Coppice food?

[Telemark]

Telemark, post #12 - Good to hear that birch coppices well. We have a gob of it on our north slopes - much of it in the 1 1/2" to 6" dia. caliper size. They should work well. Thanks for the info on birch !!

I should clarify that there are several species of birch, and it worked with the one I cut, and the deer eat the new growth. But i only have experience with silver birch, so before you go cutting a nice big paper birch, you might want to read more about them. Also, I should be a bit more specific, the birch and rowan put up new stems from the roots instead of the stumps, if that makes a difference. I can take photos tomorrow.

 

[Telemark]

These are silver birch that get cut every few years.

 

[Telemark]

These are mountain ash that get cut every few years.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Telemark - We have black, white, and yellow birches on our north slopes. I'll cut a few of each species and see what shakes out with them. We had this area logged about 23 years ago and a lot of the birches we have now are from root systems of those former mature trees. If we can get similar root sprouts from those 3 species, it'll get even thicker, with good browse down low for the deer. I need to cut some down anyway to release some spruce I planted so they get more sun - so cutting some birches will serve 2 purposes.

 

[Tap]

Telemark - We have black, white, and yellow birches on our north slopes. I'll cut a few of each species and see what shakes out with them. We had this area logged about 23 years ago and a lot of the birches we have now are from root systems of those former mature trees. If we can get similar root sprouts from those 3 species, it'll get even thicker, with good browse down low for the deer. I need to cut some down anyway to release some spruce I planted so they get more sun - so cutting some birches will serve 2 purposes.

Have you guys ever heard of black birch? My buddy has something on his property that he calls Black Birch. Deer don't touch it. It seems pretty useless.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Tap - Yes, we have black birch growing on our property. It's also known as sweet birch - the kind of tree they used to make birch beer from before artificial chemical flavoring. The wood is very hard and it's a great firewood once seasoned. That's why I mentioned it in post #24. I don't know if it's a great browse preference or not, but the deer seem to like hanging out in the young whips & saplings. Lots of rubs in there, and when the original trees were logged, it got pretty thick with birch whips in that area. Great cover.

 

[Telemark]

Never heard of black birch. I don't think we have it where I hunt.

An interesting thing I should add after listening to that study from Alabama: Where I hunt in Canada, there are small seedling maples everywhere in open woods, but the deer don't seem to utilize them much. However, coppiced maples and maples that grew back from wind damaged trees are like islands of browse activity among the open forest.

Mountain maple seems the be the #1 preferred deer browse in the Ontario forest where I hunt. I will do my best to get more of these on the properties I hunt.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

^^^^ Betula lenta is the scientific name for black birch. I grows from southernmost Ontario and Maine down to northern Georgia. It's native to eastern North America. You can chew on the twigs and you get a pleasant taste from them, similar to teaberries.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

Tap - Yes, we have black birch growing on our property. It's also known as sweet birch - the kind of tree they used to make birch beer from before artificial chemical flavoring. The wood is very hard and it's a great firewood once seasoned. That's why I mentioned it in post #24. I don't know if it's a great browse preference or not, but the deer seem to like hanging out in the young whips & saplings. Lots of rubs in there, and when the original trees were logged, it got pretty thick with birch whips in that area. Great cover.

I’ve been working on some TSI projects and black birch is one that I’ve been culling and controlling. I’ve been using hack and squirt and cut stump herbicide applications on them. They are not preferred browse and are very shade tolerant which is why they can form dense understory stands that impede regeneration of other more beneficial species.
I have cut quite a few and didn’t treat the stumps because it was early spring and sap flow was strong so it would have just pushed the herbicide right back out of the stump. I have noticed that some of the untreated stumps don’t even sprout (coppice), while others that do sprout don’t do so prolifically. those few that sprout don’t get browsed...even given the “mineral stumping” phenomenon.

I have also noticed that the trees I cut flush or very low to the ground rarely sprout. But trees that I have left a taller stump on tend to sprout more...albeit very weakly compared to other species. I’m not sure but my theory on it is that black birch may not have as many epicormic buds as other species do. So if you remove too much stump you have removed too many of those epicormic buds thereby reducing the ability of that stump coppicing.


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[Tap]

Tap - Yes, we have black birch growing on our property. It's also known as sweet birch - the kind of tree they used to make birch beer from before artificial chemical flavoring. The wood is very hard and it's a great firewood once seasoned. That's why I mentioned it in post #24. I don't know if it's a great browse preference or not, but the deer seem to like hanging out in the young whips & saplings. Lots of rubs in there, and when the original trees were logged, it got pretty thick with birch whips in that area. Great cover.

I’ve been working on some TSI projects and black birch is one that I’ve been culling and controlling. I’ve been using hack and squirt and cut stump herbicide applications on them. They are not preferred browse and are very shade tolerant which is why they can form dense understory stands that impede regeneration of other more beneficial species.
I have cut quite a few and didn’t treat the stumps because it was early spring and sap flow was strong so it would have just pushed the herbicide right back out of the stump. I have noticed that some of the untreated stumps don’t even sprout (coppice), while others that do sprout don’t do so prolifically. those few that sprout don’t get browsed...even given the “mineral stumping” phenomenon.

I have also noticed that the trees I cut flush or very low to the ground rarely sprout. But trees that I have left a taller stump on tend to sprout more...albeit very weakly compared to other species. I’m not sure but my theory on it is that black birch may not have as many epicormic buds as other species do. So if you remove too much stump you have removed too many of those epicormic buds thereby reducing the ability of that stump coppicing.


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It seems that most species of trees does not get browsed much in the early sapling stage, but that same species will get pounded if dropped (for firewood or whatever) after maturity. Something changes with the taste or nutrients.
I suspect that a higher cut stump allows sprouts to get out of browsing reach sooner so deer end up not eating it to death.
But sprouts of low cuts are at browse height for a longer period until they grow out of reach.
Is it possible that your low cut birch ARE sprouting but the sprouts are getting eaten off before they can establish?

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[phil@thesidehill]

[/QUOTE]It seems that most species of trees does not get browsed much in the early sapling stage, but that same species will get pounded if dropped (for firewood or whatever) after maturity. Something changes with the taste or nutrients.
I suspect that a higher cut stump allows sprouts to get out of browsing reach sooner so deer end up not eating it to death.
But sprouts of low cuts are at browse height for a longer period until they grow out of reach.
Is it possible that your low cut birch ARE sprouting but the sprouts are getting eaten off before they can establish?

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That’s a negative Tap...zero sprouting on the low cut stumps of about 2-6” above ground. Higher cut stumps are only about 2.5’-3’ tall and the deer have had plenty of access to the sprouting from the get go, many of those sprouts are coming from epicormic buds lower on the stump anyway. Those higher cut black birch stumps have sprouts that are only 3-6” long with no sign of browsing at almost four months from cutting. To put that in perspective hickory and cherry stumps cut to similar height at the same time that don’t have browse pressure because deer can’t access because of all the tops around them have sprouts that are 4-5’ tall and resemble a shrub now.

You are correct, there is a preferential browse selection of stump sprouts vs seedling/sapling of the same species and particularly in low value/preference species. That phenomenon was fairly recently studied and described by Dr. Marcus Lashley of the MSU deer lab program. He called this phenomenon “mineral stumps” because of the extreme high density of mineral and nutrient density in the forage being produced on these stumps. He described that when the stem and crown are removed from the root system of the tree, the tree now has a massive root system feeding the resultant epicormic sprouting which is disproportionately smaller. The sprouting subsequently has much higher nutrient density. The deer do detect this and actively seek them out.

I have seen this with several species of low value browse trees and shrubs on my property. The deer will browse on beech stump sprouts...although not heavily. They never browse beech saplings though. I also see them browse bush honey suckle and autumn olive stump sprouts and never see browsing on young their young or mature shrubs.






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[Bowsnbucks]

I wouldn't say our black birch sprouts were a preferred browse after the logging was done. There's a mix of black, yellow, and white birch on that north slope, and I didn't evaluate which ones were being browsed most by the deer. The sprouts were from roots and stumps both, mostly roots. Some areas are VERY thick with birch whips and saplings. A lot of the slash was left on the slope from the logging and it's now mostly rotted down, except for the biggest junk tree trunks. I think our birch area is more security cover now, and pass-through to get to our food plots. Each fall numerous rubs show up in there, along with increased trail traffic. The deer hang more in the Norway spruce mixed in with the birches lower on the slope.

Oak and maple remain the hottest browse items after logging at our place, followed by cherry, aspen and hickory. Maple is EASY to grow stump sprouts from. We cage 'em.

 

[Telemark]

I have low deer density at my place in Ontario, but the deer key in on the stump sprouts more than anything else. I will be dropping a lot more trees in the future.

I have made a kind of small impromptu food plot by dropping a bunch of trees, clearing out the logs, raking away the leaves, and planting some clover. The stumps get browsed way more than the clover. And the logs get turned into a mushroom farm.

 

[Telemark]

Oak and maple remain the hottest browse items after logging at our place, followed by cherry, aspen and hickory. Maple is EASY to grow stump sprouts from.

Do you have any ash?

 

[Sconnie]

Ash, maple and elm work well!

 

[Tap]

Ash, maple and elm work well!

Elm is excellent. It hinges extremely well, it survives for years above and below the cut, and my deer hammer it. They stand in lush clover an browse the hinge cut elm along the edges.
I have elm that have been hinged 3 times. Hinge it, return a few rears later and hinge the new vertical growth and return again in a few more years and hinge new growth again. The stuff is almost impossible to kill by cutting.

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[phil@thesidehill]

I have an area that I am trying to keep the deer from passing through. It’s all very low value timber. I used a combination of hinging and felling to create an impenetrable mess. I knew that I would inevitably encourage them to browse the edges, which is fine, I just don’t want them being able to crest the ridge in this one area.

I had some ash in the 3”-10” range mixed through this area. These ash were not completely dead from EAB. I knew I could hinge some of them and get some growth. I also fell some for the “mineral stump” effect.

The deer have been hammering the top of the one hinged ash so much it has an obvious browse line. I hung a camera on it.

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[Bowsnbucks]

Telemark, post #34 - We have a few ash, but those not dead from EAB are in the process of dying. They make up a very small % of our forest at camp. We just dropped a few ash this spring for camp firewood next winter. They were in the 20" to 22" dia. range.

 

[Telemark]

Ash seems to be their second favorite after maple at my place.

 

[chucker66]

I asked this question in my Poplar Regen tread but thought I might get more answers from the experts I have quite a bit of coppiced maple in my poplar regen and I'm making some bedding areas in there as it was logged off about 10 years ago. My question is will I kill the coppiced maple if I hinge cut it or would it be better to just cut it off like the poplar so the roots regenerate?

Chuck