BURN LATE - CONTROL WOODY VEGETATION

One of the regularly preached benefits of a prescribed burn is control of woody vegetation. That is true, but the burn must be prescribed for the right time of year. That is why it is called a prescribed burn. The burn is prescribed to accomplish a specific result. That is also why it is important to learn when to burn to get the desired results. If you don't, you will be disappointed with your results and think you've been given bad advice.
To get proper control on woody vegetation, trees, blackberry briars, etc., don't burn your native grasses until the woody vegetation has begun to leaf out. Depending upon the species of trees, leaf emergence could be very late relative to the growth of native grass. I've some instances where the native grasses have been nearly four inches tall when it was the proper time to burn for woody control.

This will stress the native grasses some but not affect them in the long term. Production will be less with a late burn but palatability and nutritive value will be greater. A late burn will also adversely affect any forbs in your planting. Unless the burn is extremely late it should not destroy any nests with the possible exception of turkey.

Established stands only should be burned late. New stands could be damaged but most likely a new stand will not have woody vegetation problems.