SCOTS PINE THINNING EXPERIMENT - STRAZNICE II (1962)

The Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands occupy about 17% of the forests area of the Czech Republic. In order to find out the effect of positive selection from above on growth and development of Scots pine stands, the experiment was founded in 25-year old even-aged stand in 1962. The stand lies in south part of Moravia near Bzenec village at an altitude of 205 m above sea level. Geological bed is sand, soil type was determined as haplic podzol arenic, forest type group was determined as nutrient-poor pine-oak (Pineto-Quercetum oligotrophicum arenosum). Research was done on two comparative plots: control plot without thinning and thinned plot with positive selection from above. The data were collected from 1962 to 2008 every fifth year. The results showed that thinning led to higher diameter of mean stem and dominant trees and also higher stand volume. Thinning also favourably influenced stability of the stand, whereas disintegration of control plot started after the age of fifty years.