Late Growing Season Fire

[Sasha and Abby]

I have a tract that is about 40 acres that is chip/saw pines and oaks with some gums. Have burned March/April just about every year for the last 10+. Getting nice burs but the gums are just top killed and most come back. I'm considering doing a late summer/early fall rotation to promote more forms and hopefully get a better kill on the small gums that keep coming back. Anyone ever done this?

Alabama and Mississippi speak highly of this technique.

[GBelly]

growing season burn is what you need
may/june

[Sasha and Abby]

OK - I can try that.

Gene
Why would you not wait until later in the summer when there is less store energy in the roots of the undesirables?

[Calibogue]

Both timings are very effective I tend to like the September October Burns better. They are very cool fires

[GBelly]

and no two fires are the same due to weather, fuel, site and timing. definitely need good open canopy in your pine stand to handle the heat from growing season.

I dont get to burn much these days and most of my experience that amounted to much is approaching a solid decade ago now. I do get to see a lot of different properties across the state weekly and its always interesting to me the different results from burning

[Quackhead22]

Both timings are very effective I tend to like the September October Burns better. They are very cool fires

This!! It’s become my favorite time to burn! I have found it far more effective at killing unwanted hardwoods than any other time..

Sasha how big are the gum trees? Once they get to >2in DBH the likelihood of killing them drops off dramatically!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thunderchicken]

Cali is 100% correct. You WILL NOT kill gums with a dormant season burn. Late September, early October is by far the most effective time.

[Slaya]

We ran some fire this fall. Interested to see what comes out this spring. Will also burn some over the next few months, especially areas with mast producing trees we'd like not to hurt. Most of our burning has been dormant season. Never burned in the summer, but now that we have fire seasoned blocks, it may be interesting to mix one in. I'm with Gene, it's always interesting to see the results of mixing things up, and trying new techniques. We've had some success on smaller gums if you can catch them budding out on a hot fire in early spring. Chemical has given us the best results with knocking them down.

[banded_mallard]

What conditions are you guys looking for in the July-September?. We just thinned for the 4th time to a 40-50 basal area. I was looking to implement some late season burns. Targeting sweet gums we get in Feb/march but obviously root sprout.

[Sasha and Abby]

This!! It’s become my favorite time to burn! I have found it far more effective at killing unwanted hardwoods than any other time..

Sasha how big are the gum trees? Once they get to >2in DBH the likelihood of killing them drops off dramatically!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sprouts/whips. Less than 1/2" at the bottom just coming up from roots. Some are 4' tall.

[Quackhead22]

Sprouts/whips. Less than 1/2" at the bottom just coming up from roots. Some are 4' tall.

September to mid October let it rip!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Calibogue]

At the end of the day, implementing controlled fire is a challenging task both technically and fundamentally.
That said, good fire is when you have the time in your schedule to make it happen!
When you can make smoke, do it!