Site Preparation Using OneStep^® Herbicide

Mowers and bulldozers are often used to prepare tracts for replanting pine trees following a clearcut harvest. But for each hardwood stem you cut down with a bulldozer or mower blade, multiple stems can shoot up in its place. That's why using OneStep^® herbicide for site preparation makes more financial sense than mechanical site preparation. Just ask Dr. Alan Belcher of Brent, Alabama. He swears by BASF products to clear unwanted hardwoods that muscle in on his pine forests.
 

A forest landowner of more than 20,000 acres, as well as an applicator, forestry consultant and veterinarian, this Renaissance man evaluates site prep from all sides – effectiveness, environmental benefits and return on investment. And he chooses herbicides over mechanical site prep every time.
 

“We site prep to get rid of unwanted hardwoods,” says Belcher, “but we don't do mechanical site prep.” Mechanical methods don't remove hardwoods at the roots, which resprout prolifically, creating the need for costly and time-consuming re-treatment.

Site prep is standard among forest landowners in the business for timber production. It gives pine seedlings a needed edge on the competition – hard-to-kill hardwoods that steal much needed nutrients, water, soil and sunlight. Site prep clears the way for the incoming crop. A properly prepared site will have a minimum of competitive brush and weeds, allowing more room for the delicate, young pine seedlings to prosper.
 

OneStep^® herbicide provides an easy, onestep solution for southern pine site preparation. It combines two forest herbicides into one economical and hasslefree product: the active ingredient in Arsenal^® herbicide Applicators Concentrate and Chopper^® herbicide; combined with glyphosate, which offers better browning for site preparation burns and rubus control; plus a surfactant. Belcher, whose family has been in the forestry business since the 1800s, sees the clear advantage of site prep using herbicides. His pine trees grow bigger and faster, allowing him to thin his pine stands for additional income and harvest as much as 250 acres per year. “I was born into the timber business and have done that all my life,” he says. “That's how I got into medicine, working on the family farm. I enjoy the many benefits a forest has to offer.”