Removing Beech

[Timeless]

Backstory: about 10 years ago my family logged their property in the southern Adirondacks.  For the first couple years post-logging, the woods were great.  Plenty of visibility, plenty of low undergrowth, raspberries everywhere, and plenty of access.

Since then, there are beech trees popping up everywhere.  And I do mean everywhere.  Most are growing in clumps of several trunks and are 5-10 ft tall.  Its almost impossible to see even 10-20 yards now in many areas of the woods where I used to be able to see 100+.  These small beech are also holding their leaves late.  The mature trees have dropped their leaves, but these small ones are still holding on to their leaves even now.  Still hunting is pretty much out of the question for the foreseeable future.

I am okay with having some of these beech thickets around the property, but not all 90 acres.  Further, I do not think scrubby beech will hold much timber value in the future.

From what I can gather, these clumps of small trees are likely suckers off of other or larger trees.  I have cut small areas of these small trees to the ground in the past, and they just grow back from the stumps.

Has anyone ever dealt with this?  What did you do?

From my research, it seems I need to cut the small trees down, spray roundup or similar on the stump, possibly girdle larger trees and spray roundup into the cut.  Doing this over 90 acres by hand sounds like its going to be a nightmare though.

[Farflung]

I remember at a silvicultural training session given by the SUNY ESF researchers i  the 1980's that they were experimenting with mist blowing Round Up to get rid of persistent beech understory. Don't know if they perfected the technique since Roundup is now controvercial. Worked fairly well is you kept the mist out of the overstory. Common problem in ADKs and parts of New England.

[Bucksnbows]

Some articles about beech removal.....

 

https://www.themaplenews.com/story/some-strategies-to-control-american-beech/91/

 

https://www.maineforestry.net/improving-hardwood-stands

[Bucksnbows]

12 minutes ago, Farflung said:

I remember at a silvicultural training session given by the SUNY ESF researchers i  the 1980's that they were experimenting with mist blowing Round Up to get rid of persistent beech understory. Don't know if they perfected the technique since Roundup is now controvercial. Worked fairly well is you kept the mist out of the overstory. Common problem in ADKs and parts of New England.

The "controversy" you mentioned is that a law firm has decided that Baer who purchased Monsanto, the original maker of glyphosate under the brand name RounUp has deep pockets and can be sued.  Glyphosate is one of the most used herbicides the world over and has been for well over two decades.  Virtually every vegetable you eat came from a field that used RoundUp at one time to control weeds.  After 10-14 days, its effectiveness wears off and it is safe to plant treated areas.  I use it heavily to treat invasive plant species myself and always wear a double N-95 mask.  It has been off patent for quite some time, and there are many manufacturers of it today.     

[Farflung]

Bucksnbows- I agree with your post. I merely said that it was controversial, which it is. I use it myself, with Solo backpack sprayers and Fimco ATV sprayers.

[Timeless]

Outside of any "controversy," it sounds like this is going to be a nightmare to remedy, and only going to get worse without some action on my part.  Great.  FWIW, I have no issue using glyphosate to battle the beech.