Oak woodland management

[hawk eye]

I cant seem to find out at what density to thin oak woodland. The trees are 30 meters tall and they are all approx 85-95 years old, some a bit bigger than others. I know they are all competing for light in the canopy. Is there a general rule i.e 4 meters between trees etc.

 

Are there any books around than might shed some light.

 

Will post pic's later

 

Cheers in advance for any help on this one

[Lyncombe-climber]

Lets see some pics

[elicokiz]

i'm guessing thinning depends on the woodlands yield class, and that has to be established over a number of years?

[Moley]

You need to know the mean Basal area (BA), BA/Ha and as Dave said the yield class helps.

[New Forest Firewood Co]

You need a decent Forester/ Woodland Manager with a bit of experience. There's a number of things you need to take into account and it depends on what your management objectives are for the stand.

 

As a guide with OK at that age/ height, assuming it's been managed reasonably actively or at least thinned a few times in the last 40 yrs you should be looking for a basal area/ ha of approx 24 after thinning. If it hasn't been managed properly or thinned before and has a massively high BA/ ha then you'll need to thin it little and often to get it down gradually to 24. Get a relascope and do some sweeps and get back on here.

 

Whats the range of dbh (diameter at breast height) of the stand? is the range massive (not been thinned much) or are the trees all the same size (suggesting its been thinned)?

 

You want to be removing the worst formed and the smaller diameter trees first. You dont need to do it all at once though.

 

Remember you'll need a felling licence for felling over 5m3 in a calendar quarter...