Is it best to harvest walnut trees in spring, summer, or fall for best quality of wood? Also how big in diameter does a tree need to be for a veneer tree? Does this apply to red oak, white oak, cherry, ash, hickory, maple, or sycamore? Are bass wood trees valuable? Thank you.

In general, if you sell your logs to a timber buyer, the contract will include a period of time that they have to come and harvest the logs. This is often 1-year or more just to make sure there is a time that the soil is dry and equipment can access the site without too much damage. There may be a slight increase in the value of logs cut in the dormant season due to low sap content time of year of harvest doesn't make a lot of difference in terms of wood quality. Most veneer mills have their own standards and specifications. Some mills might accept logs with DIB’s of 14” whereas other veneer mills require logs with DIB’s of 16” [DIB is “diameter inside bark” at the small end of the log]. Therefore, this generally means that you need to grow your trees to a minimum of 16-20” Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). Each species is a little different in terms of preferences and sizes for veneer. Purdue has a great series of publications on the different hardwoods. Go to https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/resources/publications/ and search for the term 'veneer' to see their selection. Basswood is typically a low to mid value hardwood.