Ohio Christmas Tree Producers Manual

Bulletin 670

Main Road System

Because many operations involved in Christmas tree production may have to be done during bad weather, subdivision of plantation areas by a good road system is very important (Fig. 3). Although the main purpose of these roads is to provide all-weather access, they can also serve as effective firebreaks if vegetation is kept to a minimum or eliminated.

Fig. 3: Subdivision of the Christmas tree farm with a good, all-weather road system. Roads not only provide access, but may also serve to subdivide the area into units having similar site characteristics and management problems.

Careful location of roads can serve another important function-subdivision into efficient management units. Where roads can be located to coincide with major changes in site quality (see section "Determination of Site Productivity"), planting units will have similar characteristics of soil, slope, etc. This can be beneficial in a number of ways. If a variety of species is to be grown, units having the best growth potential can be planted to the more demanding spruces, true firs or Douglas-fir, while those sites that are drier, wetter and/or less fertile can be planted to pines. This should help reduce variation in survival and growth, which I often prolong harvest over several years. In addition, units subdivided by the main road system can be used to concentrate trees having similar management procedures. For example, insects and diseases are usually rather specific to certain species, and control can be accomplished more efficiently and cheaply when trees are concentrated in certain areas instead of scattered over many locations. The same principle of grouping trees needing similar treatments might also be applied to other management practices, including shearing, fertilization, weed control and harvesting, where movement of labor and equipment is required.