Response to Crop-Tree Release: Sugar Maple, Red Oak, Black Cherry, and Yellow-Poplar Saplings in a 9-Year-Old Stand

Crop trees were released in an Appalachian hardwood stand (site index 70 for northern red oak) that had been clearcut 9 years earlier. We released 134 yellow-poplar, red oak, black cherry, and sugar maple stems of seedling origin to a 5-foot radius around the bole of each study tree; 140 comparable stems were not released. These trees were dominant, codominant, or intermediate, and all treated trees were released to a dominant crown position. On the basis of results 5 years after treatment, we do not recommend releasing crop trees of seedling origin for the species, site, and methods used in this study. Also, grapevines seriously damaged about one out of four trees that were living 5 years after treatment.