Thomas Thörnqvist

Outdoor exposure of untreated Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) wood samples

Abstract Untreated Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) samples were exposed above ground in a durability test for 6 years. The samples consisted of three pieces of wood, 22×95×500 mm, screwed together; two pieces lengthwise with a third piece overlapping. Weight was measured, to calculate moisture content (MC), and samples checked regularly for cracks and fungal growth. Parameters investigated were heartwood/sapwood (pine), annual ring orientation (spruce), stand site, annual ring width and density. Stand site, annual ring width and density had no influence on MC or fungal growth for either pine or spruce. Spruce samples with vertical annual rings had fewer cracks than samples with horizontal annual rings. Pine sapwood samples had a high MC and a large amount of rot fungi, while heartwood had a lower MC and no rot. Most spruce samples were similar to pine heartwood, except from a few samples that had high MC and fungal growth. Those were all sawn from the outer part of the log. Therefore, it can be stated that spruce sawn from the inner part has almost the same properties as pine heartwood, while spruce from the outer part of the log has similar properties to pine sapwood.

Live storage and drying of storm-felled Norwayspruce (Picea abies, L. Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinussylvestris L.) trees

Abstract Storm-felled trees left in the forest for a shorter or longer period, affect the quality of the logs. The change in quality is mainly because of attack of fungi and insects, which in turn depends on the moisture content (MC) of the sapwood. The purpose of this study was to receive more knowledge about drying of storm-felled trees by investigating how fast winter storm-felled Norway spruce and Scots pine dried when left in the forest. Sixteen storm-felled spruces with part of the roots still in ground contact were selected from three stands and in addition to 10 pines from one of the stands. The trees were examined for MC in the sapwood until 21 months after the storm. This study indicates that wind-thrown trees with roots still connected to the soil can survive one summer without any value loss caused by draught, fungi and insects. The stand conditions can be of importance as the storm-felled trees in the stand, with scattered windthrow, were in best condition after one year, as they were shadowed by the trees still standing. Comparing spruces and pines with the stand with scattered windthrow, pines were more sensitive to drought and reached critical MC earlier.

Amount of nutrients extracted and left behind at a clear-felled area using the fresh-stacked and dried-stacked methods of logging residue extraction

ABSTRACT Nutrient removal has been one of the key issues since the harvesting of logging residues started in Sweden. This study examined the actual removal of nutrients by measuring the amounts of biomass removed (from a forest products perspective) combined with their respective nutrient concentrations (N, P, Ca, K and Mg), from a clear-felled area when using the dried-stacked and fresh-stacked methods. The most important finding is that the two methods were very similar regarding nutrients remaining at the clear-felled area. Of the nutrients remaining there, most were found to be well distributed between the harvester heaps. Both methods fulfilled the requirements of the Swedish Forest Agency. A sensitivity analysis showed that even if the dried-stacked method left more needles, or the fresh-stacked method extracted more logging residues, there would only be a small impact on the levels of nutrients removed. The sensitivity analysis also showed that the amount of logging residues remaining between the harvester heaps seems to be much more important for nutrients left behind, regardless of extraction method. With this in mind, it is highly probable that improvements to the extraction of logging residues, without increasing nutrient removal, can be made.

Nutrient Removal after Whole-Tree Harvesting with the Traditional Swedish Dried-Stacked Method for Removal of Logging Residues

Bioenergy from logging residues is an important contributor to Swedish energy supplies. Logging residues where long defined and regarded as the unmerchantable aboveground biomass left behind in the clear-felled area, consisting of branches, tops and small trees that are gathered after the round wood harvest, but logging residues are nowadays regarded as a third assortment next to timber and pulpwood with high economic value. However long-term experiments on removal of logging residues from Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.)Karst) stands have shown both growth reductions and growth increase in the next generation, because of decreasing amounts of nutrients. So an increased removal of logging residues requires some sort of compensation of nutrients. Therefore it is of importance to investigate how much nutrients that is removed from the stand after whole-tree harvesting.In this study the removal of the nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) have been investigated by laboratory analysis of the nutrients together with the actual removal of stemwood, bark and logging residues. The study has also investigated the distribution of nutrients at the clear-felled area.The results show that approximately half of the total nutrient removed in whole tree harvesting is done with the removal of stemwood and bark. The results also show that approximately 30% of the total amount of nutrients is left at the clear-felled area.

Presence of longitudinal cracks in planks from storm-felled pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.)

Abstract After the severe storm Gudrun in southern Sweden in 2005, a quantitative study was done in order to investigate the presence of lengthwise crack on planks taken from storm-felled trees in southern Sweden, compared to planks from standing trees not subjected to this storm (central Sweden). The main yield from each log was examined. In total, 1087 pine (Pinus sylvestris) planks and 3626 spruce (Picea abies) planks from the storm-struck area were investigated and compared to 1953 spruce and 2000 pine planks from trees outside the storm-struck area. The examination of cracks was done visually on dried planks. For pine, 51.7% of the planks from storm-felled trees had a total length longer than 0.5 m, compared to 7.3% for the reference material. As for spruce, 11.0% of the planks from storm-felled trees had a total crack length of more than 0.5 m, compared to the reference material where 2.2% had cracks longer than 0.5 m. The results show that the storm-felled trees had more longitudinal cracks than the reference material and that pine was more likely to develop storm-related cracks than spruce.