for your woods. I have alot of beech as well coming off of a big stand of that border my property and their grandfather that is on mine that has to be 3+ feet in diameter (future tree house tree) so that is my plan go slow!!!

[802maple]

cut beech and you get a beech thicket.

40% glyphosate hack n squirt works good at my place. stump treatment works too but it has to be fresh cut.

http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/forestconnect/web/american%20beech%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

As Acer said this what I used to do with good success

[maple flats]

Flame weeding helps control beech. Do not try to eradicate it, just keep it under control. Check with Cornell, they have a presentation about controlling beech.
If you flame weed (using a high BTU flame thrower torch, propane fired) let them die and dry on the stump. Then harvest for firewood in a year or 2. Don't leave beech dead too long, it degrades quickly. AS has been said, it is excellent firewood.
Beech can spread by root sprouts and stump sprouts as well as from seed, and it can take over and choke out maple (or any other crop tree) If you flame weed every 4 or 5 years you will be good in most cases.

[69tapper]

I found girdleing beech to be the best method. Beech logs usually go in the firewood pile so you can leave them standing for about two to four years, depending on when you girdled them .After this time alot of the smaller branches will have fallen off or will when you fell them, making for much less damage to the trees you want to save. Definetly kill the biggest trees first , if you need to leave some beech for shade try to keep the ones that are tall and skinny with no lower branches or kill the short bushy ones.this will give maple room to grow and limit the beech sprouts.Standing dead beech makes some of the best firewood i've ever seen!

[tuckermtn]

not trying to sound preachey, but I would be very careful felling standing dead trees- they take a special technique to get them on the ground safely- the most common fatality in the logging world is a "struck by" accident- getting killed by something falling out of the tree or canopy above. felling dead trees- or trees with dead limbs- only increases that chance. just a word of caution...

[red maples]

I agree, but I think as long as you cut the trees down within a year you have less risk of breaking trunks limbs etc. I also find that girdeling helps thinning trees in a dense canope but you have to leave them a up a bit longer to weaken the upper limbs so they break instead of getting hung up and as long as your paying attention and always have a good escape route and another tree to get behind no matter how healthy or unhealthy a tree looks.

We had 2 monster Poplars taken out right beside the house and had to have a compnay do it with a crane. and the climber was nervous beacuse when he got up in the tree he couldn't figure out how the tree was still intact beacuse there was so little wood holding up very large branches. but looked good from the ground.

[wally]

I found girdleing beech to be the best method. Beech logs usually go in the firewood pile so you can leave them standing for about two to four years, depending on when you girdled them .After this time alot of the smaller branches will have fallen off or will when you fell them, making for much less damage to the trees you want to save. Definetly kill the biggest trees first , if you need to leave some beech for shade try to keep the ones that are tall and skinny with no lower branches or kill the short bushy ones.this will give maple room to grow and limit the beech sprouts.Standing dead beech makes some of the best firewood i've ever seen!

your experience differs greatly from my own. i've found that once beech dies, it decays rapidly. standing beech that has been dead for over a year is dry, but punky.

when processed immediately (from live trees), beech is outstanding firewood.

[longbeard]

I would have to side with those that propose beech will deteriorate quite rapidly if left standing and not split. I use almost 100% beech to heat our house and have found many years ago if I dropped the trees and kept the logs too long (say 6 months or so) they could start to deteriorate - depends on the health of the tree to start with. Most of the beech I drop are over 2 ft dbh and about 3 are all I need for a full winters worth - great firewood!

I try to drop those 3 relatively close to each other to save time cutting, splitting, etc. and find the sunlight that is now available releases the existing maples which soon crown out over the new beech saplings. The next year I move to an entirely new area in the woodlot and do it over again. Works for me - but each woodlot is different so a little trial and error may be in order.

[maple flats]

They are right, beech is one of the fastest to decay if the bark is left on. cut now and flame weed any sprouts. Beech is a good firewood but grows from stumps and also shoots up from an extensive root network. Keep it under control but you usually don't want to eradicate it.

[red maples]

yep thats true. I do find it rots quickly. if you can spilt it stack it and just cover the top so the air goes through it keeps alot longer with out rotting so quickly.

Oak keeps great.

and hickory I let that stuff age forever. I never burn hickory the first year it builds too much creasote. I like to age it 2 years. my dad cuts them and lets them lay for quite a while before he cuts them up. I like to cut split and stack the hickory it ages better.

red maple seems to rot pretty quick

and sugars hold up pretty good.