The Rural Voice, 2001-09, Page 66Another reason is that the price for
black walnut logs. which used to be
higher than for other hardwoods
grown in this area. has not kept pace
with other species. Nevertheless. for
veneer quality. at some mills in our
area. black walnut is still the third
most valuable species after hard
maple and white oak.
New plantations offer tasty treats
for browsing deer and there are
several products on the market that
will discourage Bambi from nibbling
off the terminal buds. One of the
most effective and most economical
treatments is to tie pieces of tallow -
based soap, such as Irish Spring, in
the branches of the young trees each
September. Be careful, however, to
ensure the pieces hang at least a
couple of feet above the ground else
other animals will eat them.
It pays to prune some trees after a
plantation has been thinned to about
160 crop trees per acre but only for
black walnut and white pine. Other
species are better left to nature.
Pruning has to be done carefully to
avoid leaving a branch stub or tearing
Andrew Grindlay
the bark below the branch being
removed. Wounds to the bark from
pruning or from being bumped by
machinery open the tree to the
possibility of infection from insects
or disease and might shorten its life.
Woodlot owners who are fortunate
enough to have a red pine plantation
on sandy, acidic soil planted in the
1950s and 1960s are finding they
have a valuable crop of utility poles
that, like a good hardwood woodlot,
will yield about $200 per acre per
year on average over the 70 years it
takes them to reach maturity. They do
require thinning to about 160 trees
per acre, however, when they are
around 30 years old, to ensure they
grow in diameter rather than just in
height, but they do not need pruning.
Scots pine is an invasive species.
It is a heavy seed producer and
produces seedlings that are
aggressive colonizers. It is the
preferred host of the pine shoot
beetle, which readily kills the trees
but then moves on to attack more
valuable species such as red and
white pine. Southern Ontario is
Maitland Valley
Conservation Authority
Financial and
technical
support.
Q
Assistance with
the development
of planting plans
and maintenance
guidelines.
Q
Call us at 519
335-3557 for
information and
application
forms.
TREE PLANTING
SERVICES
Reforestation Assistance
Service - Seedlings
This service provides
assistance to
landowners who are
reforesting marginal
lands or planting field
windbreaks. Our
experienced staff will
assist you in choosing
species and creating a
planting plan. Plant
your ov`m seedlings
or have havei us do the
planting or you.
Roadside & Windbreak
Tree Service
This service offers
larger trees for
planting along
roadsides and in
windbreaks. A variety
of tree species is
available from the
MVCA based on a 50
tree minimum order.
Call us today for
information on the
application deadline
for this service.
Maitland Valley Conservation Authority
Box 127, Wroxeter, Ont. NOG 2X0
519.335.3557 Fax 519.335.3516
Celebrating 50 years of conservation!
62 THE RURAL VOICE
littered with abandoned Scots pine
plantations that should be removed.
Probably the most valuable lesson
I learned over 20 years is that there is
no better way to leave a legacy for
future generations than to provide
them with a well-managed woodlot
that can continue to produce a
valuable crop of trees forever with
very little work. Young people can be
taught how to prune and thin trees,
how to mark them for sale, how to
negotiate a contract with a logger,
how to protect young trees from mice
and deer and how to create a natural
environment that is attractive to
wildlife and to humans while, with
very little work, generating about as
much net after-tax income per acre as
cultivated land.
(This will be my last column on
woodlot management in The Rural
Voice. / owe a debt of gratitude to all
the people — loggers. forestry
consultants, MNR people and fanners
— who helped me with ideas,
suggestions and criticisms over the
three years l have been writing this
column. )0
GREAT LAKES
FOREST • PRODUCTS
Buy * Sell • Transport
of Standing Timber,
Logs & Lumber
* FREE ESTIMATES
* ALL WOODLOTS PAID
IN FULL BEFORE
LOGGING BEGINS
(519) 482-9762
Jake or Bob Hovius
142 Maple St., Clinton, Ont. NOM ILII
"Our Money...
Grows on Trees"
i