Silvicultural works ensure a high quality growing stock

Early tending is necessary to prevent small seedlings from being killed or damaged by competing ground vegetation. Ground vegetation is controlled for the first 2–3 years. Cleaning the seedling stands is generally necessary in pine stands when they reach a height of 1–2 metres. In the case of seedling stands of spruce, brush control may be necessary even before the young spruce stand reaches the height of one metre.
 
The actual timing of a young stand’s tending treatment and the density of the stand depend on the objectives set for the forest. The basic model prescribes that young pine stands, on reaching a top height of 5–7 metres, should be thinned to 1,800–2,000 trees per hectare. Young stands with a predominance of spruce should be thinned when the top height is 3–4 metres to leave 1,600–1,800 trees per hectare.
 
Especially on fertile soils, there is often a diverse mixture of broadleaves and shrubs that should be preserved where possible to maintain the site’s biodiversity.
 
Pruning is a means of increasing the proportion of clearwood in the butt log and of increasing the stand’s economic yield. Pruning is appropriate only when dealing with healthy stands with at least medium timber quality.

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