Question: what to use on "skinned" trees?

The second picture of a tree will make good firewood. It is already dead but just doesn't know it. Cut it down and make firewood no need to see it dieing and not having any good from it all you have their is a dead tree. Once a logging crew is gone it is time to cut firewood and clean up the forest. The rest are not so bad and will make some good lumber or at least paper. There is more than just lumber growing their. Pulp wood is not as as high as lumber wood but it is better than no wood at all.

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I worked in the landscape business for almost ten years, we would clean up the wound some by trimming up the bark around the edges and taking off sharp points and then just let them heal. Also had an ash tree that was scared 3/4 the way around and everyone said it would never make it. well, 10 years later it is still going and can`t even tell it was ever injuried. Hope it helps, btw I have never had good luck with loggers myself, will never have another one here. Thanks Marc

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He is logging for both chip and lumber. He seems to know what he is looking for and goes straight after it.

It's kinda shocking. I didn't realize I had that much wood out there. I bought this land 19 years ago and cleared only enough to build.

He's cut and stacked a large amount of BIG trees!

digApony.

Thanks

I'll never log this land again. I'll leave that up to whoever owns this land after I die. My neighbor clear cut about 8 years ago leaving only the small 8-6 inch trees. It grew back and this same logger cut it again last summer

I just hope I didn't make a mistake by ruining the stand.
It was beautiful.

I don't need the money. I need the sun. The trees have grown so tall and wide and created a canopy over my little space where I live and I can't grow anything anymore.

I remember in the Little House books Pa said that you have to keep after the woods because they keep coming back. So maybe it will be okay.

digApony

Having bought a farm that had been "selectively logged" prior to purchase, I am constantly amazed at how much decay can be caused by a small wound. We have many trees, that are in the 18"-24" diameter range, that are not worth the effort to log because they are devalued due to decay caused by either logging rubs or a fire that got out of control years ago and burned some of the bark off. Even a 4" wide patch will take years to heal up and the ensuing decay and stain in the wood will make that tree value-less for future logging. Be aware that though many of the trees you pictured will continue to live, the tree will have to create a new growth on both sides of the wound and will eventually meet in the middle, sealing the wound. This action both deforms the log and allows decay to happen within the log. Most if not all of the logs damaged will be worthless from a $$ standpoint in 10 years or less as the decay develops. From a forestry standpoint it would be far better to cut those logs, even leaving them on the ground if need be, to allow for proper, and solid, regeneration to take its place. Please do the next owner a favor and cut them now so that they will have a good stand of straight and solid trees!

Thank you so much. I will cut them and leave them lay or cut and use for firewood.

I don't have a lot to worry about. Amazingly he's done pretty good.

But I will have my work cut out for me for the next few months.
:@

I appreciate everyone's help. I see a community of highly knowledgable people and it is really appreciated!

I chatted with him this morning, before he got started. He seems to have a very good understanding of forestry. (He's from SStM Michigan, UP, which by the way has logged itself into oblivian. He knows that.)

He told me that I have plenty of the "superior" trees left for propagation and pointed them out to me and how to identify those that are hollow and only good for chip if anything.

About the skinned trees he agreed with omnicat or to also cut them and leave them lay or for firewood... as long as I don't skin another in the process.

He also adviced that I have the UT Extension Forestry Agent come out and for free, he/she will tell me how to maintain the stand and even how to propagate for better trees.

I have a sawmill lumber home and all the shade is doing significant damage. To make it worth his effort to clear even the trees that he wouldn't ordinarily cut near my house, I made the deal for him to cut further out.

I'm happy... Maybe I still have time to put in a BIG garden!

Thanks everyone.

digApony

When skidding the trees he needs bumper trees to make corners. The logs and branches rub the bark off. These are sacrificial. If you want you can take them out later but they do heal up all by themselves.

Note that logging in some times of year are better for the trees that are left than logging in other times of year. Winter, after a hard freeze into the ground, is ideal. This protects the roots. Dry of summer is second. Spring is worse both for the tree roots, the soil disruption and that the bark is loose so it gets more easily rubbed off.

Cheers

-Walter
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Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

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Like highlands stated, the person that is pulling the logs from the woods is using the damaged trees as a pivot to turn the tree he is pulling. Frankly it has been my experience that the one doing the pulling doesn't care that he is damaging the pivot tree. If the bark is knocked off the tree is larger than an area your hand will cover you may as well harvest the tree. The damaged tree is as rosewoodfarmVa described. In time that damage will cause the tree to rot. It may take 10 to 15 years but the tree, for certain oaks and poplars, will decay and be worthless. Take out the damaged trees and recognize some income from them while they still have worth. Have the logger to clean these up as he finishes.

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If they can do it,
you know you can!

dig a pony, omnicat gives good info

Looking at your pix they really dont' look that bad to me, except the one where the bark is taken off halfway around the tree, but then no worries, it will make good firewood. The maples I have here were scraped off like that, they just gradually grow wood back around to cover the scar, and in ten fifteen years you'd never know it happened. However my maples if we cut them go for firewood, not lumber. There will be a scar inside the tree still. Like agman sez, if your goal is lumber then cut the skinned trees.

Looking at your tree density I see you can stand a lot more thinning, especially of the small trees. Thick brushy stunted growth invites disease and the trees grow slow and sickly because they are competing. It sounds like you have a good guy to work with and you can go with his assessment of what to keep. It's kind of a shock to be so merciless, but actually thinning will be good for the woods and it will be more historically "natural"--forests used to be way more open, with bigger trees. And the "shrub" story was filled with actual shrub species, not masses of baby stunted trees.

Also look for a few good standing snags to leave upright, one per acre is a good ratio(at least recommended for Oregon, ha). This is for wildlife.

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Thanks everyone. I learned a little more from him.

He said I have mostly red oaks and many were hit with a blight we had after a drought a few years ago. I was aware of that because at the time the UT Extension Agent came out and looked at my trees, but the only "maybe" remedy was to spray the trees with fungicide. I couldn't afford that and I'm not sure if I would have done it if I could. I'm not big on spraying fungicide.

He wants the red oaks for cross ties and the "lesser" red oaks for chip.

He said my best timber is white oak and he only took the large white oaks surrounding my home because I asked him to
He said it does need thinning and that it would help the white oaks. He is thinning now-today. He is also bringing the tops up where a guy he knows will chip them into a semi. I will have very little debri.

In the hollow I had several huge healthy white oaks that toppled on their own from the saturating rains we had last year.

So the envrionment must be one where white oaks are able to thrive as well.

It will be a good job for my son to go through the woods and drop the skinned trees!



I'll post a pic and a couple videos of this 19 year old boy who is doing the cutting. Amazing kid.

I think you'll like it.

DigApony

I had no idea I had this much timber. If I could show you a before you would see how it has been thinned. Also you can see here how much I had around my house and the moisture was destroying the condition of my roof and siding.

This is about the average size of the logs he is bringing in. Many are much bigger. Like I said, I'm amazed.

...and I've still got plenty.

they finished for the day so I took a walk down there and I did not see any skinning.
however, my kids had a good sized trail carved out in that area from riding their horses and four-wheelers. so I guess they had more room to pivot as highlander explained.

wow... what a difference!

thanks digApony

those are nice logs! we have white oak that we cut for firewood, the logs are that size.
It makes me sad to cut up all that beautiful wood for firewood, but oh well.

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...and this is his 4th day of hauling that average size out of my woods. I know exactly how you feel! But 19 years ago those trees were small and we thought we had enough cleared to build the house, barn and have a garden, but it creeps back in fast! I think the white oaks will do better now. After one fall and winter the ground will heal.

You mentioned snags. I don't know what you mean?

wow! nice warm fire wood though! :P

snag, standing dead tree

woodpeckers start up holes in it first, eating bugs, then they make the holes bigger to make nesting holes. Then other birds use the holes to nest. It kinda gets the ball rolling to attracting a nice variety of birds to your woods, which is a good thing. A variety of birds wil bring a variety of seed in their poop, and attract mammals too. I'm hearing that you want to establish a healthy "natural" woods that you can harvest firewood from as needed, right?

On the other hand from a tree farming perspective you'll hear that standing dead trees will fall and damage other healthy trees (well, yeah it happens in the wild). It's your call on how you want to direct things, but in any case wise thinning will help on all counts.

It will look great in a few years!

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http://s822.photobucket.com/albums/z...t=PICT0181.flv
I hope you can see this video. I have got nothing done today because I was so infatuated in watching this boy cut trees.

He is 19. He told me he was homeschooled until he was 9 and then went with his dad logging forests every day since.

I didn't venture into the woods with him because it would be too dangerous, but I watched him from the back porch. And this boy knows exactly what he is doing.

In this vid he is trimming off stumps. I think it's interesting in how he uses the saw and doesn't force the saw and lets the saw do the work. Usually he cuts with one hand on the saw and puts his left hand on the tree.

What is left of the stumps are as smooth as a baby's behind.

Amazing... of course I am a big advocate of homeschooling and raising children the way he was raised.

It may be nothing new to you, but it was for me. It was like an instinct he had and almost as if he was feeling the tree and where the saw was with his left hand.. the vibration. I could be wrong, but it was cool to watch.

digApony

I hear ya, it IS fun to watch a master at work. You really need to read the tree and understand its balance and twist which affects how it will fall, especially for hardwoods. Then you add in slope and wind...

The guys who came to cut the first time around were a pair of 70+ year old twins, FLoyd and Rosie(Lloyd). It was so funny to listen to them yell at each other, and bet where they'd drop a tree(how accurate). I really have a soft spot in my heart for loggers, love their sense of humor and ease in the woods.

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I have plenty of both standing and fallen dead... and woodpeckers. I can hear them out there banging away.

We had a blight and lost a lot of trees, mostly red oaks. And I have a wash down in the hollow that uproots the trees and they topple down.

I understand that dead trees lying on the forest floor is good for new growth. Or that is what I have heard.

No, I'm not tree farming. I just want a healthy environment for the trees and so my little Amish boy friend can shoot all of the bucks and squirrels he wants. (this year he gave me a two foot long venison summer sausage!)

I plant cypress for the birds to give them protection from the hawks and a place to nest.

I was feeding the birds for many years, but all I get in return from them is poop all over my windows.