Groom trees for future firewood?

[thisoldgoat]

I have tons of young wild cherry, many growing in clumps per the photo. Would it be worth the effort to prune back the competition, leaving one to grow unimpeded, as well as taking out the "babies" (seen in the foreground in photo #2)? Or will I net more fuel by simply leaving them as they are?

If and when I lose the ash to the borer, cherry will be my best remaining species.

 

[Sawset]

Look up coppice managed woodlot for possible recommendations on thinning for fuelwood. There are also timetables for regeneration that are specific to species. Its a practice that takes advantage of juvenile growth rates to increase production.

 

[thisoldgoat]

I'll have a look, thanks.

 

[mark cline]

They grow like a bush , due to the fact that its very open around the tree. It would grow straight up with few shoots if in a more dense woodlot.

 

[Bad LP]

Had some swamp maples growing out of stumps in a wetland. We would run the brush cutter over them and they only came back as just a multi stemmed bush. Cut all but one major stem one year for fun and they are now one much larger single trunk tree.

Your mileage may vary.

I've over seen managed wood lots thru a forester and the management practices are different for what you are trying to achieve. I'm sure a quick google search can guide you.

 

[tadmaz]

In WI, you can have a DNR forester come and give you advice for free.

 

[billb3]

For the kind of wild cherry that grows here, if you cut one down, they tend to send up a ton of shoots coppice-style and while you can let them grow like that or even try to prune them back, you don't get a particularly strong tree as a result. That tree/bush looks more like just a type that grows that way and if they never get big I'd be tempted to just mow them down and plant something better.
Pioneer species here are feline (p u s s y )willows and then wild cherry, grey birch, red maple and white pine and the cherry and birch are eventually losers to the maple and pine.
We have a couple acres that were cleared, planted with Christmas trees and then the above pioneer species took over. We harvested some Christmas trees but it wasn't a worthwhile terribly profitable venture. Back then I wish we had had the time to either discourage the pine or plant more of it purposefully so the pine would be better quality pine.

 

[armanidog]

I have tons of young wild cherry, many growing in clumps per the photo. Would it be worth the effort to prune back the competition, leaving one to grow unimpeded, as well as taking out the "babies" (seen in the foreground in photo #2)? Or will I net more fuel by simply leaving them as they are?

If and when I lose the ash to the borer, cherry will be my best remaining species.

View attachment 239264 View attachment 239265

Out of curiosity, I looked at the Minnesota Forestry seedling sales. You may be better off planting silver or red maple seedlings, They are fast growing and can get very tall. They have the same BTU output as black cherry. The Forestry site said you have to order 500 seedlings and you can get different species in groups of 100 to make up the 500. Maybe if someone else would go in with you for the order. It would be some work planting them but probably not more than going around and pruning wild cherry. A private nursery would also sell maple seedlings but it would cost more per tree.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/nursery/pricelist.html

Here is a private nursery in MN that sells seedlings and the price is not too bad for the bare root seedlings.
http://www.ncrtrees.com/main/bareroot_stock/

A list of wood heat values:
https://www.almanac.com/content/best-firewood-heat-values-wood-burning-tips#

 

[thisoldgoat]

Hey, thanks a million for all the responses!

I did not know that about the cherry behaving more like a bush if it has plenty of room. It makes sense now: my "other woods" north of the house is more densely populated with various species including cherry. I always wondered why they grew mostly in singles there but grew mostly in clumps in the area south of the house. Wow, the stuff one can learn here!