Juvenile Wood in Forest Trees

Until recently, the quality of juvenile wood and the resulting effect on the final product when used were ignored or not well known. However, due to the increased amount of juvenile wood, this knowledge has become essential. The forest industry needs to know the yields, qualities, and product characteristics of juvenile wood if major problems concerning product acceptability are to be avoided. This book documents the properties of juvenile wood with its effects on pulping and solid wood products and explores methods to reduce or change the characteristics of juvenile wood. Also included is an in-depth discussion of the potential use of juvenile wood, with examples from ongoing operations as well as from current research.

The trend in forestry is toward shorter rotations and more complete utiliza- tion of trees. The reasons are: (1) financial pressures to obtain rapid returns on the forestry investment made possible by an earlier harvest; (2) enforced harvest of young plantations to maintain a continuing supply of cellulose for mills where wood shortages are experienced; (3) thinning young plantations, both because they were planted too densely initially and because thinning is done where long rotation quality trees are the forestry goal; (4) more intensive utilization is being done using tops and small diameter trees; and (5) there is interest in using young (juvenile) wood for special products because of its unique characteristics and the development of new technologies. The largest present-day source of conifer juvenile wood is from thinnings of plantations where millions of hectares of pine were planted too densely. Because of the better growth rate resulting from improved silviculture and good genetic stock, plantations will need to be thinned heavily. As a result of this trend, young wood makes up an increasingly larger proportion of the total conifer wood supply each year. Large amounts of juvenile wood from hard- woods are also currently available, especially in the tropics and subtropics, because of the fast growth rate of the species used, which results in shorter rotations and ess ntially all juvenile wood.

I General Concepts of Juvenile Wood II Characteristics of Juvenile Wood III Where Juvenile Wood is Found IV Characteristics Affecting Juvenile Wood V Changing Juvenile Wood VI Predictions of Mature and Total Tree Wood Properties From Juvenile Wood VII The Importance of Juvenile Wood VIII Use of Juvenile Wood IX Unusual Wood Properties Near the Tree Center. References-Species Index-Subject Index