The plantation

The plantation

The planting season

The best time to plant bare-root plants is from mid-December to late March. It is advisable to do so one month before the leaves begin to sprout. Container-grown plants can be planted from October until mid-April. Depending on the availability of water in the soil, container-grown pines and eucalypts can be planted well into spring.

As for sowing, it is advisable to carry it out at the beginning of spring; ideally, just before the seeds start to germinate, with the appropriate physical and/or chemical pre-treatment so that they germinate quickly and animals do not have time to eat the seed. The timing will depend on the site, the climate and the location where the sowing is to be carried out.

The plantation

When planting, it is important to ensure the plant is buried just up to the root collar, as burying the stem will cause rot. However, at the time of planting, it is advisable to leave 2 to 3 cm of soil above the level, which will settle when the ground is compacted by rain.

The following video tutorials summarising the technique for planting broadleaf trees can be consulted:

Video tutorial on planting broadleaf trees in Galician and in Spanish

 

 

The soil must be left well compacted, treading firmly around the plant. Air pockets around the root must not be allowed for two reasons: to prevent the soil around the root from drying out excessively and to promote the flow and absorption of water by capillary action.[1].The plant should be placed in the hole or trench of the subsoil straight and with its roots well-stretched, without any kinks. It is advisable, if using a bare-root plant, to trim the roots slightly before planting (prick out).

The planting frame

When carrying out a forest plantation, it is essential to be clear about the production objective and the owner's availability to carry out silvicultural tasks.

Depending on the purpose of the plantation, the possibility of mechanisation and the style of silviculture, we will use one spacing or another. If you want to produce chestnut for timber production, you must plant at a spacing of between 400 and 600 feet per hectare, whereas, if the objective is chestnut production, we will need to plant between 70 and 100 trees per hectare, or even, depending on the quality of the soil, 50 or 160 plants per hectare.

If the owner has no interest in investing in annual pruning, they should aim to plant at a narrow spacing to counteract the tendency of most forest species to become bushy. Conversely, if they prefer to spend little on planting and more on pruning, they can opt for wider planting spacings.

As a general rule, one could say that the better the plant, with a guaranteed provenance, the more genetically improved it is, and the better the site on which we are going to carry out the planting, the greater the spacing can be, since we have a certain guarantee of success in the reforestation from the outset and would save a significant amount of money on the plants.

Likewise, it must be borne in mind that whichever frames are chosen will have to allow for the mechanisation of forestry work; therefore, a spacing of at least 3.5 m must be left so that a tractor can move through the middle without damaging the plants.

Plantation density for timber production

The most common planting densities in Galicia for the production of broadleaf timber are between 600 and 900 plants per hectare. Except for specific cases such as walnut trees, which must be planted at the final density (between 70 and 100 trees per hectare) due to the sanitary problems caused by stump rot in the ground, and poplars, which are usually planted at a density of 200 to 400 trees per hectare to prevent trunks from leaning in search of light.

The local pine and the insignis are usually planted at densities of 800 to 1,100 plants per hectare, and the Oregon pine at 600–800 plants per hectare.

 

Protection against wildlife

In areas where roe deer or other animals that damage plants are present, it will be necessary to protect them with protective tubes, game netting, electric fencing, etc.

In the first years of a forest replanting, it is necessary to carry out at least three fundamental silvicultural operations:

• Competitive vegetation control.
• The replacement of failures.
• Training pruning in broad-leaved deciduous plantations.

Competitive vegetation control

New plantations, especially broadleaf ones, are very sensitive in their early years to competing vegetation, so it is necessary to plan several clearings (either manual or mechanised) to prevent the young plants from competing for nutrients. Chemical control can also be aided by treatments with phytocides.

If the work is carried out mechanically or by hand, great care must be taken not to damage the plants. If a phytocide is used, great care must be taken not to spray the plant and to choose the appropriate time.

 

The Repositioning of Failures

It is common to have to replace plants that have not survived for various reasons within the first three years. At the beginning of the year, a review is needed and the dead plants must be replanted.

Formative pruning

In the case of broad-leaved deciduous plantations, formative pruning must be started from the outset to maintain the main leader as single, straight and vigorous.

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[1] The phenomenon whereby the surface of a liquid in contact with a solid rises or falls due to the force resulting from the attractions between the liquid's molecules and those of the solid.