Lime in a cut over?

[Bob2010]

First of all. A sincere thank you for the help. There are folks on here that are so far beyond in experience than I am. Experience is a valuable thing. I am toying with the idea of not herbicide and killing my cut over. My family is sensitive to the chemicals and I don't want the deer grazing it. I also don't want to kill my plots and or planted firebreaks. I have 2 questions. My place is thick in slash! Both Pine and hardwood. I love the idea of the rot and ash feeding the soil. My tree guy that has run a large tree removal crew for 30 years told me that lime will rot the slash in half the time. It will also raise the ph in the soil.

1. Is it true that lime will rot slash quickly?

2. Can lime liquid or granular be applied with aireal applications?

Is this just crazy thinking? Or could this work? Too expensive?

Thanks

 

[Kev]

What are you trying to gain from this cutover?

 

[Bob2010]

What are you trying to gain from this cutover?

Long term I want 10 acres pollinators done with a seed drill and 20 acres pines with native grasses below. Fire breaks are completly done. I have a gravel road through the cuts. I want to burn the pines and pollinators regularly later. I can burn them at the same time. I'm ok with losing a few years and the Pines being slow to break over the competing cover. I don't want the cuts to get so nasty that we can't get them back for planting. I would love to manually keep them bush hogged. That is not an option currently. Loggers left loads of pulpwood hidden in massive ruts. They also left the processing piles that are now all scattered on the ground throughout the entire cut. The practical solution is root rake the slash into big piles and burn them. Or we can spray everything and burn the entire cuts. The best option for wildlife and soil health is letting the slash rot and also burning. No more soil disturbance. This will be a slow road. I am not sure that the cuts will burn well without spraying them first. I believe that 5 years of letting the cuts go would result in a very expensive mess to clean up later. I wonder if it is an option to control things a bit more environmentally friendly with just fire alone? Or would lime rot the slash quicker and raise the soil Ph? There is aerial lime applications I see online. I also know liquid lime is out there. It looks to me like aireal applications of lime are still kind of experimental. Probably too expensive! I just wonder what options are out there. Not every pine plantation is big and concerned about a quick turn around. I do know you can waste a ton of money in a clear cut! Lol!

 

[Crakajak]

I would check with your local GaForestry unit.

 

[mattb78]

-I don't think you can achieve your objectives without herbicide. The hardwood regrowth will take over. Lime is impractical.

-If adamant about no herbicide, burn it into a savannah which will be great hunting and provide good food for the deer. You can leave a few strategic smaller burn units that you burn very rarely that will create thicker bedding cover.

 

[doomtrpr_z71]

The only liquid lime that functions is topflow and it isn't going to be applied aerially nor would you be able to apply enough dry lime by air. Scientific research indicates that it would have the opposite effect and hinder decomposition due to the microbes that help decomposition in pine environments prefer acidic soil. I'd just spray it and be done with it.

 

[Bob2010]

I am afraid yall are correct. Gonna have to spray it. Forestery dept is coming Friday to take a look. They will let me know if we can burn without spraying it. I will let yall know what they say. Thanks

 

[Bob2010]

I met with the forestery burn guys. They did think it will burn better if we spray it. But they reccomended we burn it this winter. Only been like 6 months since the cut was done. They said all the green growth now will mostly die in the first frost. They want to go ahead and burn to reduce the amount of slash on the ground. Then spray and burn again the following year. I did decide when we spray it I want to use a old school back pack crew. Hoping I can find one. I don't want to nuke my roads and firebreaks.

 

[b8hickman]

Why burn this year and next? Just seems to me like you would have a lot hotter fire if you let all that wood dry out longer.