Silvicultural Management of Beech and the Beech Bark Disease

Abstract Herbicides were used to control dense, advance reproduction of American beech and sprouting from roots and stumps of harvested beech in a northern hardwood stand in eastern Maine. Beech comprised 51% of the overstory basal area and was highly defective as a result of the beech bark disease. Beech saplings accounted for 80% of the advance reproduction. The herbicides glyphosate (Roundup®) or triclopyr (Garlon 3A®), applied using a backpack mist blower, were effective in reducing advance reproduction of beech by 100% and 93%, respectively. When applied in frills on larger beech six weeks prior to harvesting, glyphosate reduced the number of sprouts, two growing seasons after treatment, by 85%; triclopyr by 87%. Beech individuals believed to be resistant to infestation by the beech scale were left as a component of the residual overstory, along with sugar maple, red maple, yellow birch, and paper birch. The two-stage application of herbicides followed by shelter-wood harvesting is a strategy for managing stands dominated by defective beech. North. J. Appl. For. 3:89-91, Sept. 1986.