Got an area that I would like to thicken up, it's a corridor between a neighbors woodlot and mine. 3/4 of this corridor I've planted hazelnut, serviceberry and american plum. But at the one end where I've had some planting failures I have boxelder coming up...would you leave this grow or mow em down?? Worth it as cover??
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Boxelder.....friend or foe
- Thread starter Jimmy G
- Start date
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Almost any tree will provide some amount of cover when it is young. But there comes a point when most of them quit providing worthwhile cover as they age. Boxelder is one of those.
If you need cover, let it grow for a while, but have a plan in place to gradually be replacing it with something better for the long term.
If you need cover, let it grow for a while, but have a plan in place to gradually be replacing it with something better for the long term.
j-bird
Moderator
Boxelder tells me the ground is wet.....at least somewhere near the surface. I have lots of boxelder and I hinge every one of them within reason. They are prolific as well but I have not seen the deer browse them much. The smaller ones will hinge the larger ones will simply snap. I would either kill them all off or at least hinge them depending on what you are trying to do. They will also stump sprout well if you don't kill the stump. In my opinion once they exceed the reach of the deer for possible browse or cover, they are worthless, so I bring them back to the ground. The ONLY reason I leave one alone is if it is holding a stream bank or the like in a wet area.
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
I have a love/hate relationship with boxelders. They seem to grow anywhere and are the first to take over new ground. Like Native Hunter and J-bird said, they don't do much good over the long haul, but I do let them grow if nothing better is trying to fill the space (oak, pine, or sumac), then cut 'em down in the winter for browse and cover. I should hinge 'em as j-bird mentioned, but I get them below the browse line one way or another.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Would rather have Honeysuckle than box elder filling the voids on my place. Once a box elder grows and creates a canopy, nothing else grows.
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
Boxelder...cut down or hinge the larger trees, bushhog the small stuff, let it stump sprout to thicken up a bit and if it is even slightly wetter than your other ground, you need to start planting some species that are more apt to thrive in the wetter conditions. ROD, willow, mulberry, button bush, balsam fir and black spruce(tamarack would also work, but keep in mind they lose their needles every year) if you want to thicken that area.
I carry a bottle of Tordon with me and every time I cut down a box elder tree I immediately spray the stump with Tordon. I have no use for box elder trees. If you cut one and do not treat the stump you will have 10 trees come back from that stump.
My thinking is that an acre of land can support X amount of biomass. Any box elder tree that is growing on that acre is taking away water and sunlight from better trees. The rule on my farm is cut them all and treat them with Tordon. I do not even want to hinge cut them.
My thinking is that an acre of land can support X amount of biomass. Any box elder tree that is growing on that acre is taking away water and sunlight from better trees. The rule on my farm is cut them all and treat them with Tordon. I do not even want to hinge cut them.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
I am very prejudiced against maples. I have marked dozens of them for elimination. They crowd out the useful plants and don't do much for the deer. The also spread like crazy. Every year I have to mow down hundreds of maple seedlings. Luckily maple makes excellent firewood.
ymmv
ymmv
wiscwhip
5 year old buck +
If you've got that many maple, you could put them to work for you. You should ID any sugar maple and if you have enough of them, you could start harvesting and selling sap. You could possibly even look into getting a portion of your property into a sugarbush and have it taxed as ag land for the tax break.
I just had a large box elder that is on the neighbors side of the property line fall down onto my side of the line. I called and asked him if he wanted to remove "his" tree. He declined. So I have to take the time and effort to clean up a garbage tree because of where it fell. I am throwing all the cut up pieces of tree back onto his side of the line and am going to treat the stump with Tordon. If I could push the entire tree back to his side of the line, I would use the FEL of the Kubota in a minute. This tree is just too big. Examples like this only increase my hatred of box elders.
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