Growing a food forest in a Oak/Pine understory

I live in south east Texas and am moving onto a new piece of property which includes a large forested area consisting of old growth Oak and Pine trees with a very thick understory of honey locust wild, trifolate orange, wild rose, and black/dew berry canes.

Does anyone have experience with clearing understory of a wooded area and replanting it with a food forest such as apples,pears, peach's, ECT. Basically just replacing the understory species with named grafted varieties.

Any wise advise from fellow permites will be appreciated.

Are you considering clearing some of the overstory?

Steve Thorn wrote:Are you considering clearing some of the overstory?

I wasn't planning on it because it's not currently a closed canopy. There's large trees are spaced out but there are quite a few younger trees that if left to their own devices would eventually grow up and fill all the gaps.

I'm just trying to figure out if others people ever do what I'm planning to do. I haven't really been able to find in good resources on it.

Does the trifolate orange bear fruit currently?

If not, might be a sign that overstory clearing would be beneficial. Thinning the pines could be easist. The acorns from the oak would help support ecosystem diversity squirrels, deer, etc

Have you researched the usefulness of the species you are removing? You might consider flagging a few well placed of each current variety to keep.

The species you mentioned replacing them with are more susceptible to various maladies. Ie, higher maintenance.

As for the task at hand, a bobcat with brush clearer on the front would likely be fastest way. If you can find native varieties of target species, that could help keep maintenance reasonable.

Other understory species to consider: pawpaw, persimmon, wild plum, blueberry, huckleberry.

J Davis wrote:Does the trifolate orange bear fruit currently?

If not, might be a sign that overstory clearing would be beneficial. Thinning the pines could be easist. The acorns from the oak would help support ecosystem diversity squirrels, deer, etc

Have you researched the usefulness of the species you are removing? You might consider flagging a few well placed of each current variety to keep.

The species you mentioned replacing them with are more susceptible to various maladies. Ie, higher maintenance.

As for the task at hand, a bobcat with brush clearer on the front would likely be fastest way. If you can find native varieties of target species, that could help keep maintenance reasonable.

Other understory species to consider: pawpaw, persimmon, wild plum, blueberry, huckleberry.

Yes there is a over abundance of fruit on the trees. And I don't plant on completely destroying the entire understory only to thin it and make space for new species. I have a large variety of young fruit and nut trees currently on my property that will be moved once they go dorment to the new property. They are currently struggling to grow and even survive in the open exposed ares that they are currently in.