Pruning conifers

[Mrblue5000]

New member here, did a search on the subject and couldn't find anything so here goes. I'm a farmer with 14 acres of a mix of Sitka spruce, Norway and a bit of Alder in v. wet areas. It was planted 17 years ago and hasn't been thinned yet, hope to do it this winter 2020-21. 

 

I have some inspection paths cut through it, just by pruning a line of trees up to about 2m. In the Norway Spruce (NS) I have started to prune an odd bigger tree here and there next to the mounding drains up to approx 3.5m .  Plan is that these will be my final crop. The trees that I'm pruning are 15-20cm dbh and about 8-10m high. Basically what I'm removing are dead branches with the aim of producing more valuable knot free timber.

 

First question am I mad?

Secondly I know it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string question' but is it worth it? 

 

Below is a before and after pic

[Stere]

 

 

Quote

Secondly I know it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string question' but is it worth it?

 

https://www.fas.scot/downloads/tn695-pruning-improve-timber-quality/

 

https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/87/3/417/2756017

 

Iv'e no idea

 

Seems a complicated thing  so many factors  from reading around abit.

 

 

[slack ma girdle]

If you have the time, then do it. You will get better timber, and a better price for the final crop.
This might be of interest.

Pruning of pine in a 15 years old stand (video) | Forestry.com

WWW.FORESTRY.COM

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Pruning of trees increase the volume of knot-free wood and the value of the forest. Here you can read more about pruning of pine in Sweden.

[Khriss]

Its going for fuel wood chip  ?  give yr shoulders a rest !  K

[openspaceman]

14 hours ago, slack ma girdle said:

If you have the time, then do it. You will get better timber,

True and I bought my first telescopic silky for pruning douglas that was spaced 6' by 8'

14 hours ago, slack ma girdle said:

 

and a better price for the final crop.
 

And that becomes doubtful unless you use of saw the timber to show the higher grade

12 hours ago, Khriss said:

Its going for fuel wood chip  ?  give yr shoulders a rest !  K

Sad but probably true. Will you get a sympathetic harvester driver in on a 5Ha site nowadays. It's different in Scandinavia because they have a culture of harvesting little sites.

[ESS]

Reading the original post if its purely dead branches that are being removed I doubt this is improving the quality of timber.

Unless its higher value log such as Douglas or Larch that has the potential to be boatskin I personally would save my energy.

High output mills only buy run of the mill log on a red or green basis, and that's based more on the presence of large live knots, straightness and form , dead knots are of little consequence to the bulk market.

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, ESS said:

Reading the original post if its purely dead branches that are being removed I doubt this is improving the quality of timber.

The point being that all the wood laid down subsequent to the pruning will be clear timber.

 

The aim is to have a knotty 100mm core to 6m in two or three lifts

 

Choosing the right trees to prune is a problem and then avoiding harming them during thinning.

 

In slower grown stands in colder climates falling snow does the job for you.

 

As we have little pruned timber here getting a premium price is the problem. Also net discounted revenue means that the cost would be unlikely to be recovered at felling.

[difflock]

I took a walk through the Ash I planted 10 to 15 years ago, only a few dozen of them, spaced about 3m apart, and was tickled by the beautiful clean straight smooth boles, up to 200mm dia, to about 3m high.

I had idily pruned them a couple of times in the intervening years, more to stop branches slapping me in the face when walking, but it must be said also curiosity as to the difference it would make to the form of the grown trees.

I was quite pleased with the results.

Twill be a wile pity to lose them to Ash dieback, but hey-ho.

Marcus

[slack ma girdle]

It depends on whether you take pride in your woodlands, taken from an owners perspective.
A wood with well spaced clean stems is going to get a better price standing.

[ESS]

16 hours ago, openspaceman said:

 

 

As we have little pruned timber here getting a premium price is the problem. Also net discounted revenue means that the cost would be unlikely to be recovered at felling.

Is it a case of that or more a case of most softwood mills buy either red/green quality logs at specific tdub. 

Very few softwood mills run a bandsaw now , and unless an exceptional stand was within a reasonable distance of a sawmill that is prepared to pay a premium, and has the ability to mill, any gain on standing price could be absorbed by extra haulage costs , particularly with s/s, n/s , most mills look for a max tdub of 45-50 cm, but considering this is only on log lengths ranging from 2.5 to 4.9 we are not talking about particularly large trees. Douglas/ Larch would be a different story.

Even crops with a large proportion of green quality log attract a premium, average dead knot would not disadvantage it in todays market.