Hello everyone,
I would like to know which size /diameter (or age, if you prefer) is the minimum that we should have in a seedling or tree to be able to check the wood quality. All the measurements I have seen until now have been with grown trees, so I have this doubt now.
Thank you very much,
Aitor
The wood properties depend on the age of the tree. In the first 5 to 10 years juvenile wood is produced with minor strenght properties and large swelling and shrinking. The mature wood differs with age because thinner growth rings are produced with growing age which effects density. Also the production of heartwood alteres the wood properties. Therefore the minimum age depends on the planned use of the wood. If you look for strenght properties for construction purposes the trees have to be at least 20 years old. Than you have at least 10 growth rings of mature wood. If you look for durability of mature heartwood aggainst fungi the tree has to be at least 40 years.
Thanks Dr. Lukowsky. I was just thinking about a quick way to check the quality, so I could grow some seedlings and check their properties. Unluckily, after reading some papers and your answer, I guess I should check for some other things, while growing them for so many years doesn't look to make so much sense for what I was thinking.
Thanks!
I agree with Dr. Lukowsky. Age is really important, especially in planted wood. The planted wood is also important to use spacing. Larger spacing favors the increase of the trees diameter and allows obtaining larger logs in shorter rotation. One problem is the logs taper (tree form), which can be minimized by artificial pruning.
Thanks to both. I was just wondering if having some really young seedlings there was any kind of measurement to do for checking the quality. Now I know the answer,
Aitor
Completing Drs. Truguilho and Lukowsky we have found that for planted eucalyptus (that will be harvested at 7-years-old) for pulping, you can analyse the wood quality at 4-years-old specially on the chemical aspects; you may find a correlation between 4 and 7 years old eucalyptus tree.
The answer to your question is almost any age and any diameter; relative to what your trying to measure. For example, you can use acoustic evaluation techniques, fibre analysis, ring analysis and density determination on trees of any age or diameter. There are standards that can be followed for mechanical property testing and determining density, which outline specimen sizes.
Wood quality is a subjective term. What are you trying to measure? Are you trying to determine a response to some treatment?
I see your at the University of Eastern Finland, are you working with Boreal tree species? At Lakehead University we map wood properties radially and axially within a tree relative to species, looking for site effect responses of Boreal tree species. If you identify the species of investigation and what your scientific question is, I can suggest an article to read or a standard to follow.
Good luck.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=NhwSMryGzY0C&source=gbs_slider_cls_metadata_7_mylibrary
https://books.google.ca/books?id=r4r7A7W4SBQC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0
https://books.google.ca/books?id=0gH8CAAAQBAJ&lr=
Thank you very much Dr. Miller. I simply have some very young alder seedlings (around 100 days old) which were harvested in June, and dried. I think there is nothing to do with them anymore, but I was thinking about possibilities just in case (not only for these samples, but future possible samples).
Once again, thank you so much,
Aitor
Please see the paper of non-destructive techniques measuring stiffness on pinus radiata seedlings. This might be useful for your research.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255965518_Application_of_longitudinal-wave_time-of-flight_sound_speed_measurement_to_Pinus_radiata_seedlings
Article Application of longitudinal-wave time-of-flight sound speed ...
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