Wednesday, April 2, 2003

Pre-commercial thinning of pines can create economic benefits to Fayette County landowners

Fayette County has some of the poorest, least productive woodlands. When stands of trees are over crowded, none of the trees have room for healthy growth. This results in areas that are unattractive, unproductive, and that provide poor wildlife habitat; however, if overcrowded stands are thinned at an early age, they can be returned to productivity.

A healthy stand of young trees contains 300 to 1,000 seedlings per acre. While harvesting a mature stand it is not unusual for more than 50,000 seedlings per acre to become established. This occurs when seeded in by an old pine stand or hardwoods which sprout from roots and stumps. Similar results occur when old fields are seeded in by nearby woodlands. In such dense stands, trees are unable to grow well and become permanently stunted.

Aesthetically, severely overcrowded trees will form more of a thicket than a stand of trees. Economically such a situation is disastrous, since few if any trees will ever become large enough for commercial products. Dense stands may provide cover for wildlife, but with little sunlight reaching the forest floor, no food-producing understory plants develop, resulting in poor wildlife habitat.

Most healthy stands will periodically become overcrowded. This can be corrected by selectively thinning out the smaller and poorer trees, usually for pulpwood, so that healthier trees have room for continued growth. In severely overcrowded stands, thinning is not practical.

To convert an overcrowded stand to a productive one, thinning can reduce the number of trees to a reasonable level. Ideally, the thinning should leave healthy trees eight to ten feet apart. When trees are small, thinning can be done with a hoe, heavy-duty weed-eater, or swing blade. When this is not practical, wide swaths can be cut through the seedlings with a bush hog or drum chopper, leaving two to three foot strips of trees eight to twelve feet apart. Many forestry vendors offer this service.

The trees that must be removed have no commercial value, so the thinning will be a cost to the landowner. However, it is usually money well spent. The cost of such pre-commercial thinning is usually much less than that of clearing and replanting an area.

The earlier a crowded stand is thinned the easier, the better. It is usually more practical to thin pines than hardwoods. Pines provide much greater economic returns, so a landowner can afford to invest more in pre-commercial thinning. Also, pines seldom re-sprout, so a single thinning is usually adequate. Hardwoods re-sprout profusely, so follow-up treatments may be needed.

For more information on pre-commercial thinning and forest management assistance, contact the Georgia Forestry Commission at 770-227-5522 or 770-358-1459.

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