First Thinning a Pine Plantation in the South

Rob Shaffer · November 14, 2013, 08:36:06 PM

Who makes the replaceable tooth cutter?

WDH · November 14, 2013, 09:11:18 PM

The one you see used the most around here is made by Tigercat.

enigmaT120 · November 15, 2013, 02:55:55 PM

Wow, most of my fir trees don't even grow that fast. He's doing a nice clean job on the thinning, too.

Southside · November 15, 2013, 05:51:27 PM

WDH - impressive job there for sure, but I have to say I love the bloodhound, lost my boy back this summer at 11.

WDH · November 15, 2013, 09:25:08 PM

Yes, I miss Miss Scarlet. She was my sawmill and woods dog. She was always so happy. Hard to believe that she has been gone almost 5 years.

GATreeGrower · November 20, 2013, 07:00:56 PM

Looks good! I no like to mark first thinnings, Id rather have that middle to walk in :D You marked it I assume?

WDH · November 20, 2013, 08:04:32 PM

No, I did not mark this stand. It was operator select. This was a very good logger.

Peter Drouin · November 20, 2013, 09:23:12 PM

Nice job. It; s funny to see trees in a row. We have some like that . I only know of one place that has rows of trees. All red pine , back in the day was for ATT poles. Our tree farms here are wild forest thinned out.

GATreeGrower · November 20, 2013, 10:02:40 PM

Then yes it is a great job. They took their time with it.

GATreeGrower · November 20, 2013, 10:12:41 PM

And cant blame you marking first thinnings sucks if you aint workin behind a cut down machine :D

WDH · November 21, 2013, 07:26:19 AM

I have marked some before in free thins where there are no cut-down rows taken out.

Wudman · November 21, 2013, 10:16:14 AM

WDH,

Have you ever seen the CSI flail delimber in action? I prefer it to the Chambers. It is a highly productive machine and causes much less stem damage than the Chambers. I have a handfull of producers running them now. One of the local loggers designed it, but they have not been highly successful in marketing it. Take a look online if you haven't seen one in operation.

Wudman

GATreeGrower · November 21, 2013, 10:53:57 AM

For me its not so much having the space, but the machine usually tears down the worst of the bamboo vines

WDH · November 21, 2013, 08:21:20 PM

Wudman,

I have not seen the pull thru-flail combo in action. Is it mainly for first thinnings?

WDH · May 12, 2018, 12:00:48 PM

If you look back on this thread, these loblolly pines were planted in 1998, so they were in their 12th year at 1st thinning in 2009, which was the basis for this original thread. Now these trees are in their 21st year and are being thinned for a 2nd time. Average diameter of the leave trees is between 12" and 14" in DBH. Here is a look at the pre-thin stocking on May 10, 2018.

Same logger as last time in 2009. Same loading ramp.

Post thin stocking target is 50 to 60 square feet of basal area. This stocking is lower than most Foresters have been historically been comfortable with, but I am more aggressive than most. I want fewer, larger trees, less pulpwood, more future sawlogs. Remember that the 1st thinning was also at this lower stocking, so the diameters in this stand are already much larger than with the conventional approach.

Skeans1 · May 12, 2018, 12:44:26 PM

Looks like about what we do in the PNW lots of first thinnings at 180 to an acre some are 160 an acre some areas will be lighter to weed out the pulp. The main difference is there's not much tree length thinning done anymore.

SwampDonkey · May 13, 2018, 05:30:44 AM

Nice job. After each thinning, the woods appear more mature after a spell. As a comparison, I would have 6-8" balsam fir in 25 years, if spaced 5-7'. ;)

Ianab · May 13, 2018, 05:59:52 AM

It's interesting how the different regimes work. Locally no one does commercial thinning. The pines are planted close, heavily pruned for the first few years, then thinned to waste at 8-10 years. Final stocking at that point. You might be dropping 12" trees and leaving them to rot, but they are only pulp grade, and not worth the harvest is that's all you have. Also most of the plantations are on steeper ground, which makes any harvest more difficult.

Matt601 · May 13, 2018, 12:39:50 PM

Are they 10 inch at 16 foot? Looks like they are I get a many saw logs out of that the tops pulpwood.

SwampDonkey · May 13, 2018, 05:24:14 PM

A 12" spruce is studwood up here, tops down to 2-1/2-4" and sawdust for pulp. If there is a pulp glut than yes it could be left, but I have seen piles and piles sit for weeks then all the sudden move to the mill.