Forest zones are a cover of the earth, including various plants, animals, microorganisms. Forests play an important role in human life. They maintain the balance of oxygen in the atmosphere, preserve the fauna, and help reduce gusts of wind. Due to the consumption of wood in various areas of production, as well as natural disasters and fires, forests are destroyed. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with the restoration and conservation of forest crops. This process lasts several years, so errors during sowing, planting, care should not be allowed. Correcting them is a very long and laborious, and sometimes impossible task.
The concept of artificial plantings
Forest crops are called man-planted forests. The word "culture" refers to forest stands artificially created by people. Moreover, the species of trees are wild. The areas planted with plants are called forest cultivated. They, in turn, are divided into forest (clearings, vacant lots) and non-forest (pastures, hayfields, ravines, sandy areas). Planted forests reforest destroyed forests or erect new zones. The purpose of planting trees is the extraction of wood, fruit growing, gardening of urban areas, land reclamation. Tree plantations should be no less resistant to climate change, environmental conditions, diseases compared with biological forests. High resistance is observed in mixed stands. Therefore, they try to plant several varieties of forest crops in one zone.
Plant Types
Forest lanes, depending on the task, are divided into decorative, restoration, or subsurface, and environmental protection. The landscape is decorated with groups of ornamental plants, using high and low species, as well as combining types of forest crops with different leafy colors. Such groups are located near ponds, ponds, along road forks, in glades.
Restorative crops, in turn, are divided into preliminary ones, which are grown on the site of cut down overripe trees and begin to be sown 3-10 years before cleaning of the marked zone, sub-seed crops, which are planted under the canopy of those crops where there is no viability of young seedlings, and the subsequent ones planted in logging areas or places with no natural natural renewal.
Environmental protection plantations include water-protection crops located along streams, ponds, along river slopes, reservoirs and regulating the water level, as well as soil and noise-protective forest strips that perform the function of protecting and maintaining the environment.
Landing compositions
For the formation of new forest belts, the stands are divided into partial and continuous crops.
Continuous planting of forest crops is carried out evenly throughout the selected forestry zone. Partial plantations are located in areas without natural growth of the main breed, also to increase the volume and improve the biological composition.
Depending on the crop composition, the zones are divided into clean and mixed. Pure forest stands contain one species of trees or bushes. They are planted in areas with poor, dry, sandy soil. As a rule, pines are bred in such areas. Forest crops of the same species have a special purpose, for example, for the manufacture of paper.
Mixed cultures consist of different types of plants planted in two or three tiers. Light-loving plants are planted in the main strip, the neighboring tiers are filled with shade-tolerant rocks. Often an accompanying species is linden, which in the deciduous zone can go into 1 tier.
The purpose of creating forest crops
Artificially created stands must fulfill the tasks for which they are grown. In connection with the purpose, a selection of different breeds, combined with each other, is carried out to form the desired structure from plants. The complexity of the selection lies in the fact that not only their purpose, but also biological stability must be taken into account. The task will be completed if the stands have the appropriate properties. For example, shrubs act as stable fences, but will not protect against strong gusts of wind. Ash and elm stands are unstable and short-lived. So, they can not perform their functions for long. Oak forest belt is effective in land reclamation processes.
Stages of forestry production
Greening of certain territories is carried out after various surveys are carried out and design decisions are made.
At the first stage, information is collected on the state of the forest fund. The area under landing is examined, the soil, climatic and biological conditions of the zone are determined. Set targets for forest crops. Then, a planting project is developed and approved.
At the second stage, soil is prepared and processed on the allocated areas. A survey of the entire sowing zone is carried out, working corridors are marked out, mechanized work is carried out: stumps are uprooted, vegetation is removed. These processes are carried out one year before sowing or planting of tree species. Further, in the spring or in the autumn period, plants are planted. Results are evaluated at the time of planting acceptance. If necessary, then in the process of growing forest crops they are supplemented. Care depends on the initial preparation of zones, cultivation of land, tree species, assessment of the survival rate of sprouts.
At the third stage, the planted areas are transferred to the lands covered by forest crops. This is determined by the quality indicators of tree growth and their condition.
Soil preparation
The cultivation of land prepared for planting trees and shrubs of various species is a very important factor in the landscaping. The aim of these works is to provide plants with favorable conditions during their growth. Tillage for forest crops can be carried out mechanically or chemically.
Mechanical cultivation is carried out using special machines, affecting the natural soil cover. Partial cultivation of land is carried out in those areas where it is impossible to cultivate the land in a continuous way. These are areas overgrown with shrubs or young shoots, undeveloped zones after cutting down, steep slopes, as well as areas with increased soil moisture requiring drainage. Seats are processed on furrows, in strips, on terraces.
Sowing and planting
For sowing plants, much more seed is needed than for planting a forest zone. Seeds do not take root well, and germinated crops are more often affected by fungal spores. Therefore, sowing is rational where the seeds will not die from getting wet, as well as from a lack of water and will not be drowned out by grass. The strongest seeds in crops such as walnut, oak, almonds. Therefore, they are sown more often than others. Pine seeds are distributed in areas with coniferous or mixed cultures. To create a forest, scatter randomly or by air seeding. In difficult areas where it is impossible to apply mechanical soil cultivation, crops are distributed with 20 seeds seeders per plot with dimensions of 50 × 50 cm with a distance of 1.2 m. As a result, 0.5 kg of seeds must be sown per 1 hectare of land.
Forest Care
By care is meant the provision of plants with favorable conditions conducive to the survival and growth of seedlings, as well as the survival of the root system. The end of the period of plant care is considered the time of transfer of trees to areas with forest.
Plants in the final state are the formed dense young growth with stable wood, corresponding to the established tasks.
Agrotechnical care
Good conditions for seedlings and tree growth are achieved by carrying out agrotechnical care, which allows changing the water and heat supply, the diet of the earth, the microclimate of the environment and atmosphere. This care is necessary to prevent the negative effects of new shoots formed in a natural way.
Agrotechnical works are:
- Restoration or replenishment of seedlings after damage to plants by frost, blowing from the soil by winds or falling asleep in sand, erosion by rain or groundwater.
- Destruction of self-seeding of unwanted rocks, removal of root shoots, as well as cultivation and clearing of soil in strips, terraces and furrows.
- Mowing seed grass.
- Spread on the surface of the earth and on excess vegetation mixtures of herbicides.
The first treatment is carried out in early spring, before weed appears. Subsequently, it is necessary to remove vegetation growing after the first departure. An important period of work is the time when weeds grow intensively with crops.
Agrotechnical care of the crops promotes aeration of the upper soil layer, improves the absorption of precipitation, prevents increased evaporation of moisture, and also removes competitors fighting for light and nutrition. This care is carried out before forest crops close in rows or become much higher than the grass cover of the soil.