Quite often, plantation is sited in areas with limited resources, or sites which are marginally usable due to topographic, climatic or soil fertility problems. In addition, community constraints are also coupled with the biophysical of the site. Though, a well management plantation will contribute to achieve plantation goals. A plantation established with ecological integrity and biodiversity components that can provide economic, social and environmental benefits to owner and surrounding communities should be managed with the reasonable consideration.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
Recognize the important resources and factors affecting the success of plantation establishment.
Identify and explain the steps for plantation establishment.
Demonstrate knowledge about the importance of plantation management.
Propose the steps towards the sustainable plantation management.
Readings
Required Readings
Evans, J., & Turnbull, J. W. (1992). Plantation Forestry in the Tropics: The Role, Silviculture, and Use of Planted Forests for Industrial, Social, Environmental, and Agroforestry Purposes. OUP Oxford.
Plantation manager and those involved with the management of plantation project should have an idea of the land area required to meet the goal before the beginning of the plantation operations. Yield of plantation are subject to variations due to a variety of environmental and bio-physical conditions of the land area. The selection of tree species and the preparation of planting materials are often the least expensive operations in plantation management, yet are two of the most important. Serious consideration must be given to matching the environmental requirements of the desired species to the planting environment. The success of plantation is largely dependent upon careful establishment and management in the early stages of growth. Plantation production should not be initiated without some empirical yield data with respective to the density of planting tree and rotation age. Weed control, fertilization, forest fire control, pest and disease control, pruning, and thinning are important means of silvicultural practices in the plantation management aspects. Nevertheless, the monitoring of the growth performances of the planting trees is also a must.
Now take a little time to complete an online self-check quiz after finishing required readings and viewing each lecture for this topic. The main purpose of the quiz is for you to self check how well you grasp the fundamental concepts covered in the required readings and lectures for this topic. You will have 5 mins to complete the quiz. You can attempt as many times as you like until you get the full mark.
When you are ready, click the link Self-check Quiz 3.2 or go to left menu > Quizzes > Self-check Quiz 3.2 to start taking the quiz.
You are expected to summarize and express your views on the current learning topic or reading materials and respond to your peers’ questions regarding the topic. When a question can't be answered by your peers, the instructor will involve in the discussion.
In this online discussion, we don't have a fixed question to discuss, but it comes from your participate in. Each of you is expected to:
Post/Summarize what you learned from readings and presentations by end of Day 3 of the week.
Comment on/Respond to at least two of your peers’ posts by end of Day 7 of the week.
We hope you can actively participate in online discussions, because only by understanding your mastery of the course content, the instructor can guide your learning better.
About how to organize or participate in the group discussion and the grading, please refer to the detailed descriptions of Assignment Overview and Online Class Discussions.
Please notice the deadline and be sure to keep several general netiquette guidelines in mind when you participate in the online discussions.
To assist the establishment of planted trees to the new environment is the most important task of plantation manager. In addition, the interaction between genotype and environment contribute to the success of plantation through the intensive managements, including weed control, fertilizer application, forest fire control, pest and disease, pruning, and thinning.
Self Review (For self learning)
Please use the self-reflection questions below as a study guide to conduct self-review for the topic:
What are factors contribute to the seedlings establishment?
What should plantation manager do in the first 3 months after planting?
How to conduct growth assessment?
Could you differentiate the purpose of pruning and thinning?
FODE007
Requirements Changed
Topic 3.1: Site Preparation for Planting Topic 3.3: Plantation Regeneration