INDICATORS OF EUROPEAN SPRUCE CROPS WITH DIFFERENT PLANTING DENSITY

Abstract

The cultivation results of forty-two years-old experimental crops of European spruce (Picea abies L.) with different planting density in the Spassky forestry district of the Volokolamsk branch of State treasury institution “Mosoblles” in the north-western suburbs are presented. The object was planted with 2-year-old seedlings on plowed soil in the spring of one thousand nine hundred and seventy six in rows in the direction of NNE-South-Southwest. The range of planting density is from 2.6 to 20.8 thousand individuals per 1 he. The planting step (0.6 m) is a constant value (constant) on all five sections, while the row spacing varies from 0.8 to 6.4 m sections, there were no felling of spruce trees (even dead specimens were not removed). Crops on section D with the placement of planting places 6.4×0.6 m have the highest preservation (72.3 %), while with the placement of 0.8×0.6 m (section A) it was 11.7 %, which is 6.2 times less. However, a more objective and striking comparison has an absolute mortality: in section A it amounted to 18.4 thousand plants per hectare, and in section D only 0.7 thousand plants. Despite the overcrowding of forest cultures in sections A and B, the total area of crown projections (taking into account their overlap) did not exceed that in the extreme variants (D and E), where the crowns could develop much more freely, reaching maximum values in the average area of the crown projection of one wood. In general, in terms of silvicultural effect, the most successful was the artificial planting on section B with a planting density of 5.2 thousand pieces seedlings per 1 he and placement of planting places 3.2×0.6 m.