"Growing Season" Burn

[Sasha and Abby]

I have a beautiful pine tract with about 80 basal feet per acre of timber. It has gums coming up like nobody's business. I have burned it on a two year rotation for the last 12 years and all it does is stunt them and then the roots send out new shoots later.

Dr. Grant Woods recommends a warm season burn to control saplings and promote forbes.
SC Forestry Dept and Congaree Park say it will NOT make any difference if I burn In April or in June/July.

Have any of you burned similar tracts in the summer to control? I know that my burn days are diminished the longer I wait with reference to humidity/winds...

I'm tempted just to try it, but I can get it done for free if I burn this Spring with the neighbors.

[Quackhead22]

I have a beautiful pine tract with about 80 feet per acre of timber. It has gums coming up like nobody's business. I have burned it on a two year rotation for the last 12 years and all it does is stunt them and then the roots send out new shoots later.

Dr. Grant Woods recommends a warm season burn to control saplings and promote forbes.
SC Forestry Dept and Congaree Park say it will NOT make any difference if I burn In April or in June/July.

Have any of you burned similar tracts in the summer to control? I know that my burn days are diminished the longer I wait with reference to humidity/winds...

I'm tempted just to try it, but I can get it done for free if I burn this Spring with the neighbors.

Wait and burn it in September or early October. And when you burn it burn it as hot as you possibly can without getting out of your comfort zone. Sweetgums have to be top killed. If you are just back burning it you are only pissing them off like you said.


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[thunderchicken]

Garlon.

[Catdaddy]

Garlon.

This, with a backpack sprayer

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[ShortMagFan]

Skid steer with a mulcher and then stay ahead of them with fire

[Carolina Counsel]

A pack of migrants with machetes and backpack sprayers

[scquackaddict]

Quackhead is right. Only way to kill them with fire is hot fire while they are actively growing. If they are over say 8-10’ tall good luck getting the fire hot enough to actually kill them. In this case chemical or mechanical and then start the growing season fire. To effectively control hardwood you need hot fire in the growing season (late spring, summer, early fall). Backing a piddling little fire you can walk through in January is doing nothing for hardwood control.

[Timberman22]

June/July in Summer if you don't plan to use chemicals.

[thunderchicken]

If the gum trees are over 10 feet tall, they are going to be almost impossible to kill with fire. Contracting a forestry mulcher is expensive. I would find someone that does forestry spraying with a skidder spray rig and have them do an application in September. If you get a good kill, you can burn it the following year to clean up the dead trees. After that, a yearly spot spraying can be used to control any new growth.

[Sasha and Abby]

I should have made it clear, that the burns top kill them and it looks great until the following spring when they start anew.

[Timberman22]

Are chemicals out of the question to use?