Effects of thinning in a cherrybark oak plantation

A cherrybark oak plantation was established on an Upper Coastal Plain creek bottom in southwest Arkansas in 1962. At age 10, treatments of (1) thinning only, (2) thinning and pruning, and (3) a control (no treatment) were applied in three replicates. Repeated thinnings from below occurred in the thinned and thinned/pruned plots at ages 21, 26, and 31. Pruning was applied in the thin/prune plots only once, at age 10. Thinning had significant effects on diameter growth immediately and continued to accelerate diameter growth through age 39, but had no effect on total tree height. Height to live crown was significantly lower for thinned plots than in the control. Pruning appeared to have no effect on diameter, height, or number or height of epicormic branches. Sawtimber volume and accumulated sawtimber production was significantly greater in treatments that received thinning, with potential for greater economic returns. The reader is cautioned that these results may not be indicative of cherrybark oak plantations in the South due to the size of the study area and possible edge effects.