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Bulletin
Help Your Preferred Trees Grow
Select trees for wildlife, aesthetics, and products
What does it mean to favor preferred trees?
Favoring preferred trees means selecting those with the greatest potential to accomplish your objectives for your backyard woods and giving them special treatment by removing the competition from adjacent trees. Trees with tops (crowns) touching are competing with each other. Roots for most tree species extend twice as wide as the crown, and most of the tree roots are in the top 18 inches of the soil. Tree crowns compete for sunlight and roots compete for moisture and nutrients.
Eliminating competition from other trees increases the light, moisture, and nutrients available to a preferred tree so it will be healthier and grow faster. The forest canopy will be more open after employing this technique, and preferred trees will have more growth space.
Favoring individual trees is analogous to a gardener tend¬ing a row of carrots. The goal is to produce carrots that are large enough to eat. When the seeds are sown, many carrots germinate and become crowded and unable to grow rapidly. The gardener thins the carrots to provide ample light, moisture, and nutrients to the “keeper” carrots, so they will grow large.
In This Bulletin
Here’s what’s inside:
- Why would I want to favor individual trees? – the benefits of this strategy
- Is my backyard woods suited to this technique? – identifying forests where this works best
- How many preferred trees should I have? – factors to consider
- How do I select preferred trees? – criteria to guide you
- How do I increase the value of wood products from my woods? – selecting preferred trees that can produce high-value products
- How do I select trees to attract wildlife? – focusing on habitat
- How do I enhance the aesthetic appeal of my woods? – allowing preferred trees to shine
- What do I do with competing trees? – getting the most out of the trees you remove
- If I want to proceed, what do I do? – taking action for preferred trees