For more information, see Radiata pine - the remarkable pine. Radiata pine is a conifer or cone bearer. Conifers are trees which have cones and do not have flowers or fruit. Ripe mature pine cones from the best trees are selected by State Forests personnel for seed collection.
The collected cones are heated and tumbled to release the seeds. The seeds are de-winged and sorted into size and weight before being planted into seedbeds or pots in a nursery.
Fertilisers, fungicides and weeding is used to produce good seedlings. For clearwood, ideally radiata should be grown to 55—60 cm diameter over years, to achieve an adequate sheath of clearwood. Even large young trees will yield mostly low-quality wood. See Silviculture and forest management. The wood has an even texture, a resinous fragrance, and is suitable for a wide variety of uses.
It holds screws and nails well and takes paint, stain and glue without difficulty. Kiln dried timber machines easily, produces a smooth, clean surface and may be processed into a wide variety of moulding and timber profiles.
While it is not naturally durable radiata is easily treated for all Hazard Class applications. Treated, it is widely used in construction.
Untreated, it is used for furniture, mouldings, trim and panelling. The woodchips are made into hardboard, softboard, particle board and MDF panels, newsprint and high grade packaging papers. Better logs may be peeled for veneers to make industrial and structural plywood. Radiata pine is widely traded. About 15 million cubic metres per annum is processed in New Zealand and another 15 million exported as logs.
Radiata grows vigorously and after two or three years can achieve height growth of more than a metre a year, and a diameter growth of cm.
Industry has developed the online Forecaster Calculator as a simple forest simulation tool that predicts tree growth and the log products per hectare that may result at any given clearfell age. An earlier version called the Radiata calculator is available for download as an Excel spreadsheet.
Practical hints for measuring trees offers some advice on monitoring growth. If the land is registered under the Emissions Trading Scheme and the trees are planted so as to comply, i. The relevant look-up tables for determining how quickly they store carbon and earn credits, and guides to how to use the tables, may be downloaded here.
Timber return on investment varies widely, being affected by tree quality management and stocking , harvesting costs and distance from markets. A first rotation forest on land eligible for carbon credits could generate an early cash flow which would lift the apparent return, but it would not be a good indication of its long term profitability. The Forecaster Calculator might give a more useful indication of economics. Scion has published a comprehensive Radiata pine growers manual which may be downloaded as a pdf file or purchased in hardcopy.
Article archive ». Home Login Register. Pine - Radiata pine, Pinus radiata In this page: Site requirements Site preparation and planting Establishment and Maintenance Management and silviculture Timber utilisation Growth, yield, economics and carbon Further reading. Radiata pine tolerates a wide range of site conditions. The tree was grown in the Sydney Botanic Gardens as early as Although this site proved unsuitable, planting expanded on more suitable sites throughout the state after the establishment of the Forestry Commission in Annual plantings accelerated in the mids with the assistance of the Commonwealth-financed 'Softwoods Forestry Agreement loans'.
During the 11 years that these agreements were in operation, the Forestry Commission of NSW planted a total area of 76 ha. Plantings on new ground first rotation continues today at the rate of around ha per year and ha per year of second rotation crops second crops on the same ground as the first. When grown as a plantation tree, radiata pine is usually a tall straight tree with small branches, except on the edge of the plantation where the accessibility to light and space allows the trees to grow large branches.
Genetic improvements have contributed to the improvement in growth rates and form straightness and uniformity of plantation-grown radiata pine. There are a small number of pests and diseases which may attack pine plantations. He is extension specialist emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Wood Explorer. Most Radiata Pine now grown abroad. By Gene Wengert.
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