Learning goals
- You can identify the different wood qualities of mature, standing trees
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You can select elite trees for quality wood production in young stands.
Lesson 1 - What is (top) quality wood? (5 min)
If the current trend continues and the forest manager is expected to make efforts for multifunctional forest management that combines income from timber harvesting with the achievement of the desired nature quality, this means concentrating the economic (wood) value in as few high-quality trees as possible.
As such, not every m² of forest has to be involved in production and there is enough room for spontaneous forest development.
In the following video you will learn what we mean by wood quality.
Lesson 2 - Discover the possible errors in mature, standing trees (10 - 20 min)
In modern, close-to-nature silviculture aimed at concentrating the production of high quality timber in a very restricted number of crop trees, it is of great importance to obtain a good profit at the end of their growth period. Identifying the high quality trees when they reach their target diameter is one of the key skills a modern forester needs to have. With some species there is a short window of opportunity, others can remain standing beyond their target diameter and age a bit longer without decreasing their value.
In the following interactive illustration(opent nieuw venster) you can learn all about the possible errors in mature, standing trees that will devaluate the price of the wood.
Lesson 3 - Instruction to select the ideal crop tree at the end of qualification - beginning of dimensioning phase (10 - 20 min)
When selecting future crop trees at the end of qualification or beginning of dimensioning phase, an assessment must be made of their potential future wood quality. This is not an easy task and comes with the necessary uncertainties. However, the following can be rejected with certainty in that phase:
- non-vital trees,
- too strong curvature,
- too much or too thick branches,
- fork at low height
- or other obvious flaws in the trunk such as frost cracks.
In order to reduce the proportion of timber defects to a minimum, the manager must have the following things in order:
- Trees are growing according to their preferred and optimal site conditions
- Provide good guidance for quality trees (good light climate, natural branch dying thanks to sufficient canopy closure amongst the young trees, game protection ...).
- Applying good forest treatment at the right time (pruning, thinning ...)
In the following interactive illustriation(opent nieuw venster) you will explore an assessment sheet to guide you through the selection of future crop trees on the terrain.