Mats Warensjö, Göran Rune. (2004). Stem straightness and compression wood in a 22-year-old stand of container-grown Scots pine trees. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 2 article id 424. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.424

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; stem form; eccentricity; reaction wood

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The distribution of compression wood in relation to eccentric growth and development of stem straightness was studied in a 22-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand in central Sweden that was established with container-grown seedlings. Stem straightness was measured on the same 440 trees in 1986 and 1997. The number of stems with straight base sections increased from 60% in 1986 to 89% in 1997. Measurements of 72 sample trees in 2001 showed that 96% of the trees had developed straight stem bases. External geometry data of the logs was obtained with a Rema 3D log scanner. A sub-sample of 16 trees was randomly selected for analysis of compression wood distribution and eccentricity measurements. From each tree, 11 discs were cut at every 60 cm along the stem. All discs, except one, contained compression wood. Compression wood and pith eccentricity was most pronounced near the stem base but not significantly correlated to basal sweep. Severe compression wood content was correlated to pith eccentricity and bow height. In general, correlations were better for the basal sections of the logs. Even though most trees were straight, they contained large amounts of compression wood. It is evident that eccentric growth and compression wood formation play major roles in the development of stem straightness. In several stems, a spiral compression wood distribution pattern was found. Reasons for this are discussed.

Warensjö, Department of Forest Products and Markets, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83 Umeå, Sweden E-mail: mats.warensjo@spm.slu.se
Rune, Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Dalarna University, SE-776 98 Garpenberg, Sweden E-mail: gr@nn.se

article id 493, category Research article

Göran Rune. (2003). Slits in container wall improve root structure and stem straightness of outplanted Scots pine seedlings. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 3 article id 493. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.493

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris; solidwall container; slitwall container; root morphology; mechanical instability; stem straightness

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Root structure and basal sweep were measured on 6-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees at two sites with different soil fertility. Each site was planted with seedlings of identical origin after nursery cultivation in either solidwall container types with vertical ribs or in slitwall container types. Neither container design nor container volume affected tree height or stem diameter on the two sites. The transversal area of lateral roots was larger than the transversal area of bottom roots for the two container types at both sites. The proportion of bottom root transversal area to the total root transversal area was larger in the seedlings growing on the low fertility site than in those growing in the high fertility site for both container types. Seedlings cultivated in slitwall containers had a larger root area in proportion to stem diameter and had less root spiralling compared to the trees cultivated in solidwall containers. At the high fertility site, trees from the slitwall container type had straighter stem bases than seedlings grown in solidwall containers. At the low fertility site, differences in basal sweep formation were small between the container types. Reasons for this are discussed.

Rune, Dalarna University, Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, SE-776 98 Garpenberg, Sweden E-mail: gru@du.se

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