I applaud your efforts to manage your timber. You can greatly increase value of timber by doing a few hours of timber management each year. Good job Adam!!!
I think you’re doing it right and going about it best by contacting those people who know what you’re after in the long run. Keep up the good work and videos and thanks for sharing with us.👍👍
Hey Fred! Yes those foresters are worth every penny. I knew the grape vines were a slight problem but they really showed me the importance of cleaning them up. On 30 acres it could be the difference of tens of thousands of dollars in damages timber. Thanks for always watching and commenting!
Hello from London UK. Your videos are wonderful. I live in a concrete jungle but I grew up amongst the clean air of the countryside. Your videos bring me back to my youth, as the second eldest of five, I was the only one trusted with the chain saw and axe. we had enough woods to keep ourselves in logs happily. My parents sold that house when I was 25 and only years later did I really appreciate how magical that environment had been. keep on cutting and stacking. happy new year.
This comment made my day. I’m glad these videos are able to remind you of your families land. I’m sorry to hear your parents sold it. It’s never too late to start over with a new piece of land. We sold our house in the concrete jungle and bought this place in December of 2018 and haven’t looked back
Good info Adam. Over here we don't have grapevine problem but we do get a lot of saplings that need to be managed. I get a company in every 5 years to cut saplings for wood chips and to selectively cut trees so the others can grow bigger. This way your getting some income along the way until your ready to log the rest. I would recommend that you leave a row of trees that you can see from your house or other vantage point so it doesn't look like devastation when you cut the trees down, because it takes years before is starts to look good again.
cutting down the grapevines looks like good exercise for the winter month, you could do one or two hours at a time and get it cleared up by the end of the winter.
Yup! Adam every time I'm in a area cutting choked to death trees up for firewood wood, from grape vines like the ash tree you have shown. I'll ninja all the vines in that area, hopefully saving other trees, great topic buddy keep up the great work 👍
I cut both a maple and birch in the spring and put some dyed herbicide on the stump. The maple and birch were letting out sap so fast the herbicide drained away within a couple minutes. Best to leave a little stump and come back later in the late spring take it down a few more inches then apply the herbicide.
Hey Hometown! We have 18 acres of land and dont have too much vines but I have a ton of saplings... the saplings are sucking the life out of the more mature trees so I need to thin out same style! Nice work! People think that the forest should be left alone but couldnt be more wrong! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah people always say let nature do it’s thing but I don’t know of any farmers that just have nature give them acres and acres of row crops. It takes work to achieve a desired result. We plan to develop these woods to provide timber revenue for us, our children and grand children
I liked your video and explanation. we've grown and harvested pine but never really wanted to do anything to the hardwoods to avoid the mess one has after it is cut, not to mention the underbrush growth that takes over immediately once the canopy is opened. but by not managing it, we've lost a lot large hardwoods from our ignorance. poplar, elm, sweetgum, suger maples competed with oaks and caused many to die. i'm now trying to do what we should have done and start getting rid of the undesireables. i have contacted a forester to come out to evaluate things. he says he will but he wants to do it when he is in the area and not make a special trip. we'll see.
On those beech trees that your going to turn into firewood when you get time. If you girdle them they will start to season, Mark them with a ribbon so they are easily spotted. That would be easy to do while your walking around cutting vines. When you get time drop them and process
I recommend using a Stihl 250 pruner with the 30 degree angle attachment to do Timber Stand Improvement (TSI). No bending over. It saves my back and knees. And I can stand up straight and cut flush with the ground. No pointy stumps. Also,I carry a spray bottle on my belt loop to immediately spray stumps with Tordon RTU or Pathway. The grape vines will not grow back.
Dang buddy that snow... I'm jealous. Lol. We may get some before spring. The grape vines, wow I cant say I have ever cut any that big. You can almost cut them up for firewood.
[01-07.21] Adam: Does your Forestry Commission sell 18" saplings. They do here in Georgia, the Northern Red Oak is one, along with others. After they get 8' to 10' tall you gather up the acorns, an sprout our own Red Oaks. They can also be dried & ground into flour.
Adam another good video brother and very informative. So what happens to the vines if you don’t go back with the herbicide treatment, I could see the end in the ground trying to grow.
They are kind of like crab grass. Anywhere they come in contact with the ground they try to establish roots and start to branch off. What I did in the video is only a temporary fix if I don’t go back and spray with herbicide in the spring
How the vines respond depends on the density of shade and when the vines are cut. Dense shade and cut DURING the growing season will both limit viability of a vine to re-sprout and begin climbing. If dense enough shade it may never be viable enough to grow.
nice video , thanks for posting. I have the same wild vine problem on my farm. I started cutting them too, as close to ground as possible, hopefully they don't grow back... I'd rather not use a herbicide. I just damage/ cut the vine at ground level with open wounds.. so it will not heal and die.
I had 3 thoughts after seeing this video. - I thought the idea of a second cut at shoulder height was just a visual aid in determining if a particular vine has been cut and therefore wouldn't need a herbicide. - My guess is that if you enjoy your forest you wouldn't tolerate loggers coming in and messing things up unless you really needed the cash. - If you find keeping up with grapevine control is too much then you may want to limit it to vines on valuable trees and leave the others for wildlife
I like your idea of just keeping the valuable trees free of the vines. It’s a good compromise between forest management and wildlife management. And yes when the day comes to sign the papers to begin timbering that’s will be a very difficult decision knowing what the woods will look like after. Who know maybe in 5-10 years I will have a sawmill and can start sawing my own lumber
You might already have found that there is not enough light penetrating the canopy to sustain vines that have been cut to the ground. They are shade intolerant and, under dense shade, may not require herbiciding.
Do your forest a favor and leave the beech trees alone. All of the critters will enjoy the food supply and the deer eat the saplings and they are great for species diversity and just generally nice to look at. They are one of my favorite species and they can live 500-600 years. They are also great firewood (as you mentioned) but they grow so slowly that unless you have a whole lot of them available it's hard to sustainably cut them for firewood. Great video!
We do have a decent bit of beech trees on the property. I can’t say that I’ve burned beech before but I do know from the firewood BTU charts that beech is always near the top of the list. I’m not planning on cutting any down anytime soon. You may have swayed me to thin them less than I originally planned. Thanks for the comment
@@russromme2040, I was letting him know that the saplings won't turn into a problem later because I they grow so slow and will be eaten by the deer. In other words, he doesn't have to worry about the beech taking over his property like locust might.
2 words of advice. 1) Always make your top cut first so the vine is still anchored to the ground and holds tight for your cut and 2) pick your lightest saw haha. Even my small 42cc saw was getting heavy after an hour
@@HometownAcres We use a cordless reciprocating saw with an absolutely vicious 3 tpi blade. Slightly slower cutting, but quiet and (seemingly) safer. My wife loves taking her "sawzall" into the woods to wreak havoc on the vine infestation.
All 3 of ours came for free. It’s almost like bidding a job. You are more or less interviewing them as much as they are evaluating your timber. When the time comes you pick one, they paint the trees that are to be cut, take inventory, and put it out for bid to logging companies. You pick generally the highest bidder and pay the forester a percentage. If you have the right forester who know what trees to paint and put on the inventory list you should be able to timber every 20 years or so
I will caution you though that if you do decide to timber, prepare yourself for your nice beautiful woods to look like a tornado ripped through there. A friend of mine timbered their property 7 years ago and it is still looks like hell. That’s the biggest thing I struggle with.
Gapevines can be controlled by cutting as you say. The other part is don’t do anytree cutting for 2 years as the vines being shade intolerant will not regrow as much in the overstory shade and may not resprout at all. Vines need sun that is why they climb. Stay after those vines.
I’ve only ever burned them in bonfires. They literally drip with water right after you cut them so they have to dry out. I think I’ll leave them set back in the woods this year and maybe next winter try to find a few to bring in and burn in the wood stove. Just experiment a little
Which trees are valuable changes dramatically if you factor in honey bee forage. Sugar maple is bee stingy but red maple is generous. Of great value for early pollen is pussy willow. Woodland can readily produce more value from bees than from timber.
I applaud your efforts to manage your timber. You can greatly increase value of timber by doing a few hours of timber management each year. Good job Adam!!!
I think you’re doing it right and going about it best by contacting those people who know what you’re after in the long run. Keep up the good work and videos and thanks for sharing with us.👍👍
Hey Fred! Yes those foresters are worth every penny. I knew the grape vines were a slight problem but they really showed me the importance of cleaning them up. On 30 acres it could be the difference of tens of thousands of dollars in damages timber. Thanks for always watching and commenting!
Hello from London UK. Your videos are wonderful. I live in a concrete jungle but I grew up amongst the clean air of the countryside. Your videos bring me back to my youth, as the second eldest of five, I was the only one trusted with the chain saw and axe. we had enough woods to keep ourselves in logs happily. My parents sold that house when I was 25 and only years later did I really appreciate how magical that environment had been. keep on cutting and stacking. happy new year.
This comment made my day. I’m glad these videos are able to remind you of your families land. I’m sorry to hear your parents sold it. It’s never too late to start over with a new piece of land. We sold our house in the concrete jungle and bought this place in December of 2018 and haven’t looked back
That’s a lot of great information Adam a day of cutting vines will make life easier down the road. Thanks for sharing!
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure as the old saying goes
Beech is one of the best firewoods you can get. Has a nice clean bark too...not as much mess from them.
I haven’t burned any yet I just know it’s near the top of the firewood BTU charts
Very thorough approach getting an opinion from 3 foresters. Sometimes its best to go to the experts and that's what I would have done.
Good info Adam. Over here we don't have grapevine problem but we do get a lot of saplings that need to be managed. I get a company in every 5 years to cut saplings for wood chips and to selectively cut trees so the others can grow bigger. This way your getting some income along the way until your ready to log the rest. I would recommend that you leave a row of trees that you can see from your house or other vantage point so it doesn't look like devastation when you cut the trees down, because it takes years before is starts to look good again.
Yeah a friend of ours timbered about 7 years ago and it still looks like a tornado went through their woods
Hi Adam, I certainly agree with you, good job
cutting down the grapevines looks like good exercise for the winter month, you could do one or two hours at a time and get it cleared up by the end of the winter.
That is the plan, an acre here and an acre there
Yup! Adam every time I'm in a area cutting choked to death trees up for firewood wood, from grape vines like the ash tree you have shown. I'll ninja all the vines in that area, hopefully saving other trees, great topic buddy keep up the great work 👍
Nice work! Love your drive!
I cut both a maple and birch in the spring and put some dyed herbicide on the stump. The maple and birch were letting out sap so fast the herbicide drained away within a couple minutes. Best to leave a little stump and come back later in the late spring take it down a few more inches then apply the herbicide.
Good video Adam!
Wow! Those vines are huge! I always cut them when I find them.
Hey Hometown! We have 18 acres of land and dont have too much vines but I have a ton of saplings... the saplings are sucking the life out of the more mature trees so I need to thin out same style! Nice work! People think that the forest should be left alone but couldnt be more wrong! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah people always say let nature do it’s thing but I don’t know of any farmers that just have nature give them acres and acres of row crops. It takes work to achieve a desired result. We plan to develop these woods to provide timber revenue for us, our children and grand children
They decided to cut down less and less trees in Australia, "For the environment".
Look where that got them.
very informative . your on the right path
I liked your video and explanation. we've grown and harvested pine but never really wanted to do anything to the hardwoods to avoid the mess one has after it is cut, not to mention the underbrush growth that takes over immediately once the canopy is opened. but by not managing it, we've lost a lot large hardwoods from our ignorance. poplar, elm, sweetgum, suger maples competed with oaks and caused many to die. i'm now trying to do what we should have done and start getting rid of the undesireables. i have contacted a forester to come out to evaluate things. he says he will but he wants to do it when he is in the area and not make a special trip. we'll see.
Thanks, Adam. Great information here!
On those beech trees that your going to turn into firewood when you get time. If you girdle them they will start to season, Mark them with a ribbon so they are easily spotted. That would be easy to do while your walking around cutting vines. When you get time drop them and process
That’s a great suggestion. I’ll have to further research girdling but it sounds pretty self explanatory
Great info. I love to learn new things. Thanks.
Thanks for watching. Glad you learned something
I recommend using a Stihl 250 pruner with the 30 degree angle attachment to do Timber Stand Improvement (TSI). No bending over. It saves my back and knees. And I can stand up straight and cut flush with the ground. No pointy stumps. Also,I carry a spray bottle on my belt loop to immediately spray stumps with Tordon RTU or Pathway. The grape vines will not grow back.
Dang buddy that snow... I'm jealous. Lol. We may get some before spring. The grape vines, wow I cant say I have ever cut any that big. You can almost cut them up for firewood.
I was thinking about it. I might have to go collect them for a bonfire this summer
[01-07.21] Adam: Does your Forestry Commission sell 18" saplings. They do here in Georgia, the Northern Red Oak is one, along with others. After they get 8' to 10' tall you gather up the acorns, an sprout our own Red Oaks. They can also be dried & ground into flour.
Adam another good video brother and very informative. So what happens to the vines if you don’t go back with the herbicide treatment, I could see the end in the ground trying to grow.
They are kind of like crab grass. Anywhere they come in contact with the ground they try to establish roots and start to branch off. What I did in the video is only a temporary fix if I don’t go back and spray with herbicide in the spring
How the vines respond depends on the density of shade and when the vines are cut. Dense shade and cut DURING the growing season will both limit viability of a vine to re-sprout and begin climbing. If dense enough shade it may never be viable enough to grow.
nice video , thanks for posting. I have the same wild vine problem on my farm. I started cutting them too, as close to ground as possible, hopefully they don't grow back... I'd rather not use a herbicide. I just damage/ cut the vine at ground level with open wounds.. so it will not heal and die.
You should join the American Tree Farm System and/or the Walnut Council. Awesome resources for timber tract owners/managers.
Looks like a good plan to follow 🔥👍🤠
I had 3 thoughts after seeing this video.
- I thought the idea of a second cut at shoulder height was just a visual aid in determining if a particular vine has been cut and therefore wouldn't need a herbicide.
- My guess is that if you enjoy your forest you wouldn't tolerate loggers coming in and messing things up unless you really needed the cash.
- If you find keeping up with grapevine control is too much then you may want to limit it to vines on valuable trees and leave the others for wildlife
I like your idea of just keeping the valuable trees free of the vines. It’s a good compromise between forest management and wildlife management. And yes when the day comes to sign the papers to begin timbering that’s will be a very difficult decision knowing what the woods will look like after. Who know maybe in 5-10 years I will have a sawmill and can start sawing my own lumber
You might already have found that there is not enough light penetrating the canopy to sustain vines that have been cut to the ground. They are shade intolerant and, under dense shade, may not require herbiciding.
Do your forest a favor and leave the beech trees alone. All of the critters will enjoy the food supply and the deer eat the saplings and they are great for species diversity and just generally nice to look at. They are one of my favorite species and they can live 500-600 years. They are also great firewood (as you mentioned) but they grow so slowly that unless you have a whole lot of them available it's hard to sustainably cut them for firewood. Great video!
We do have a decent bit of beech trees on the property. I can’t say that I’ve burned beech before but I do know from the firewood BTU charts that beech is always near the top of the list. I’m not planning on cutting any down anytime soon. You may have swayed me to thin them less than I originally planned. Thanks for the comment
As if it is wise to manage your forest to provide deer forage?!
@@russromme2040, I was letting him know that the saplings won't turn into a problem later because I they grow so slow and will be eaten by the deer. In other words, he doesn't have to worry about the beech taking over his property like locust might.
What harm do the vines do to the trees anyways?
Wow, those vines are crazy, is there any use for them? Beech burns great, easy to split
I think I’m going to see how they do in a bonfire this summer haha. I’ll have enough to have a huge fire
@@HometownAcres as long as you can see it from space , then I'm happy
Wooly's World lol I will do my best
I only have one patch of vines, nothing on the diameter of yours. It also opened up the woods
man buddy I need to do the same thing at my place.. grape vines are horrible around here..thanks for motivating me lol
2 words of advice. 1) Always make your top cut first so the vine is still anchored to the ground and holds tight for your cut and 2) pick your lightest saw haha. Even my small 42cc saw was getting heavy after an hour
@@HometownAcres We use a cordless reciprocating saw with an absolutely vicious 3 tpi blade. Slightly slower cutting, but quiet and (seemingly) safer. My wife loves taking her "sawzall" into the woods to wreak havoc on the vine infestation.
Hi Adam nice video
Great info Adam. Thanks! Curious, what do you pay a forester to come evaluate your property?
All 3 of ours came for free. It’s almost like bidding a job. You are more or less interviewing them as much as they are evaluating your timber. When the time comes you pick one, they paint the trees that are to be cut, take inventory, and put it out for bid to logging companies. You pick generally the highest bidder and pay the forester a percentage. If you have the right forester who know what trees to paint and put on the inventory list you should be able to timber every 20 years or so
@@HometownAcres sweet! I need to do this at least to know what kind of value I have. I dear mine is past prime. Thanks for the info!
I will caution you though that if you do decide to timber, prepare yourself for your nice beautiful woods to look like a tornado ripped through there. A friend of mine timbered their property 7 years ago and it is still looks like hell. That’s the biggest thing I struggle with.
Why did you bring three foresters? ow much did it cost?
Gapevines can be controlled by cutting as you say. The other part is don’t do anytree cutting for 2 years as the vines being shade intolerant will not regrow as much in the overstory shade and may not resprout at all. Vines need sun that is why they climb. Stay after those vines.
Helpful thank you!
Good information to know!
Some of those grapevines are big. How would they be burning lol
I’ve only ever burned them in bonfires. They literally drip with water right after you cut them so they have to dry out. I think I’ll leave them set back in the woods this year and maybe next winter try to find a few to bring in and burn in the wood stove. Just experiment a little
I had the same question :-)
Me too
Good job with a small electric chain saw.
It was a 42cc gas chainsaw
Grape vines are nasty. Thanks for the information on forestry management. Great video.
Good info
Thanks Jason!
If you do Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) in October-February the herbicide seldom washes away.
❤👍 Serbia
Very interesting! Thanks man! #mywildkioti
Your grapevine is a super wood for guys who run smokers
Those grapevines are so big you could use them for firewood lol
I think this summer I go grab a bunch and make a bonfire with them and see how they do
Which trees are valuable changes dramatically if you factor in honey bee forage. Sugar maple is bee stingy but red maple is generous. Of great value for early pollen is pussy willow. Woodland can readily produce more value from bees than from timber.
Ive got chinese bittersweet. God awful stuff. Ridiculously thick and chokes the trees till they die. 😑
Those grape vines can be horrible! It makes a jungle out of the woods. Horrible stuff.