Oaks next to eachother

[North Lakes Farm]

We have like 70% poplar, the rest is mix of maple, ash, elm, so the oaks are sacred. Roughly 5 big old ones and maybe 10 around 20 -30 year olds. Some are close together, like 5-10 feet.
I just can’t bring myself to cut them to make room for another. Am I shooting myself in the foot doing this?

 

[IowaBowHunter1983]

We have like 70% poplar, the rest is mix of maple, ash, elm, so the oaks are sacred. Roughly 5 big old ones and maybe 10 around 20 -30 year olds. Some are close together, like 5-10 feet.
I just can’t bring myself to cut them to make room for another. Am I shooting myself in the foot doing this?

Most likely. Run into similar situations with walnuts all the time. Gotta cut em and dont look back when called for.

 

[Stoney]

I’d pick the trees with the most value & potential and clear out everything that limits their crowns. When they are too close together you typically get partial crowns that severely limit growth rate. It’s already a slow process, speed it up. I’ve heard that you’re ultimately looking for 50 to 75 trees per acre.

 

[1boonr]

I released crowns on a walnut stand in Illinois and it absolutely helped with the growth over the next 20 years

 

[Thinkin Rut]

If the oaks are producing acorns I'd let them stand. They're just too hard to get going in the timber. If you want more, you almost need to clearcut and control the vegetation.

 

[North Lakes Farm]

thanks guys. Here’s a pic of 3 big ones and the smallest 4th on the right. If I had to, I’m thinking I’d leave the biggest on the left, cut the 2 middle out and allow the small one on the right to grow. I think in reality I’m gonna keep dropping trees away from the oaks and keep procrastinating on cutting the oaks, because ugh it’s tough