The importance of soil tillage before tree planting

Soil tillage is one of the fundamental underpinnings of the productivity increase since the 1960s, especially for the maritime pine.

Drum choppers in action

Ground  after the preparation

The objectives of soil tillage before planting are:

- facilitate the planting
With a minimum of 35 years growth cycles, the combined action of wind, rain, frost, sun... generates a soil compaction and makes it very difficult to put a plant into the ground without a ground work.

Planting with our planting machine JLM200

- facilitate the recovery and growth of plants
Soil tillage with tools such as drum choppers, disc harrows, combined tools, forestry ploughs ... eliminates competing vegetation, improves the survival rate and facilitates the access to nitrogen and minerals and therefore ameliorates the plants growth rate.

Full tillage with fertiliser input

- promotes the installation of a balanced root system
Soil tillage allows an harmonious development of the root system, in particular when the furrow's hold (after a tillage in strips) is suppressed.

Work fo the line space with the discs drum chopper
(before the roots have a diameter  bigger than 1 cm)

Suppression of the furrow's hold

A subsoiling is strongly recommended when there is a hardened layer close to the surface which prevents the development of the taproot system and therefore the good root of the plant.

Maritime pine root system
Extract from "Les racines" - IDF

The choice of soil tillage in full or in strips depends on multiple factors: reforestation horizon, financial decision, type of soil ...

Another post will be dedicated to the maintenance, another underpinning of forestry productivity.

We thank for this post CRPF, the GPF Landes de Gascogne and the French Institute for Forestry Development (IDF).