Applying Advanced Timber Stand Dynamics for Increased Returns in the Strongest Pulp Market in the World
The pictured loblolly pine stand is one that Andrew Brannon and I operationally established in Brantley County GA in 2013-14 for Fresh Ideas, LLC after a clean timber harvest by Varn Industries. The underlying soil series is Mandarin fine sand (fine sand for 80"!) that is somewhat poorly drained. Pictured here in the 8th growing season the trees are growing on a low to mid 80' site index curve base age 25 years. So, really strong for a soil with no clay in the profile. But what is operationally unique here is the planting layout. Every 3rd row is an elite OP seedling planted on a purposeful pulpwood spacing (5' between trees) and the other 2 rows are planted with an elite control mass pollinated derived seedling planted on a 10' spacing. These mixed genotype and targeted spacing plantings allow for 1) maximum early growth and removals from the pulpwood row to be removed at thinning (planned for age 11 in this case), 2) optimal growing space allocated to the sawtimber tree from the beginning, and 3) controlled seedling genetic budget costs. In this stand, at age 8, the dominant sawtimber trees have a mean DBH measurement of 7-8" and a percent sawtimber grade of 85+%. The pulp row OP trees run 6-7" in DBH. This is a powerful photosynthetic factory funneling value into high-grade trees from day 1 by utilizing the full knowledge of our genetics and silvicultural systems.
Some assume that a pulpwood only planting regime is the highest return system in S. GA, but our proprietary modeling shows increased returns from strategic systems utilizing advanced genetics and elite silviculture application. Through the Forest Owners Research and Technology Exchange, we have a Pine Regime Optimization Study that purposefully test and compares up to 7 different regime layout across different Southeast US markets.
Applying Advanced Timber Stand Dynamics for Increased Returns in Strongest Pulp Market in the World
- Wednesday, September 29, 2021