Plantation Silviculture

Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and values. The practices include spacing, weeding, pruning, and thinning.

Plantation Silviculture aims to develop silvicultural techniques that support sustainable plantation forest management based on scientific understanding of forest functionality. Research is grounded in ecological and physiological knowledge of tree growth and forest development over time. Activities encompass all stages of tree and forest growth and evaluate the impact of management strategies on forest outputs.

Research outputs support national forestry policy development and offer guidance to forest sector players, nurseries, seed producers, academic institutions, and research bodies.

Research Programmes

Weeding Studies
Nutrition Studies
Land Preparation Studies
Correlated Curve Trend Management Trials

Achievements

Established spacing prescriptions, thinning, and pruning regimes for different commercial species for various end products
Developed yield models and tables for most traditionally grown exotic species in Zimbabwe
Conducted site indexing for exotic species across silvicultural zones in Zimbabwe

Common Silvicultural Operations

Slashing

Spraying

Pruning

Weeding

Current Research Priorities

Site-species matching