Cedar clearing... what's the story on these things?

[Gamma]

I see cedars being mentioned in various brush mulching threads very frequently on this forum, in particular by those of you that do brush mulching type work in Texas.

So what is the story on them? They must not be a native plant I gather? Where did they come from? Have they only in recent years been becoming a problem? Did they reach some kind of 'critical mass' and just start growing everywhere?

I even have them on some land I own here in Missouri. They're sprouting up all over in my field and even in the woods there's big patches of them. I don't think they are native here in my part of Missouri, so I'm planning on taking them all out.

 

[chh]

Cedars are a native plant that has gone out of control. In the past they were kept in check by burning. Indians and nature burned off all the grasslands every few years and that killed most of the cedar. There is a lot of info available on them. They take up several times the amount of water as other plants and destroy all grass growth around them. Mulching, trees shears, bulldozing, and regular burns are all part of the recommenced removal methods. Good luck and don't let them go too long or they will take over your property.

 

[JoeinTX]

Yes, they are very common and have become a nuisance invader in many areas.

Grubbing has been the most preferred method here historically......some chaining too....but roller chopping followed by controlled burn has become more and more popular of late. Chopping/burning is preferable for larger acreages though and not small scale efforts. How many acres are talking about here.

Hand-cutting is an option depending on what you want to do with a given piece of property.........chainsaw below the lowest green limbs/growth and that will generally kill the cedar tree although a few can continue to sprout out should you miss a node.

 

[ScottAR]

I know of one outfit in OK that clear cedar with skidsteers, pile it for drying, then grind it with a tub grinder for mulch. They treat the stumps with a herbicide. The landowner gets his cedar cleared for free and the company gets a pretty cheap raw material.

 

[Terra Firma Scott]

Cant touch them here....FDEP fines....100 bux per inch I was told....I stay away from them...

 

[EddieWalker]

Cedar trees are my favorites, and the only ones that I save. I like that theya are evergreen and look nice during winter, they come out real easy with either my backhoe or dozer and the logs I get from them are the most beautiful of all the trees on my land. I wish I had more of them.

Eddie

 

[chh]

That's what everybody in western OK thought a few years ago. The foresty division will no longer sell them west of I-35 to use for windbreaks due to their invasive nature and the fact that they are a fire hazard when close to buildings.
Currently I am dozing out every one I can on my property here in eastern OK. The plan on some of the rougher areas is to start doing controlled burns every other year to keep them in check.

 

[texasjohn]

Cedar that is about 5 inches and larger makes GREAT fence posts.... the red center NEVER rots ... at least for over 100 years anyway.... smells good....

The allergy doctors love them.... they are very good for business

They are about the easiest tree to remove.... chain saw at ground level and there will be no sprouts. As Eddie says... if your ground is right you can push them over rather easily.

 

[jeffinsgf]

According to my Private Land Representative for the MO Dept of Conservation, you can thank Smokey the Bear for the proliferation of the Eastern Red Cedar. The prohibition of burning, and the swift efforts to stop forest fires in the Midwest have allowed the cedars to grow unchecked. Naturally, they would be few and far between, and those that you would find would most likely be quite large and have few low branches. My ten acres has tons of them in the transition areas from woods to clearing. My current program is to thin out the little ones and prune all the low branches from the big ones.

I lost some monsters in last January's ice storm. I saved the trunks, sawed them into lumber, and I'm about to put the finishing touches on some raised bed garden boxes that I have built from them. I chip the branches up to 2 inches and fireplace the stuff from 2 to 10. The mulch from the chipper is the best. It retards weed germination, but doesn't seem to rob the soil of nitrogen like hardwood mulch does. It also lasts a long, long time.

 

[MotorSeven]

I have a large stand of them, & they will be comming down....right into the mill. I am turning them into a 1,500 sq ft log home. I'm with Eddie, they make really nice furniture/siding/fence posts, & schmell good too!
RD