Silviculture

Silviculture is the human cultivation of trees (silvi = tree). Its use guides the growth of your woodlot like a garden. Nutrients and growing space are allocated to focus growth on the uncut trees. The uncut trees should be those you desire to be more vigorous, healthier, and have higher growth rates. In the process, those trees that would have died and decayed, as a result of competition with other trees, are harvested. This focusing of growth is called tending. That is only half of silviculture. The other half is cultivating new generations of trees. These new generations are referred to as regeneration. There are ways to influence the when, where, and what of regeneration. Please visit the poem page to get a more insightful description of silviculture. There are many types of silvicultural treatments. Here are the basic types.

Tending / Regeneration

• Weeding of seedlings and saplings with a brush saw
• Thinnning of poles and sawtimber
  • From below: cut shortest trees
  • From above: cut tallest trees
  • Crown: cut within main canopy
  • Geometric: cut to create even spacing of trees
  • Free: cut as you please
• Crop Tree Management: Concentrating growth on desirable trees.
• Release: cut the overstory to encourage growth of the understory
• Selection system: Combines tending and regeneration with each harvest
• Pruning: Cut branches to improve wood quality by decreasing knots

Regeneration: Starting a new generation of trees needs to be planned and then acted on. Before you begin a new generation ask yourself the following questions:

• Why regenerate? Current trees too old or of poor quality?
• What do I want to regenerate? What species? What area? -can be just part of a stand
• Will the site support the regeneration I want? If not, what will it support?
• Is there a seed source? You may need to plant seedlings or seeds.
• What regeneration do I have now? Perhaps you already have what you want and just need to encourage its growth.
• What conditions does the desired regeneration require? You will need to manipulate light, temperature, moisture, and soil characteristics to foster desired regeneration.
• How will I harvest to foster the desired regeneration? The following are types of harvests that promote regeneration:
  • Clearcutting: all of the trees removed
  • Seed-Tree: scattered trees left to reseed the stand
  • Shelterwood: gradual stand removal; such that the first cut maintains ground shade
  • Selection System: periodic removals maintain an uneven-aged character, also serves as a tending activity

     

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