• Graney, David L.
  USDA-Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station, Monticello, AR
  

A study of reproduction growth following overstory thinning and understory control in mixed upland hardwood stands was initiated in the Boston Mountains of Arkansas in the spring of 1980. Thirty-six plots representing mature upland hardwood stands on medium- to high-quality sites were thinned to residual overstory densities of 40- to 60-percent relative stocking density. Subcanopy stems were partially or completely controlled with herbicide applications. Growth of oak (Quercus alba L., Q. velutina Lam., and Q. rubra L.), white ash (Fraxinus americana L.), and black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) reproduction was monitored for 5 years following treatments. Before treatment, total oak, ash, and cherry reproduction averaged 3,000 stems per acre with a mean height of less than 1 foot, and there were fewer than 10 stems per acre taller than 5 feet. After treatment, growth of oak reproduction increased with the intensity of understory control, while ash and cherry grew best under the 40-percent overstory stocking treatment.