thinning forestry???

creaghadoos

i have been asked to thin out 2 1/2 acres of spruce. these are 30 years old.

i haven't had a look yet but i havebeen told that the trees are tight together.

what space should it be thinned to, to allow for another 10-15 years growth.

LostCovey

creaghadoos wrote: »

i have been asked to thin out 2 1/2 acres of spruce. these are 30 years old.

i haven't had a look yet but i havebeen told that the trees are tight together.

what space should it be thinned to, to allow for another 10-15 years growth.

I don't know, but have a similar question, someone may help both of us.

I have an area of approx 20 year old oak & ash, growing roughly 2m apart, the oak looks very congested, and gets a heavy coat of mildew on the leaves in the summer - I think its too packed.

Should I thin them now, taking out roughly every second one?

Do Ineed a felling licence to thin hardwoods, and where do i get it?

Thanks and hope I haven't complicated creaghadoo's thread too much.

LostCovey

blue5000

creaghadoos wrote: »

i have been asked to thin out 2 1/2 acres of spruce. these are 30 years old.

i haven't had a look yet but i havebeen told that the trees are tight together.

what space should it be thinned to, to allow for another 10-15 years growth.

First thinning for softwoods is normally done at yr 16-18 when every 7th row is taken out to allow access. I guess (I'm not an expert!) this would be the first step, then take out any small or forked trees in the rows in between.

If no thinning was done in the first 30 yrs the remaining trees would be in danger of windthrow after opening it up.

Melodeon

creaghadoos: 30 year old spruce (Sitka?) is likely gone way too far for conventional thinning at this stage; the stems will be very tall and skinny and windthrow would be a very likely result of removing any significant number.
2 1/2 acres is a very small plot, is it surrounded or sheltered by other forestry, or is it standing all by itself in the landscape?
Probably best to get it looked at by a professional forester; clearfelling or leaving it entirely alone could be the best option at this stage.


LostCovey: A professional forester is your best first port of call, your hardwoods are getting on for being too old for tending/1st thinning too.
Yes, a Felling Licence is absolutely required. Available from the Forestry Service (http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/treefelling/treefelling/).

LostCovey

Melodeon wrote: »

creaghadoos: 30 year old spruce (Sitka?) is likely gone way too far for conventional thinning at this stage; the stems will be very tall and skinny and windthrow would be a very likely result of removing any significant number.
2 1/2 acres is a very small plot, is it surrounded or sheltered by other forestry, or is it standing all by itself in the landscape?
Probably best to get it looked at by a professional forester; clearfelling or leaving it entirely alone could be the best option at this stage.


LostCovey: A professional forester is your best first port of call, your hardwoods are getting on for being too old for tending/1st thinning too.
Yes, a Felling Licence is absolutely required. Available from the Forestry Service (http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/forestservice/treefelling/treefelling/).

Thanks very much, Melodeon, very helpful. I suspected they were in trouble, and I have only recently come into possession of the land.

LC

Melodeon

LostCovey wrote: »

Thanks very much, Melodeon, very helpful. I suspected they were in trouble, and I have only recently come into possession of the land.

LC

At 20 years of age, your hardwoods can very likely still be sucessfully thinned, they've just gone a bit past the optimal stage for deriving maximum benefit from the job.
The returns from subsequent thinnings and clearfell will most certainly be enhanced, just not by quite as much as had the job been done a bit earlier.

Melodeon

Got notification in the post today of a couple of Teagasc/Forest Service events next week that might be of interest:

Tuesday 22nd February
'Field day on the Benefits of Thinning Conifers'
2pm
Mountrath Mart, Mountrath, Co. Laois.

Wednesday 23rd February
'Field day on the Preparation for Thinning of Broadleaves'
2pm
Clonbulloge Village (outside Richie's Pub), Edenderry, Co. Offaly.


More info and events here:
http://www.teagasc.ie/forestry/events/farm_forestry_thinning_2011.asp