| tim |
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| #1 |
What is the perception of ironwood tree growth in northern Minnesota in terms of choking out possibly more desireable species? I have a few acres in northeast Itasca county and would like to encourage the red and white pine, birch, maple and oak on the property. It seems that ironwood has been propagating faster than these other species.
Is removing them going to help give the others a better chance, or is it futile ??
And if removal is OK, what is the best way to distinquish a little ironwood from a little birch --- it seems to me that they look a lot alike until they mature a bit. Thanks in advance.
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| Clark |
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| #2 |
Tim,
Good questions! I think the "problem" of ironwood competing with more favorable timber species has, in general, been overblown.
You didn't mention how large your pine, birch, maple and oak are but I get the impression they are smaller and hence the worry the ironwood is competing with them. If that's the case, I'd say you could do some release work around the trees you want to promote.
If the more desirable species are over-topping the ironwood I wouldn't worry about it. Once ironwood is over-topped it will never grow as fast as other species. It's slow growing to begin with and more shade only exacerbates that.
In your part of MN I'm guessing the largest ironwood only gets to be 6" diameter and that takes a considerable amount of time. Which is to say, even when mature it never poses much of a threat to other species. I rather like the look of ironwood in the understory, it makes for an attractive small tree in the winter and lots of critters seem to like it.
Clark
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| TheOwl |
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| #3 |
Ironwood dominance can indicate an invasive worm problem.
If the overstory trees are maple and basswood you'd expect the understory seedlings and saplings to include a lot of sugar maple.
If your woods lacks sugar maple seedlings and instead has a high quantity of ironwood and pennsylvania sedge (it looks like lawn grass 2 or 3 weeks overdue for mowing) then you probably have invasive earth worms.
See this article for more (MN DNR article). Note the 2 pictures in the article, one showing an area with and another without worms.
As for distinguishing an ironwood from a birch when young.
Here is a paper birch bud (from the UW-Green Bay website):
http://www.uwgb.edu/BIODIVERSITY/herbarium/trees/betpap_bud01.jpg
And here is an ironwood bud:
http://www.uwgb.edu/BIODIVERSITY/herbarium/trees/ostvir_bud01.jpg
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| Suzanne |
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| #4 |
Ironwood tree: This may sound crazy, since you are discussing removing ironwood trees, but I would like one! My Uncle grew one in the Finger Lake region of New York and I always admired it. Now all I can find is the desert variety. I'll pay postage and help you get rid of a small sapling!
suzfau@hotmail.com
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