Impact of not thinning

brandonw123

I have forestry ( mostly spruce) that was planted 22 years ago.
It has been growing well with no issues.
I applied for a felling licence for first thinning but was refused on the basis that it could lead to windthrow.

I think department is a bit nervous after the last big storm about 2 years ago.

My question is:
If I don't thin, how will this affect the clearfell value? ( e.g. reduction of 5/10/15%)
There will be more trees at clearfell stage, but less volume.

Should I reapply to thin again next year?
Should clearfell date remain the same
Approx year 30-32???
Thanks in advance

brandonw123

Anybody ??

I have forestry ( mostly spruce) that was planted 22 years ago.
It has been growing well with no issues.
I applied for a felling licence for first thinning but was refused on the basis that it could lead to windthrow.

I think department is a bit nervous after the last big storm about 2 years ago.

My question is:
If I don't thin, how will this affect the clearfell value? ( e.g. reduction of 5/10/15%)
There will be more trees at clearfell stage, but less volume.

Should I reapply to thin again next year?
Should clearfell date remain the same
Approx year 30-32???
Thanks in advance

accidental forester

I'd suggest contacting a registered forester and get their opinion. You need a felling licence to even clean-up wind throw so having one in hand is a good idea. The forester will put the application in for you and will generally "walk it through", clearing up Dept. queries as they arise.

Regarding to thin or not to thin... We had similar situation; 21 year old plantation on a partially unstable site. The forester's recomendation was to not thin (but he still got us the licence). Then along came Storm Darwin and we had about 1 to 2% pushed over. We've been cleaning this up ever since. More goes over with each major blow (luckily, nothing significant this year) but we work away. We burn most of it and have anything worthwhile planked at a local sawmill.

I think the original assessment cost us about €100.00 and then another couple hundred to do the felling licence. There's a list of foresters on the Teagasc website, https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/crops/forestry/grants/List-of-Registered-Foresters.pdf

Good luck with it.

brandonw123

Thanks for the info.
In my case, the forester recommended thinning but the department declined the felling licence on the basis of thinning could lead to windthrow.

I'm trying to get an idea on the impact to final yield if we don't thin at all in the event of not getting a thinning licence granted.

What would be a good estimate of yield at clearfell on a 32 year old spruce plantation that would never have been thinned ( assuming we don't get a licence for thinning in the future)

redbeaard

What would be a good estimate of yield at clearfell on a 32 year old spruce plantation that would never have been thinned

Depends on how good the trees are growing now. Did you get an inventory done when you were applying for the felling lenience? I'm no expert but I presume that thinning on a less fertile site is going to make much less difference than on a highly productive site. Especially if you're aiming to clear fell at year 32 or there abouts.

Also my understanding is that you that the total volume is approximately the same but the value is different due to the bigger more valuable logs achieved by thinning.

If you're trying to compare thinned to not thinned for your particular site then it also depends on how many trees would be blown down between now and clearfell so it depends on how bad the storms are between now and then. So id say it's impossible to give a definite answer really.

fergus1001

brandonw123 wrote:

My question is: If I don't thin, how will this affect the clearfell value? ( e.g. reduction of 5/10/15%) There will be more trees at clearfell stage, but less volume.

brandonw123 wrote:

I think department is a bit nervous after the last big storm about 2 years ago.

Where in the country are you ? If the plantation is sitka spruce you should have thinned 4 or more years ago

If you don't thin you will have a higher percentage of pallet wood and pulp which will reduce the value overall because you won't have as much sawlog

brandonw123

OP here,
Thanks for all the replies.

I am in the south west.
The plantation is mostly spruce.

I want to maximise returns to justify the investment but don't want to lose it either by thinning if not suitable leading to windthrow.
It has stood fine for 22 years without issue & luckily escaped the last bad storm.

My head says to try thin to get a decent return, but firstly I will have to get the thinning license approved & then hope we won't get a bad storm between now & clearfell

SILVAMAN

brandonw123 wrote: »

OP here,
Thanks for all the replies.

I am in the south west.
The plantation is mostly spruce.

I want to maximise returns to justify the investment but don't want to lose it either by thinning if not suitable leading to windthrow.
It has stood fine for 22 years without issue & luckily escaped the last bad storm.

My head says to try thin to get a decent return, but firstly I will have to get the thinning license approved & then hope we won't get a bad storm between now & clearfell

Don't bother thinning. It's too late.
Trees keep stable by making roots, which is influenced by their constant buffeting by the wind. Once the trees begin to support and protect each other significantly, they make height growth at the expense of root growth so you have a taller tree with a badly skewed height/root ratio. Once exposed to the wind roots are incapable of supporting the tree and over it goes.
The key to when to begin thinning is toobserve when the grass under the plantation has died off. That's the point of the onset of competition for space between the growing trees and when you need to contemplate thinning.
Other considerations kick in too but the idea that you need to focus on thinning within the next couple of years should be to the forefront of your mind.