I have found autumn olive thrives oly where other species don't. Where desirable natives thrive AO doesn't get in. In other words AO grows and upgrades the land making it desirable for other species. I've heard, but never seen AO choke out quality forests. "Rural Myth"? I have seen it convert poor land into land where sugar maple ended up thriving.

Autumn Olive was used extensively in the Appalachians to reclaim ‘strip mines’ (circa 1960’s) left from coal excavation. The belief was they would grow where other native species has issues on these exposed surfaces. The problem with this is, the AO grows faster than native species. Once birds spread the seeds into native forests the competition begins. In the spring Autumn Olive begins to produces buds and leaves weeks before native species. This gives the AO a huge advantage as it has access to unfiltered sun light (energy). Secondarily, when the time does come for natives to bloom, they will often be in the shade of an AO and therefore have their growth stunted. To make matters worse, the Autumn Olive keeps its leaves much longer into fall than native species. Again this gives this plant a huge leap over natives that have already gone dormant... From a timber perspective. Autumn Olive probably hurts hardwood production as hard woods are not very shade tolerant. This shade Autumn Olive provides is probably more conducive for Maples and other soft wood that thrive in shaded areas.

@@HarrisonCountyStudio I have heard these issues cited before though, again, I've never seen it. That, of course, does not mean it doesn't happen- I'm sure it does. What I have seen is this: my uncle has 44 acres in northern Michigan. It used to be 90% meadow. AO moved in and in 10 years it became an AO forest. Really! Very tall and dense. Next time I visited it the land had then become a pine/sugar maple forest and no trace of AO. The AO was very short lived and it prepared the soil for trees and did, as one could say, first choke out the sod. One my land (similar qualities) I planted 1,000s of AO. Flourished then died in a dozen years. Now I have a forest. Also I have the old remaining AO "stumps" that, among other things, act as cover and wind breaks. There are less than 1% of them left over that are alive. Both wildlife and I eat the berries. My land started off as an over-tilled /planted dust bowl farm. Invasives are just what I wanted and needed. Black Locust and Scotch pine did well where little else grew, not even weeds. Now those two are moderate but I have maples, oaks, poplars, conifers galore. So my view is as previously stated. I don't believe AO is all bad (now Kudzu-thats another story! haha). I'm not smart enough to know the answer but smart enough to know I don't know the answer. Plant it for a few years then kill it and plant others seedlings? I can say that here it was one heck of a nurse crop. Thanks for your input.

@@finallyfriday. pg

It may be old, but it is wisdom that never deviates as it is the basics.

I’m 49 and I’m buying a ‘wooded lot’. Half can be harvested this year, half in about 15 more. By that time, hopefully my four children can enjoy managing this cash machine. Deals are out here, just gotta be looking.

@@HarrisonCountyStudiohow did that go for you? Three years later.

@@gdot9046 we ended up with a 51 acre tract of land. Most of it wooded, with about 17 acres of meadows. I sold 20 acres of hardwood to be clear cut except for a few Hickory trees and a huge white oak. The remainder 14 acres has a few selected trees to be cut. This isn’t the original land I was hoping to buy. This property came up for sale and had free natural gas, which is a huge plus. It also has a nicer ‘lay of the land’ and has a stream that runs thru it. I’m fortunate we got the low interest financing in place when we did.