MetINFO - Daily growth of trees

Monitored trees

The site at Hyytiälä. Photo: Tapio Huttunen.

The spruce sample trees have been selected from commercially managed mature spruce forests belonging to the European ICP Forest -network. The spruce stands were probably naturally regenerated, as artificial regeneration of spruce was very rare in Finland three quarters of a century ago. The birch stand at Punkaharju was planted in 1974. The stand at Hyytiälä was thinned in 2006, and also suffered rather severe snow damage in the winter 2009-2010. The increased growing space is reflected in the high increment.

The table below presents basic characteristics for each tree. Note the rather high ages of the spruces, which reflect the cold climate of Finland, resulting in long rotation periods.

Location Diameter, cm Height, m Height of crown base, m Stand age, years. Punkaharju Norway spruce silver birch 28,8 15,9 28,5 21,8 13,8 8,6 80 35 Tammela 25,4 22,6 5,9 70 Hyytiälä 22,8 22,2 8,3 75 Kivalo 18,5 14,5 3,3 80     The climatic difference between northern and southern Finland is reflected by the growth difference between the three southern spruces and the northern one at Kivalo. The spruce at Punkaharju has reached a diameter of 28.8 cm in 80 years, while the diameter of the spruce at Kivalo only 18.5 cm. In terms of volume the difference is even more significant.   Location Species Volume Punkaharju silver birch 0,205 m3 Punkaharju Norway spruce 0,980 m3 Tammela Norway spruce 0,590 m3 Hyytiälä Norway spruce 0,480 m3 Kivalo Norway spruce 0,195 m3

Monitored spruce at Tammela. Photograph by Tapio Huttunen