There's definitely ways to get a more productive wood crop. There are even ways to make 20 acres pretty profitable, eventually. BUT, whether it's what you want, in the mean time, may be the critical factor. Also, the nature of your land and what's there now will make all the difference.

The best way to figure out what to do, if you really want to turn your land into a lumber producing machine is to have a local timber expert come take a look and give you recommendations based on first-hand evaluation. If instead of a timer producing "machine", you really want a more natural forest, post some pictures, and maybe a little more info, and maybe we can come up with some ideas.

The friend I was talking to is full-time forester, trained and credentialed and all that, with a decent amount of experience in private consultant forestry, private land management group large-scale forestry, and now in a government position. He's as much of an expert as I'll ever find, and he knows my property pretty well. But it sounds like the experts just try to maximize that roughly 25% and accept that the rest of the trees will pretty much just be filler. My interest is more in the marginal opportunities that are too marginal for the experts and professionals and/or labor-intensive and/or useful on the "homestead" but not commercially viable. I'm not looking for advice specific to my property so much as I'd be interested to hear ideas or examples of what other people would do or have done in the places they live. I should be able to translate to my own circumstances from there. Is there anything you do or have thought of doing (or might consider if you had a tract of forest) to realize more value in the space between your timber "crop trees"?

Here are some places to start:

NRCS on Small Scale Forest Farming

Association for Temperate Agroforestry on Forest Farming

Those were just a couple from the first page of a Google search for 'understory crops'. You could look that way or also search using things like 'forest farming' or 'agroforestry'. I'll bet you'll have hours of reading from just those searches.

I guess this goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway...be sure to checkout the many resources available from organizations like NRCS and AFTA. Lots are listed in the linked articles above and on the groups' websites.

How much do you get per crop tree for its lumber?

And how many inches of rain do you get per year? Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) trees would make an interesting understory tree, but they are very drought-intolerant..
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/trees/msg0710401824943.html

Or, you might also consider the Oriental Raisin Tree (Hovenia dulcis). This is a unique, large, fast-growing tree that bears sweet, edible peduncles tasting similar to a combination of raisin, clove, cinnamon and sugar & with medicinal properties! :P

Here is a link that might be useful: Oriental Raisin Tree

This post was edited by blakrab on Mon, Jan 20, 14 at 23:13

Pawpaws aren't nearly as drought intolerant as is sometimes expressed here in this forum. I water my smaller pawpaws only in significant drought, and have had to water larger, established trees only once (that I can remember) in many years. My experience is that pawpaws are actually MORE tolerant of dry conditions than many of the other trees I grow.

The problem I see with understory pawpaws is that they will fruit only sparingly in shady conditions. I see pawpaws in the woods around here that rarely if ever produce fruit, while rows of trees nearby in full sun are loaded with fruit.

Most sources that I see recommend full sun to light shade for Hovenia dulcis. I'd guess that fruiting might also be reduced on this tree when it was grown in significant shade.

sounds like you are talking about something similar to alley cropping. the usda's national agroforestry center has a lot of information about this practice and should be a good resource for you. a link at the lower left of their homepage will open the article.

Here is a link that might be useful: usda national agroforestry center at lincoln

sorry brandon, i did not read your links before posting.
we pretty much referred him to the same types of sites.

Cousin floyd.....

Cant remember if i suggested this, but look up sepp holtzer. He does this quite regularly on a mountainside. There is also the concept of food forests whih sounds exactly like the timber forest laced with fruit trees you suggested.

Cous, in addition to the good suggestions from Brandon et al, I would add that to a large degree, it depends on what species you are working with. For an example of what I mean, I've seen studies indicating that for two northern conifers-right off the bat, not where or what you're probably doing-total fiber yields can be amazingly similar for a given stand regardless of any previous thinning cuts or similar mgt. activities. But in those same studies-and I think this is obvious-to get the largest, greatest expanse of knot-free timber, releasing the best trees by thinning out the inferiors will add value. It just depends on what you want.

Another thought I had when I first read your interesting post is, what about ginseng? Hardly something that yields quickly, but the value can be enormous in time. then again, I'm thinking you might be south of the "seng" region.

+oM