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Hello, everyone. I have a little over an acre of land which is heavily wooded. There are oak, cedar, and pine mostly. I want to keep as many of the trees as I can while giving myself enough room for a vegetable garden, a flower garden or two, and a play area for the kids, as well as the actual house. Who would you approach for counsel on this? A landscaper? That would be my first thought, but maybe there is someone who specializes in this sort of thing, like some sort of conservationist. Has anyone had luck selling timber rather than burning it or hauling it to a landfill?
An arborist would be good. (for example Schneider tree company-or any other with certified arborists) they can ID unhealthy trees, unsuitable trees and can give you an estimate for removal. Many of them actually take the trimmings and make mulch out of it. Most mulch onsite (this is a very coarse ugly mulch) Of course those trimmings are great to compost for your mulch pile! Hot compost would be the quickest and you get to take advantage of the nutrients from the soil that are stored in those trees as they extract minerals etc from deep in the ground. Also you can google hugelkultur as a way to use tree waste and build an amazing garden! Our raised beds that are about 26" tall have about one foot of wood waste in the bottom. Makes for great soil.
Hello, everyone. I have a little over an acre of land which is heavily wooded. There are oak, cedar, and pine mostly. I want to keep as many of the trees as I can while giving myself enough room for a vegetable garden, a flower garden or two, and a play area for the kids, as well as the actual house. Who would you approach for counsel on this? A landscaper? That would be my first thought, but maybe there is someone who specializes in this sort of thing, like some sort of conservationist. Has anyone had luck selling timber rather than burning it or hauling it to a landfill?
Jason has done work for over 20 friends in my neighborhood and is half the price of the competition. Trust me...we quoted just about everyone. He is super quick getting back to you and getting the job done. We asked him about some tree we thought that should come down. Any other business would have just taken them down but he explained that some of them just needed to be trimmed and wouldn't look right cut down which saved us even more money! Very honest and nice guy...probably why everyone I know uses him now!
Oaks tend to soak up alot of water and can cause alot of bare spots in the yard, Pines are a weak tree, and can fall over or split easily or get pine beatles. Im not a fan of cedars, they are a weed tree in many areas. Probably wont find anyone who is willing to cut just an acre, let alone selected trees, for the wood. An acre is going to be kinda tight anyways once you get a house on it. Were it mine, Id clear it out, and plant whatever trees you wanted.
FWIW. Water oaks (a species common around here) is fairly short lived and tends to die from the inside out then all of a sudden fall. There are warning signs though. Sweet Gums are also common and, while a nuisance tree to some, provides abundant food for wildlife and is a long lived and strong tree (though it will drop limbs). God hates Pine Trees and created lightning to blow them up.
Oaks tend to soak up alot of water and can cause alot of bare spots in the yard, Pines are a weak tree, and can fall over or split easily or get pine beatles. Im not a fan of cedars, they are a weed tree in many areas. Probably wont find anyone who is willing to cut just an acre, let alone selected trees, for the wood. An acre is going to be kinda tight anyways once you get a house on it. Were it mine, Id clear it out, and plant whatever trees you wanted.
Oaks tend to be slow growing. If you cut down 100 year old Oak trees, it will be 40-50 years until the replacements you plant provide a similar amount of shade.
I'd walk the property and select any sweet gum and wild cherry trees for removal and see what you have left. After that I'd look to remove pine trees because they tend to be short lived. I'd also want to remove any trees with significant disease or damage. Mature trees are something to value, not something to clearcut and replace with grass.
Thank you for the replies! You guys provided a lot of great information! I really love the oaks that we have, and I would also like to see some of the cedar trees show more life if the existing tree are thinned a bit. The pine trees, I would do without them with the exception of having a couple or three for collecting cones. Soil conservation, limiting topsoil erosion, these are things I want to take care of.
While developing your land, keep in mind that many trees are very sensitive to traffic, and steps must be taken to keep trucks and construction equipment from compressing the soil. Each specimen tree should be fenced off all the way out to the drip line. Many times, developers will ignore this and that magnificent oak will slowly die, sometimes a couple years later.
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