High stand density improves seed production in seed orchards of the masting species Picea abies

Reproduction in masting species is characterised by long intervals between good cone and seed production years, and only sparse reproduction between mast years. The physiological mechanisms behind masting, and how these are linked to internal resource status and external weather factors, is still a subject of scientific exploration and debate, as is the effect of climate change on masting. This study investigates cone production in one operational seed orchard in Sweden which was established with two different spacings and has since been subject to three tree thinning experiments. The spacings before thinning varied between 800 and 400 stems ha–1, and then thinning reduced the stand density in all trials to half, i.e. between 400 and 200 stems ha–1. In all three experiments cone production per tree was equal in un-thinned and thinned treatments, both in mast years and in non-mast years. Thus, the cone production per unit area was twice as high in the un-thinned areas. The conclusion from these experiments is that the establishment of Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. seed orchards with wide tree spacing is both a misuse of good orchard locations and bad economics.