I'm trying to regenerate Oak but seem to have too many black cherry coming up. I could be wrong but I don't notice the deer browsing black cherry. My concern is they will shade out the oaks for a while. Some of the black cherries seem to be growing in a clump. Do any of you go in and buzz off the black cherry with a saw?

Black cherry is low on the deer browse preference scale. Cherry also produces seed that gets spread everywhere by birds. You may have to clear them out if you want your oaks to grow. In my area if you don't cage or tube oak the deer will browse them all to the ground. Seems they prefer white oak seedlings the best, although I do see quite a bit of chinkapin oak regen in my woodlots - but white oak is nearly nonexistant even though I have some big seed producing trees.

I have a theory that Cherry was much more common than it currently is. I think the old timers cut them out because they were toxic to cattle and basically everything used to be grazed. I've noticed cherries popping up all over now and starting to really take alot of space in the woods. Birds love them.

Tent caterpillars love them too

Cherry leaves, especially after wilting, are mildly toxic to most herbivores.

Keith

Black Cherry needs a lot of sun to grow, as your woods age they will die back unless above the other trees. You might want to wait and see what all comes in. How tall are the oaks and Black cherries now? We cut our woods and I have cleaned out the invasive and thinned the black berries but want to see what species are coming in. I did plant white oak seedlings in spots I wanted them. Make sure to cage/fence in the trees you want

The trees really vary in height because we've had clear cuts done at different times.

Oak trees are shade tolerant, while cherry trees are not as shade tolerant. Cherry trees will decline as a woodlot matures. Cutting all of the cherry trees down all at once now may create too much sunlight which will encourage other undesirable trees (and more cherry trees) to sprout and flourish, leading to increased competition to young oak trees. Some reduction of cherry trees will help your new oak trees. Just don't get carried away with opening up the canopy too much.

shade tolerance can (and DOES!) change with age in some species. most eastern oaks are more shade tolerant at first, as the seedlings put their growth effort into root structure first. Later, they need more sunlight to thrive.

Black cherry is pretty shade INtolerant for their entire lives...they put their growth effort into height, especially early on (as seedlings).

you'll need to protect your oak seedlings from deer browsing, as soon as they poke their terminal buds above the low, local vegetation. (ferns?)

then, consider giving them more sunlight by daylighting around them.

there are a LOT of variables, and it's difficult (without seeing the site in person) to make good recommendations.

have you called your local forestry office for a site visit?

Depending on numbers and market you may want to keep the best of the cherry as you thin. Given the chance cherry makes nice logs that can bring a good price in the right markets. But its not an everywhere market and you need at least a full load to make it worth segregating out when you cut other stuff.

But that a good bit of sleuthing now for a maybe down the road

That's kind of what I was thinking too

I cut em up and burn them. They are everywhere here. Clumped all up with 2-3 branches dead or dying. Let me walk out here and take a couple pics. Be right back.

Do ya have any Beech in the mix AJE?

Is this what you are talking about?

I have never seen a beech tree around here to my knowledge

No Hobbie, doesn't look like that. Here are some pics I found on the net.





Here's a pic of the nuts. When you find a tree that's producing, you'll find game.

Very smooth bark,

What I can't figure out is if they commonly grow in clumps, because a lot of times it seems to be more than one chute.

Yes, I had the Forester at my property this week. He suggested cut stump Garlon treatment on some of the black cherry trees.

Another thing that occurred to me is last night I bought black cherries at the grocery store for my fruit smoothies. I wonder if wild black cherries are edible

yes wild black cherries are edible, I eat them all the time. Lot of pit for a little fruit.
Black cherry is intolerant of shade.
Oaks need sunlight to regenerate. White oaks more than red oaks.


I value Whites oaks over Black Cherry so I would thin the Cherries around the Oaks giving the oaks as much light as possible and room to grow.
Cherry grows fast and will re-sprout vigorously if cut or broken off. That might be why you see them in clumps.
Normally they don't grow in clumps.

There is also Pin Cherry which is smaller has smooth bark like young Black Cherry and tends to be more of a small tree or large shrub. They tend to grow in thickets.
You might be messing with them.

Cherry are stump sprouters like soft maple.

One thing I learned this year when I had the forester at my property is that it's common for black cherry to have some sort of a fungus knob on them. But it doesn't seem to kill the tree

Called black knot.

Wild black cherries are definitely edible

White Oak Acotns are like candy to deer. Watch them in the fall. They will walk right by a Red Oak and head for the White Oaks.

I cut out all of my Black Cherry trees and made Cabinet Boards out of them. I have Horses and the leaves and Berries are toxic to them. Didn't really matter up on top of the Mountain behind the haouse because the Bears had rode the tops completely out. The Tops were all on the ground. They must love those Cherries. You should have seen the crap piles. Runny and everywhere.

So the cherries are edible for humans but toxic to horses according to this thread

Ok, thanks.

I’d love lots of black cherry on my property. Red foxes basically live on them in late summer.

That's one thing I haven't noticed is an increase in red fox.
I don't think they drop their fruit in the summer around here but I could be wrong

I wish something would benefit from the black cherries I have though

I saw a nursery selling black cherry. They grow like a weed for me

When the wild cherries hit down here deer really eat them. They like acorns more but do like the cherries. I remember several years ago reading of a lot of foals dying (still born) in a portion of Ky. I believe they found that when the pregnant mares ate WILTED wild cherry leaves, the leaves produced a small amount of arsenic. It was enough to disrupt the horses pregnancies. I believe it was where they raise a lot of thorough breds, $$$$$.
Our wild cherries don't seem to hit as often as they used to. There are still good stands of them around here. Tall and straight as gun barrels. Used to be good money trees.

I think it's usually during a drought that plants and trees tend to get toxic to farm animals. It's the plant's way of keeping themselves from being grazed to death. I know I just oversimplified but forgive me anyway.

I don't ever really seem to notice fruit on my black cherry trees but maybe I'm just not looking close enough

I've been noticing the caterpillar nests on some of my black cherry trees. I think they're tent caterpillars. It's an annual thing.

Update: I still have too many black cherry trees. I may try Garlon 4 (cut stump) or just lop/cut them & let deer eat the sprouts.

The only cherries here are choke cherries, branchy trees, some do get pretty big....tiny fruit mostly pit, you don't see the fruit last cause the birds clean them up...Deer seem to leave them and they are everywhere...decent smoke wood...

Had some beautiful black cherry at my camp upstate, never saw choke cherries there...

My black cherries seem worthless but maybe deer will browse them if I cut them down and they send up new chutes

I went out and assessed my clear-cut yesterday and the deer have hammered the oaks, but don't seem to have touched the black cherry.. I wonder if that's normal

One of the nurseries I buy from sells black cherry. As much of a weed as they are on my property, I can't imagine buying them to intentionally propagate.