Getting rid of ferns??

[BuckSutherland]

Our property was select logged about 4-5 years ago, a year or two before we bought it from the bank. We have a fair amount of stumps on the ground, but not bad, then we have a lot of big limbs and junk trees laying on the ground. We also have A LOT of ferns growing amongst all of that because its full sun for at least 70% of the day.


Would it be wise to go in and get rid of the ferns and try to get something else, established??? WE have at least a couple of acres of this stuff and I tend to think the fern are strangling everything else out.


They do provide good cover for the fawns when they are born.

 

[Jim Timber]

You have ferns because you have moist to wet soil. If you plant grass (or any of the legumes), your grass will use up the moisture and you won't get any ferns.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Well, we have a bunch of spruce trees we planted that I would like to get extra sun and I would like to get some extra sun on some of the little oaks and maples. Maybe I should just mow or weed whip around them a couple times a year??

The thing I dont like about were our ferns are thick is the total lack of cover in the fall. They just fall over and it becomes wide open spaces.


Also thought about taking like a 18-20" basswood tree and cutting real thing chunks of wood out of it and stacking them around the base of the spruces to suppress the weeds.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We have loads of hay-scented ferns at our camp and the soil is pretty thin and sandy in the woods where the ferns are. Dry most of the year. The ferns are the biggest impediment to new growth of tree seedlings or any other forbs, briars, berries. I have a cousin who's a retired forester for the state and know the state foresters around my camp area. They told us to spray the ferns with gly from July into the fall before the ferns turn yellow and wilt. It may take several sprays to get decent control if ferns are thick. 100% eradication is highly unlikely, but thinning them out and killing them in smaller areas will give other things a chance to sprout and grow.

That's the advice I got from 3 foresters.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I wonder if a little snort of 2-4d wouldnt be a little better route?? Would 2-4d take them out?? I know we tried gly this year and it did a piss poor job. I dont want to neccessarily get rid of the grasses either and thats why I wouldnt mind the 2-4d or mowing/whipping.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Any type of drainage project is out of the question. I guess I will just mow what I want and lime it up.

 

[Jim Timber]

Ferns are a very wide ranging group of plants, they're even found in the desert. The ones in PA aren't likely similar to the ones we have here in MN.

The ones we have here reproduce via spores. Drainage and Ph are part of it, but you need something else to grow to outcompete them. Areas where I can grow grass don't have ferns. Kill the grass and the ferns come back.

I'd try some of the cool climate shade tolerant lawn grass seed you can probably get for next to nothing on clearance right now. You'll be into it $20/bag or less. You don't want to have nothing. Those roots are keeping your dirt where it is.

 

[Buckly]

We have loads of hay-scented ferns at our camp and the soil is pretty thin and sandy in the woods where the ferns are. Dry most of the year. The ferns are the biggest impediment to new growth of tree seedlings or any other forbs, briars, berries. I have a cousin who's a retired forester for the state and know the state foresters around my camp area. They told us to spray the ferns with gly from July into the fall before the ferns turn yellow and wilt. It may take several sprays to get decent control if ferns are thick. 100% eradication is highly unlikely, but thinning them out and killing them in smaller areas will give other things a chance to sprout and grow.
I got the same advise from 2 foresters. Hit it with gly until it's gone. The ferns really suppress new growth
That's the advice I got from 3 foresters.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

You guys that said add lime are on the money. The foresters said if we can add a batch of lime to the areas we want good seedling growth, it would help. Ferns don't like higher pH they said. ( At least the type we have here in Pa. Don't know about other fern types ). Lime + gly was the foresters best plan.

If you have grass you want to keep, don't use gly. I never tried 2-4d on ferns - have no idea on that.

 

[sandbur]

I tried Ed's method a number of years ago with only marginal success. I hit the ferns with roundup at least 3X and got just a bit of clover to grow. Also used lime and finally decided my time could be better spent in other areas. Buck-that was the SW corner of zone 172.

 

[foggy]

I had some ferns when I bought my place (which had just been logged). Seems by getting more sunlight and mowing and applying lime the ferns are pretty well diminished now. I didnt do any concentrated effort to take 'em out.....just my normal practices of mowing, tilling and growing stuff and replacing the ferns with clover.