Mechanical Site Preparation and Oak Management

Because oaks rely predominately on advance regeneration, mechanical site preparation techniques are not very useful for oak management in the southern Appalachians. Where oaks are managed with artificial regeneration, herbicides rather than mechanical means are often used to prepare sites for planting (USDA Forest Service 1995). One example where mechanical site preparation techniques are used in the southern Appalachians is to control laurel thickets. In one example, rows of mountain laurel were bulldozed and eastern white pine seedlings were planted in the rows (USDA Forest Service 1995).

Mechanical site preparation methods may be used in the southern Appalachians to plant hardwoods on former agricultural sites. In these cases, foresters till the area as for agricultural crops, clearing old vegetation and cultivate soil using plows or disks. Sometimes, these operations are followed by applying a herbicide to the soil surface just prior to planting to slows the colonization by herbaceous species. Even then, foliar sprays most be used periodically to control the invasion of weeds until crown canopy closure. (Nyland 1996)