Pine - Tree Grower articles
- When to plant radiata pine and why (Access: NZFFA membership)
Donald Mead and Rowland Burdon, November 2021
Radiata pine has been planted in New Zealand for over 150 years, and extensively for the last 100 years. Today New Zealand has about 1.5 million hectares of radiata pine,…
- Pine forests in Pelorus Sound from 1900 to 1970 (Access: unrestricted)
Dallas Hemphill, May 2021
Forest owners find forest history to be interesting and often fascinating. It can also have practical applications with direct importance to the forest owner, as this article will illustrate. In…
- The muricata pine story: A roller coaster (Access: NZFFA membership)
Rowland Burdon and Charlie Low, May 2020
A period of high hopes for muricata pine in New Zealand has been followed by disappointments. However, there has been misinformation in out-of-date research information and from a big, undocumented mistake. Despite the…
- Selection harvesting of radiata pine (Access: unrestricted)
John Wardle, November 2019
Judging by the number of articles which have appeared in the February and May issues of the Tree Grower, there is obviously a certain amount of interest in selective harvesting…
- Myth conceptions- Are planted forests really the Devil? (Access: unrestricted)
Michelle Harnett, May 2019
…radiata pine is a foreign weed, spreads like herpes, makes rubbish timber and falls over after 50 years. A Stuff article on planting pines to make money from carbon farming…
- Live radiata pine stem needles must be removed at pruning (Access: unrestricted)
Wink Sutton, November 2018
On a recent Bay of Plenty field day, questions were asked about the need to remove live stem needles at the time of pruning. If live stem needles are not…
- Ultra - a profitable short rotation regime for radiata pine on high quality sites (Access: unrestricted)
Graham West, May 2018
A new management regime is proposed for growing radiata pine for export logs on a short rotation. The ultra regime is to plant 500 stems a hectare using best quality…
- Radiata pine for the next generation (Access: unrestricted)
Michael Watt and Harriet Palmer, February 2018
Finally, payday is approaching for many forest owners, as woodlots and forests planted in the 1990s reach harvest age. For growers planning to replant with radiata pine, and any new planters,…
- Wensleydale 2016 woodlot harvest of an agro-forestry block (Access: unrestricted)
Nick Seymour, May 2017
We planted three agro-forestry woodlots with trees at a spacing of ten by eight metres equivalent to 150 trees a hectare. The first woodlot was planted in 1986 with GF…
- A harvest result to confound the experts (Access: unrestricted)
Malcolm Mackenzie, February 2017
Many forestry experts frequently speak or write of the need for scale to create good returns. They emphasise that to cover the costs of roading, skid preparation, and harvesting we…
- Pine trees powering the future (Access: unrestricted)
Michelle Harnett, November 2016
We hear messages of doom and gloom nearly every day. Resources are being used faster than they can be replaced, greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, the climate is changing and…
- The good wood (Access: unrestricted)
John Moore and Michelle Harnett, August 2016
Two important questions that foresters want to know the answers to are – How much extra value do I get from planting genetically improved radiata pine tree stocks? What level…
- Will Hull’s contribution to radiata pine plantation management (Access: unrestricted)
Wink Sutton, November 2012
Farm forestry has made a considerable contribution to forestry research. When he was alive our founder, Neil Barr, contributed much. Another important contributor was Wairarapa’s Will Hull. To fully appreciate…
- Agroforestry – the Tikitere experience (Access: unrestricted)
Martin Hawke, May 2011
In the mid to late 1970s no farm forestry visit to the Bay of Plenty was complete without a visit to the Tikitere agroforestry trial. Within a decade or two…
Farm Forestry - Headlines
Article archive »
- Update to the Forest Owners Association Road Engineering Manual: Forest Road Design for HPMVs.
Thursday, September 19, 2024
The NZFOA/NZFFA Transport and Logistics committee is pleased to announce the release of a new appendix to the New Zealand Forest Owners Road Engineering Manual, titled Forest Roads for High…
- Emissions Trading Scheme fee review a relief for cost-struck foresters
Thursday, February 29, 2024
The New Zealand Forest Owners Association says the review of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) fees is a relief for foresters facing excessive costs and loss of climate change action. …
- Planting trees on pasture can have a positive impact on soil health
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Rather than damaging soil in New Zealand, planting trees on pasture restores soil to be similar to its original condition. A recent news story highlighting changes in soils from converting…
- Forest plantation soils have benefits too
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
The Forest Owners Association (FOA) says the fact that soils under plantation forests are similar to soils under native trees, does not make them damaged, as a recent Newshub report has claimed.…
- Wilding Conifers - A legacy issue that needs continued, collaborative management
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Forest owners welcome the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s (PCE) acknowledgement that the presence of wilding conifers across New Zealand is largely a legacy issue, but caution against placing costs…
- Stock take of the commercially viable alternatives to Pinus radiata
Tuesday, October 03, 2023
Scion has published a “Stock Take of the Commercially Viable Alternatives to Pinus Radiata” for MPI, which reviews alternative species, their expected growth rates, climatic range, resilience to pests or…
- SNA regulations 'confusing ecological naivety'
Thursday, July 06, 2023
Forest Owners say the just released National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity (NPSIB) is a classic bureaucratic formula of confusing ecological naivety which will not help rare species and likely…
- Primary sector leadership not addressing economics as the real climate change issue
Tuesday, July 04, 2023
The immediate past president of the Farm Forestry Association (NZFFA) says the leaders of the primary sector and government are ineffectively tinkering with lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Graham West says the…
- Forest Owners hail ‘Biosecurity Hero’
Monday, May 22, 2023
The Forest Owners Association and Scion want more people to report suspicious imported wood products which might be infested with introduced wood and forest pests. FOA Biosecurity Manager, Brendan Gould,…
- Ministerial inquiry could have widespread implications for Tairawhiti community
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry says the just announced Tairawhiti land use inquiry is recommending measures which will stop the very activities which are vital for the region’s recovery.…
- Tairawhiti land use inquiry not addressing wider issues
Sunday, May 14, 2023
The Forest Owners Association says the Ministerial Inquiry into landuse in Tarawhiti has a core of practical recommendations, but has not addressed some more difficult and fundamental issues. President, Grant…
- Forest Owners say carbon-only forestry should be kept off productive land
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
The Forest Owners Association would like to see production forestry and farming on productive land – rather than this land used for carbon-only forests. It says this should be a…
- Opportunities from Trees Workshops - NZ Wide
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
The NZ Farm Forestry Association (NZFFA) is running 18 extension workshops in May and June with a target audience of landowners, or people with access to land, who are potential tree…
- Forest Owners back more trees for Tairawhiti
Sunday, April 16, 2023
The Forest Owners Association has told the Ministerial Inquiry into land use in Tairāwhiti, that the region’s future has to include more trees for land stability. But it appreciates forest…
- Small scale woodlot owners have their say in Tairawhiti Land use Inquiry
Sunday, April 02, 2023
he outgoing President of the Farm Forestry Association says it has been vital for farm foresters to directly address the Ministerial Inquiry into forestry and other land use in Tairāwhiti.…
- Future forests need to be multifunctional to meet climate change in Tairawhiti
Thursday, March 16, 2023
The Farm Forestry Association says the just convened Ministerial Inquiry, into land-use across Tairāwhiti, needs to look closely at the tree options for shoring up vulnerable farm and former forest land in…
- Hill country farming campaign shows they think climate change is someone else’s problem
Thursday, March 09, 2023
The Forest Owners Association says the latest campaign against forestry, led by Beef+Lamb New Zealand and 50 Shades of Green, is climate change responsibility denial, and is dangerous in the…
- Forest Owners says two months too brief to look into the complex land issues in Tairawhiti.
Thursday, February 23, 2023
The Forest Owners Association says the two month long inquiry into land use in Tairāwhiti doesn’t give enough time or depth to find solutions. The Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins has…
- Forest Owners want genetic technology approved
Thursday, February 16, 2023
The Forest Owners Organisation says New Zealand needs to concentrate on the safety of genetic technology on a case-by-case basis rather than persisting with blanket bans. The FOA wants approval…
- Fieldays Forestry Hub to demonstrate that forestry is a solution
Monday, November 28, 2022
A range of solutions to farmers’ current problems will be on display in the Fieldays Forestry Hub near Hamilton between 30 November and 3 December, says Farm Forestry Association president,…