%0 Research article
%T Cleaning methods in planted Scots pine stands in southern Finland: 4-year results on survival, growth and whipping damage of pines
%A Saksa, Timo
%A Miina, Jari
%D 2007
%J Silva Fennica
%V 41
%N 4
%R doi:10.14214/sf.274
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/274
%X The effects of four cleaning treatments on the survival, growth of, and  whipping damage to Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) main stems were  studied in young planted pine stands in southern Finland. Treatments  were: no cleaning, point-cleaning of broadleaves (mainly birch, Betula  pendula Roth and B. pubescens Ehrh.) within a radius of 1 m from the  pine, topping of competing broadleaves, and total cleaning of  broadleaves. A randomised complete block design with three replicates  was established in five sapling stands: the mean height of the pines was  1.5 m in the three younger stands (6 or 7 years old), and 3 m in the  two older stands (9 years old). Measurements taken four growing seasons  later showed that in the younger stands, all cleaning treatments  significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the mortality and increased the  diameter increment of the pines. The height increment of the pines on  point-cleaned and topped plots was significantly greater than on totally  cleaned plots. In the older stands, the effects of cleaning treatments  on the mortality and increment of pines were non-significant. In the  younger and older stands, point-cleaning and total cleaning  significantly reduced the whipping damage to pines, whereas the topping  of competing broadleaves did not. The preliminary results support the  use of point-cleaning in planted Scots pine stands when the mean height  of the pines is about 1.5 m.