Red Oak plantation Question

Manugoss · Mar 25, 2008

Hello

I am a student and I am doing a small study on red oak plantation an I would need some info. It dosen't need to be precise but realistic.

1) How many red oak per acre should you plant for best results.
2) How many feet of wood can you expect per tree or per acre when the plantation reach its maturity. I am looking for best quality wood only, not firewood. Lets say after 60 years.

FYI the plantation would be in southern Quebec in Canada.

Thanks

hammerlogging · Mar 28, 2008

Monoculture?

Will there be any thinnings before year 60?

Manugoss · Mar 28, 2008

Yes this is monoculture. 40% of the wood would be removed at the year 30. My first estimate would be 1000 trees/ha so about 400/acres. Thanks

kkottemann · Mar 30, 2008

Manugos,
as you probabbly know there are alot of factors which have an impact on your question. Site is the most important. First is the site right for red oak, is it north or south facing slope? But as a general rule down here we plant oak/hardwood plantations on a 12 X 12 spacing which would put you at 302 trees per acre or 10 X10 spacing which would put you at 435 trees per acre. Now what we do sometimes is plant what we call chaser species. this is a species which will grow faster than the oak and force the oak to compete for sun which in the end results in a stand of nice clean logs and not a great deal of crown spread. It pretty much will give a greater percentage of sawwood tons in the end. We use sweet gum as a chaser in hardwood stands here, you plant the chaser inbetween the oaks. It makes for a crowded stand in the begining but after the first thining it looks real good and the oak can start to add some diameter growth. I can not see why you could not get 1500 to 2000 mbf/ acre in 60 years on good ground with some active management.

hammerlogging · Mar 31, 2008

So you can proabably look up a red oak site index curve or do your FSQI based on site parameters and figure your dbh and height of 10" top (or whatever your cruise parameters) and get a board feet per tree estimate. The chaser trees is right on- enhanced value with straight higher grade logs. Yellow poplar (but this is southern Appalachia) is another good one. Plus you get faster canopy closure so competition mgmt is decreased.

A good project. Just mentioning all these factors, even without facts, will get you a good grade. Silviculture = the science and ART of growing trees.

Manugoss · Mar 31, 2008

Thanks for the replies. FYI there is no slope, the ground is very flat and the is a small creek very close to the site. It use to be a 3 acre pasture maybe 40 years ago so mid size grey birch and poplar are present right now and will be removed. For the chaser tree, could it be christmas tree or regular poplar? How many years do you leave the chaser in place? Thanks

Manugoss · Mar 31, 2008

FYI I am a mechanical engineering student, so not very familiar with those terms, could you please define: FSQI, dbh, cruise parameters and mgmt. I have been learning so much on foretery with this project. It is too bad I have 2 semesters to go in mechanical enginnering because I would baybe switch to forest enginnering !!!