Why I hate cedar

[JeffJ]

This area was full of huge old cedar and zero grass. Six weeks and about 2" of rain and we have grass coming up. Sorry for the crappy pic. It was getting dark.

[Boomerang]

Weren't they juniper? Massive root system and shade does kill the grass.

[JeffJ]

Weren't they juniper? Massive root system and shade does kill the grass.

Yep. From what I have read the root systems are anywhere to equal the height of the tree to 2x the height. Water and sunlight hogs. Hate every one of them.

[jkelbe]

Looks like a great spot for a fall food plot

[Colton]

Kac!

[stinkbelly]

I love junipers. They provide a ton of cover for the animals. I know they don't provide any food and they reduce the grass in the area, but if that is the only cover you have, you need them.

There is some land just south of I-20 on 283 that had all the junipers cleared recenlty. Now it is a dirt field. There are so few trees left that no wild animals will be there.

[JeffJ]

I love junipers. They provide a ton of cover for the animals. I know they don't provide any food and they reduce the grass in the area, but if that is the only cover you have, you need them.

There is some land just south of I-20 on 283 that had all the junipers cleared recenlty. Now it is a dirt field. There are so few trees left that no wild animals will be there.

Sure. I think you have to be strategic in clearing. In areas with good amounts of large oaks and oak mottes we are more agressive than areas that dont. I doubt we will clear every single cedar but the areas we have seem to hold more deer, especially when they have some cover nearby.

That area is a great example. The line of cedars in the foreground creates a break that that is probably 50-75 yards deep and 1/3-1/2 mile wide. Inside that break we have cleared smaller areas. After that break is some more area that we have cleared down to a protein feeder that is surrounded by cedar for cover. From the feeder to the break pictured is enough cedar to provide cover and a sense of safety for the deer to get in and out.

[Killer]

Deer and other wild animals are edge animals and it looks like you created lots of "edge". Good habitat improvement.

[JackFlash]

I think the removal of some cedar definently helps, but I wouldn't remove it all. Deer need cover.

[kumathebear]

I hate Cedar too! Until I sold my small ranch, it was a constant battle trying to clear areas that had been "choked" out by this blasted tree. I could not afford paying someone with a dozer to clear them out, then got too old to last very long with my saw. Oh well, God put them here for some reason.