INCREASE THE VALUE OF YOUR TREE PLANTATION THROUGH THINNING.

Thinning in Tree Plantation




Thinning is a term used in agricultural sciences to mean the removal of some plants, or parts of plants, to make room for the growth of others. Selective removal of parts of a plant such as branches, buds, or roots is typically known as pruning.
In forestry, thinning is the selective removal of trees, primarily undertaken to improve the growth rate or health of the remaining trees. Overcrowded trees are under competitive stress from their neighbors. Thinning may be done to increase the resistance of the stand to environmental stress such as drought, insect infestation, extreme temperature, or wildfire

Here are five types of tree thinning in forest plantation;
1.      Thinning from below - removing anything that will not lead to high quality tree crown growth, this low thinning can be split into 4 Grades: A Grade is a very light thinning, that removes all overtopped trees Kraft crown class 4 and 5. B Grade is a very light thinning that removes overtopped trees and intermediates which are Kraft Crown class 4,5 and some 3s, C Grade and D Grade are a moderate and heavy thinning respectively.
2.      Thinning from above - this crown thinning removes all of the trees that impact crown wise on other trees. Smaller trees, Kraft crown class 5 for example would just be ignored and left in the stand and not cut. It is also called the French method.
3.      Diameter - limit thinning this selection thinning is related to the Borggreve silvicultural system. Large trees over a certain diameter are removed for smaller trees in good condition to grow. These in turn after some growth are thinned. Eventually the stand is exhausted after several cycles and the remnant is clear cut and replanted. It is used with shade tolerant species like Western hemlock.
4.      Geometrical thinning - mechanical thinning like this is used in plantations where one row is taken out and the next left no matter the tree condition. A different grid might be used for natural stands sometimes called strip thinning.
5.      Free thinning - this is done as crop tree release and it means thinning around a wanted tree, over a stand this may mean in some areas no thinning and in others a lot of thinning. This heterogeneity represents where the most valuable trees are.
Thinning is often the most important thing you can do to influence the growth and health of your forest plantation. Proper spacing and thinning can reduce overcrowding and relieve tree stress. This helps maintain the health and vigor of your forest. Thinning can reduce fire hazards, generate revenue, and increase the value of remaining trees. From an aesthetic perspective, thinning helps create a more open forest stand, which often increases the likelihood of wildlife through improved forest habitat.
Thinning may be done to increase the resistance of the stand to environmental stress such as drought, insect infestation or extreme temperature.
Other types of thinning applied in forest and agriculture are;
1.      Ecological thinning: A thinning in which the trees removed have little or no economic value is called a pre-commercial thinning. Ecological thinning is a variant of this being studied for use in forest conservation. The primary aim of forest thinning is to increase growth of selected trees, but ecological thinning is done to favor development of wildlife habitat (such as hollows) rather than focusing on increased timber yields. Thinning may also reduce the risk of wildfire by increasing availability of groundwater as well as reducing fuel for wildfires.
2.      Chemical thinning: Chemical thinning is a form of non-commercial thinning in which the trees are killed while they stand by injecting a chemical such as glyphosate (Round Up) into a cut made in the stem. This reduces the number of live stems remaining, providing a benefit to those that remain and may be undertaken where the cost of a traditional thin is high. It can also be done on very exposed sites where breaking the canopy through a traditional thinning operation would expose the stand to a high risk of windthrow.
3.      Variable density thinning: Another type of thinning is called variable density thinning. In this type of thinning, the intent is to manage various portions of the stand in different ways to create structural and spatial heterogeneity. The intent is often to increase biodiversity or wildlife habitat. In variable density thinning, some portions of the stand may not be entered. These unentered areas, sometimes called reserves, leave islands, or skips (as they are skipped over) help retain a large range of tree diameters, serve as a future source of competition-related mortality, and may preserve snags, down wood, and understory plants.

Other portions of a stand could be heavily thinned or gaps or openings could be created. These areas accelerate the growth rates of trees in the open areas or on their perimeter and help retain or develop long crowns with live branches. Another portion of the stand, sometimes referred to as the matrix, is thinned to result in residual trees densities which area in between the other extremes. Over the whole area, a wide variety of trees with different diameters and species are retained. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinning


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