Now that you have chosen your crop trees, you can remove everything around it, right? Not necessarily. Oaks are known to produce lumber-damaging epicormic sprouts when the trunk is suddenly exposed to light. The right amount of competition to remove from around your crop tree is a balancing act. Drone footage can be helpful to see, from above, the right amount to remove from around the crop tree.
Tips for:
Identify trees that are clearly competing with the crown of the crop tree./li>
Removing 3 or 4 cull trees usually results in a 3-sided release, which is considered a minimum for releasing crop trees for timber production.
A 2-sided release is acceptable if another crop tree is competing on one side.
