Thinning experiment in a Scots pine forest stand after 40-year investigations

There has been a permanent lack of experiments investigating the growth and development of pine stands as well as of convincing results. Therefore an experiment was established in a 27-years old stand of a local pine ecotype in the East-Bohemian pine region in 1957 in order to determine the effect of crown tending on the stand development and volume production compared to low tending (thinning from below) of different intensity. The investigated crown tending was founded on quality selection with determination of quality individuals and concurrent improvement of subdominant trees (plot D). Low thinning of medium intensity (plot B) and high intensity (plot C) consisted in removing subdominant trees of adequate tree classes. The experiment was evaluated after 40 years.