FOR-82: Shiitake Production: Monitoring Moisture Content of Logs

Deborah Hill | February 3, 2011 (Minor Revision)

Shiitake spawn cannot survive in logs that have a moisture content of less than 23%. Ideal moisture conditions for shiitake growth are log moisture content of 35% or more. If logs are left in the open air and are not monitored for moisture content, and climatic conditions are dry, the moisture content of the logs can fall to 20% to 25%.

FOR-78: Introduction to Shiitake: The Forest Mushroom

Deborah Hill | February 3, 2011 (Minor Revision)

Shiitake mushrooms may prove to be a new commodity that will provide some economic return on small diameter wood from private woodlands that otherwise would be used only for firewood.

FOR-77: Shiitake Production on Logs: Step by Step in Pictures

Deborah Hill | June 17, 2010 (Minor Revision)

FOR-118: Have Maples Will Sugar

Deborah Hill | May 20, 2010 (New)

Woodland owners may find that they have many maple trees in their woodlots. If these trees are larger than 10 inches in diameter, and if there are 25 to 40 maple trees per acre, woodland owners might want to think about making maple syrup as a possibility for increased income from their woodlots.

FOR-110: Non-Timber Forest Products and Agroforestry

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

Agroforestry is the practice of integrating long-term tree crops with annual agronomic crops and/or livestock. This type of integrated agriculture has been successfully practiced for thousands of years in many parts of the world, especially in the tropics. Temperate regions have been a bit slower to adopt agroforestry practices, but in the past decade or so, there has been increasing interest in using agroforestry techniques in temperate countries around the world.

FOR-113: Argoforestry: Silvopasture

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

In the practice of silvopasture, you have three simultaneous crops: the tree crop, the forage crop, and the livestock crop. As with other agroforestry practices, if you plan to use biocides (pesticides, fungicides, insecticides) and/or chemical fertilizers, you must be sure that all of the component parts of the proposed system can tolerate the additives. Foresters have a long-standing attitude that cattle and trees do not mix (because of soil compaction and rubbing around and on the trees by the livestock), but in this case, you are intentionally putting them together, ideally for mutual benefit.

FOR-116: Agroforestry: Christmas Trees

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

Kentucky has always had a Christmas tree industry, although at a very small scale. The benefits of producing Christmas trees include guaranteed market every year, a short growing period relative to other tree crops, periodic intensive management (planting, shearing, marketing) but otherwise not much time required in management, and a good return on investment.

FOR-111: Agroforestry: Alley Cropping

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

Alley cropping is probably the most commonly used technique of agroforestry. It simply involves planting single or double lines of trees and/or shrubs intercropped with a wide "alley" of either row crops or pasture grasses. The width of the alley is determined by the size of the harvesting equipment needed for the crop grown in the alley.

FOR-114: Agroforestry: Windbreaks

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

Windbreaks were first used extensively in the United States in the 1930s, after the Dust Bowl days made it clear that certain agricultural practices tended to facilitate the loss of topsoil by wind erosion. They are also a practical agroforestry technique in any location where there are significant prevailing winds. Windbreaks are used to manage snow, improve irrigation efficiency, screen views and reduce noise, protect farm crops and farm buildings, protect free-ranging livestock, provide wildlife habitat, and provide non-timber forest products (e.g., berries, woody florals).

FOR-117: Medicinal Plants

Deborah Hill | August 11, 2009 (New)

People have harvested and processed forest plants for medicinal purposes since the beginning of recorded history. Ginseng is perhaps the one best known in Kentucky because it is easily the most commercially valuable. However, if you read health supplement labels in all the "big box" stores or other similar locations, you will find goldenseal, blue cohosh, black cohosh, bloodroot, wild ginger, slippery elm, witch-hazel, mayapple, and many other forest plant-derived substances. There are established markets for these plants, although not as obvious as corn, soybean, or cattle markets.