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

Deborah Hill | Feb. 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%.

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FOR-78: Introduction to Shiitake: The Forest Mushroom

Deborah Hill | Feb. 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.

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

Deborah Hill | Jun. 17, 2010 (Minor Revision)

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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.

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FOR-112: Agroforestry: Riparian Buffer Strips

Deborah Hill | Aug. 11, 2009 (New)

Riparian buffer strips are zones of native trees, shrubs, and grasses designed to protect the temperature and clarity of moving water and to prevent agricultural chemicals and soil from eroding directly into stream water. The Kentucky Water Quality Act of 1994 encouraged farmers to protect their streams from soil erosion and compaction from livestock. Best management practices (BMPs) for people who are harvesting timber require streamside management zones (SMZs).

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FOR-115: Agroforestry: Forest Farming

Deborah Hill | Aug. 11, 2009 (New)

Of all the techniques of agroforestry, forest farming is probably the one most useful to landowners in Kentucky. Most have some forestland, and many of those owners don't really "do" anything with that land, keeping it for wildlife habitat, recreation, or a possible timber sale if there is a sudden need for cash. However, with some professional help from a consultant forester or from the Kentucky Division of Forestry, forest landowners can implement something called timber stand improvement (TSI). Forest farming can be a part of that decision, if the landowner considers the options before starting the TSI operation.

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FOR-110: Non-Timber Forest Products and Agroforestry

Deborah Hill | Aug. 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.

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FOR-113: Argoforestry: Silvopasture

Deborah Hill | Aug. 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.

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FOR-116: Agroforestry: Christmas Trees

Deborah Hill | Aug. 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.

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FOR-111: Agroforestry: Alley Cropping

Deborah Hill | Aug. 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.