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Timber Stand Improvement?

One acre of TSI can produce 3000 lbs of year round forage for deer and cover for turkeys. A great food plot will produce 1500 to 3000 lbs. But which is more cost effective? Tsi wins hands down.
 
cherry trees on occasion (don't usually make it to maturity by me).

Why is this? I see same on my farms. Every Cherry even close to getting to loggable size dies, most well before then. My property in Michigan had GIANT cherries. My dads place in Michigan is same way....big mature trees. 10+ years ago cherry was extremely high dollar... like black walnut price. Sidenote.... it is my personal favorite for lumber. This has had me perplexed.
 
Thanks for all the advice fellas- I hadn't checked this thread in a while and was surprised to see all the replies.

We're actually getting started with the TSI project at my place in the next few weeks. Hopefully the the ground will firm up a little bit with the cooler temps - little sloppy out there right now!

The trees have all been marked, and a friend of mine that has experience doing this type of thing will be doing all the cutting. I will keep you posted and take some pics once they get going.

I'm excited to see how much it improves the place.
 
Why is this? I see same on my farms. Every Cherry even close to getting to loggable size dies, most well before then. My property in Michigan had GIANT cherries. My dads place in Michigan is same way....big mature trees. 10+ years ago cherry was extremely high dollar... like black walnut price. Sidenote.... it is my personal favorite for lumber. This has had me perplexed.

FWIW, I have deliberately left a couple of cherry trees on my place in the hopes that I could someday harvest the logs for my own use. (When not spending my time on deer hunting, etc, I love to do wood working.) But both of the larger ones that I can think of right off are leaning so badly, on their own, that I am not sure if they will ever produce a useable log. I have chosen to leave them and see what happens...but it seems like cherry is a pretty fragile bet to get to maturity.
 
Thanks for all the advice fellas- I hadn't checked this thread in a while and was surprised to see all the replies.

We're actually getting started with the TSI project at my place in the next few weeks. Hopefully the the ground will firm up a little bit with the cooler temps - little sloppy out there right now!

The trees have all been marked, and a friend of mine that has experience doing this type of thing will be doing all the cutting. I will keep you posted and take some pics once they get going.

I'm excited to see how much it improves the place.
Who did the marking? Just curious on your process in that regards.
 
FWIW, I have deliberately left a couple of cherry trees on my place in the hopes that I could someday harvest the logs for my own use. (When not spending my time on deer hunting, etc, I love to do wood working.) But both of the larger ones that I can think of right off are leaning so badly, on their own, that I am not sure if they will ever produce a useable log. I have chosen to leave them and see what happens...but it seems like cherry is a pretty fragile bet to get to maturity.

yeah there has to be something different with the conditions here in Iowa. Beautiful wood for woodworking that is for sure! Unfortunately most of mine ends up hinged or in my wood stove because they die! :mad:
 
I would have to say that time per acre would vary greatly. Some farms are going to have many more stems per acre to deal with than others. Slope would have a big effect on time too. Also if you are on a hill side or ridge make sure you start at the bottom and work your way up. Much easier in most cases.
 
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Why is this? I see same on my farms. Every Cherry even close to getting to loggable size dies, most well before then. My property in Michigan had GIANT cherries. My dads place in Michigan is same way....big mature trees. 10+ years ago cherry was extremely high dollar... like black walnut price. Sidenote.... it is my personal favorite for lumber. This has had me perplexed.
need to be further North.... Like Wisconsin would be N enough to grow some great cherry trees. We're way too far south. I don't know if it's disease or whatever that gets them but it's rare to make to maturity. I still free them though.... If nothing else is there. I do have the OCCASIONAL tree that makes it to maturity & I do free up the nice straight healthy ones. My plan is to possibly harvest them when they reach a "good size" (not as big as our Northern neighbors would harvest) & I think there will be enough to add some timber sale $ there. But, ya, nothing I'm putting a lot of hope into, more for fun & diversity. So-- climate & being too far south is the answer.
 
Black Cherry die out in central MN too. I have seen a few darn nice ones lately, I might as well cut them, as they will probably die soon. Most just do not make it. Great wood for cabinets, flooring, interior siding!
 
On my place, seems like black cherries get to around 60' and 2' in diameter, though most of them have been getting taken out the past decade through insane storms, as have a lot other species though too. A lot of new ones have been starting up, seem to be a good pioneer species because of the birds pooping them everywhere.
Most of my cherries grow out in the open, so no value in selling wood, but more for ornamental and for birds.
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