What is the purpose of girdling a tree?

[slow motion]

There were a lot on the farm in Illinois that the farmers son girdles in the summer when he visits. He does it for wildlife benefits. Some places he does a lot of em and it made me uneasy hunting in the wind.

 

[Triple C]

I hack & squirt killed some larger trash trees in the ornamental part of my yard. (The part I will not be hanging out in). I did this to protect the really nice oaks from getting damaged by the falling trees. Trees died, rotted, fell in small chunks and zero damage to any limbs. IF I could have got them down without damaging the other trees, I would have just cut them down to start with.

The very reason many use hack n squirt method. They fall in pieces and stump dies with them. Every method has it's place. If it's general TSI work, removing undesired trees to release the crown of crop trees, I like hack n squirt. Timber stand improvement is a bit like an artist. Sometimes I'll ponder on a tree that may be crowding a crop tree but slow to pull the trigger on killing it until I've decided it is the best course of action to take to improve the stand. Once you kill em you can't put em back.

 

[uturn]

The very reason many use hack n squirt method. They fall in pieces and stump dies with them. Every method has it's place. If it's general TSI work, removing undesired trees to release the crown of crop trees, I like hack n squirt. Timber stand improvement is a bit like an artist. Sometimes I'll ponder on a tree that may be crowding a crop tree but slow to pull the trigger on killing it until I've decided it is the best course of action to take to improve the stand. Once you kill em you can't put em back.

Thats why I’ve been so slow to do much more than what I cleared originally…I’ve lost 6/8 old grand ones since…we‘ve had several dead standing think a couple are in the picture I posted earlier…can’t avoid being around them occasionally as we work but I do really like this method and all it provides!

Mug for reference!

 

[cj580guitar]

Dr. Craig Harper has done several podcast about TSI/FSI. I’ve been selecting and girdling certain trees on my property. I like being able to select the trees I want to remove. I would not recommend girdling and spraying a tree after about mid Feb.

 

[menhadenman]

Any advice on pines? I’ve got some big boys on 10 acres in western NC (about 2200’ elevation).

 

[uturn]

Any advice on pines? I’ve got some big boys on 10 acres in western NC (about 2200’ elevation).

We do too!

 

[uturn]

Dr. Craig Harper has done several podcast about TSI/FSI. I’ve been selecting and girdling certain trees on my property. I like being able to select the trees I want to remove. I would not recommend girdling and spraying a tree after about mid Feb.

Is mid February an issue because the growing season has begun?

 

[Triple C]

Is mid February an issue because the growing season has begun?

I'm far from an expert and still feel like somewhat of a novice in doing TSI on my farm for past decade. When I decided to utilize hack n squirt instead of felling or girdling, I recall that it was best to do so while trees are dormant and just before the sap begins to rise. It sure worked for me.

 

[cj580guitar]

Is mid February an issue because the growing season has begun?

Yes. The “sap” is rising and will basically push the herbicide out and not take it to the roots. He has several YT videos about it.

 

[Gadestroyer74]

I haven’t tried any of these methods. I was reading and watching videos on it last night. A guy from Mississippi can’t recall if it was a college or was a state agency said you want to do it after the trees have greened up in spring or summer. He stated the trees were at a high stress time from producing their leaves etc. and that was the best time to hack and squirt or use the drill method

 

[cj580guitar]

I haven’t tried any of these methods. I was reading and watching videos on it last night. A guy from Mississippi can’t recall if it was a college or was a state agency said you want to do it after the trees have greened up in spring or summer. He stated the trees were at a high stress time from producing their leaves etc. and that was the best time to hack and squirt or use the drill method

Yep. Mid to late summer is when I work on my trees. I’ve seen large sweet gums go from green leaves to dead brown leaves in 2 weeks. And normally in 6 months the tree is nothing but a standing stick basically.

 

[cj580guitar]

Also you can do this in early summer and have seasoned standing firewood in late fall or early winter.

 

[Gadestroyer74]

Also you can do this in early summer and have seasoned standing firewood in late fall or early winter.

That’s really good to for people who use firewood a lot. Dries out faster due to standing cut it when you need wood .. great idea and recommendation

 

[cj580guitar]

That’s really good to for people who use firewood a lot. Dries out faster due to standing cut it when you need wood .. great idea and recommendation

Yea I heard about it on a podcast and tried it. Works great.

 

[Triple C]

Boys - I've treated two sections of mature hardwoods and did both in late Jan and very early Feb. Some where quite large, all the way down to sapling size. I swear I got 100% kill on em. May be the same for summer or after leaf-out, but I'll stick to dormant based on personal experience.

Plus, I'd rather be doing TSI during winter than warmer months. With that said...I'd take Craig Harper's advice over mine any time. I try and catch him on any podcast he is on. I don't recall if he recommends dormant or growing season for hack n squirt.

 

[Milkman]

Boys - I've treated two sections of mature hardwoods and did both in late Jan and very early Feb. Some where quite large, all the way down to sapling size. I swear I got 100% kill on em. May be the same for summer or after leaf-out, but I'll stick to dormant based on personal experience.

Plus, I'd rather be doing TSI during winter than warmer months. With that said...I'd take Craig Harper's advice over mine any time. I try and catch him on any podcast he is on. I don't recall if he recommends dormant or growing season for hack n squirt.

100 % success is expert advise. I will take your shared expertise over the other guy

 

[uturn]

Well I will also take it and I will be doing some now for 1st run at it…and then since I’ve got a blue billion of them I’ll go ahead and do some a bit later I’m thinking!

I really appreciate all of the input I consider it invaluable on my journey!!

 

[Iwannashoot]

For what it's worth I've also done some hack and squirt during dormant months and gotten very good results with imazapyr, but have also seen some collateral damage to adjacent trees with roots that were apparently intertwined. Tricolpyr has not been damaging to adjacent trees and is almost as effective at killing via hack and squirt. I have had several trees only partially die with the tricolpyr, so I now hack and squirt opposite sides of the trunk with it.

 

[cj580guitar]

For what it's worth I've also done some hack and squirt during dormant months and gotten very good results with imazapyr, but have also seen some collateral damage to adjacent trees with roots that were apparently intertwined. Tricolpyr has not been damaging to adjacent trees and is almost as effective at killing via hack and squirt. I have had several trees only partially die with the tricolpyr, so I now hack and squirt opposite sides of the trunk with it.

Dr Harper’s herbicide mixture has both tricolpyr and imazapyr in it.

 

[Triple C]

How is that better than simply cutting the tree down?

Thoughts?

Jim - You asked a great question but haven't weighed in on subject. Must be doing a lot of thinkin' on this one.

I shared some pics with uturn via pm showing some of the trees I treated with hack n squirt method. Though I'd share em with the larger group.

I treated this section of hardwoods in Jan 2019. Took the pics below in April 2020, just as leaf out was occurring. These are some of larger trees I treated.

Pic below shows an oak that was crowding a larger oak that I wanted to release.

Close up of the hacks I made when I treated the previous winter.


You can see the green up of the larger oak and the treated oak is standing dead. Treated Jan 2019. Pic taken April 2020.


A larger elm I killed. The smaller elm beside it had already fallen.


Larger sweegum I treated. You can see trekking pole beside trunk for reference.


Sweetgum was crowding crown of preferred oak. You can see it's completely dead.


I treated over 100 trees in this hardwood draw. Most were sapling size and over the course of 15 months, began to deteriorate/fall.


Over the years, I've felled plenty with a chainsaw, hinge-cut back when it was the rage (not a fan of hinge-cutting anymore), and girdled a few. Always had trees hanging up when felling with a saw. Pushing 67, I prefer hack n squirt rather than running a saw, particularly when I'm working by myself.