| Summary: | Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) form a large part of Swedish forestry and has many alternative end-use areas with different requirements for quality. The ability to influence the quality is high in the initial planting and juvenile forest phase, as studies have shown relationships between good quality and dense planting, where competition between trees has a good impact on timber quality. Competition can also be achieved by shading from above, through seed trees or multi-layered forest. Interest in continuous cover forestry grows, and investigating differences in future timber quality between layered and clear cutting treatments can therefore be valuable. Such a method is “Naturkultur”, which aims to optimize the net present value at every point in the forest. The purpose of this study is to highlight the question of whether layered forests methods similar to “Naturkultur” can be used for higher timber quality in pine forests in a cleaning trial in southern Östergötland, Sweden. The goal is to find out if any difference in timber quality exists in the future butt log between the different cleaning treatments, layered (Uneven) and conventional (Even). The survey was limited to studying only the Kråkerödjan pre-commercial thinning trial, located on the property Kråkerödjan between Småland and Östergötland. Parameters for quality estimation were delimited to knot quantity and knot thickness. In order to answer the purpose, a field survey was conducted with quantitative assumptions where data about stem quantity, tree species distribution, height, diameter, height of the living crown, number of knots and diameter for the thickest knot from the base of the trunk up to 2 m on the trunk were collected. The result showed that the number of stems per ha was significantly higher in Uneven than in Even while the volume was next to the same. The average diameter was about 4 cm in Uneven and about 10 cm in Even. The tree species distribution was the same for trees with a diameter > 5 cm a breast height (bh) in both parcels,> 95% pine. For trees <5 cm bh, the distribution in Uneven was 14 % pine, 10 % spruce and 76 % deciduous, in Even there were almost exclusively deciduous trees. When examining pine > 5 cm at bh, there was a significant difference in the knot quantity with fewer knots/m in Uneven than in Even. The thickest knot was smaller in Uneven than in Even, but the difference was only significant when the data without dominants was examined. The thickest knot was slightly smaller relative to the diameter of the trunk in bh in Uneven but the difference was not significant. The average diameter in pine > 5 cm at bh was slightly less in Uneven, 10.7 cm, than in Even, 10.8 cm. The survey gives an indication that the layered forest according to the method of “Naturkultur” in the parcel Uneven, where dominants shades smaller trees, may be used for a better timber quality in pine in the investigated premises. However, the results are not sufficiently clear, if this is due to the fact that the quality difference is small or if it is because quality differences have not yet occurred V cannot be read in the survey. Estimating timber quality early in the rotation period is difficult as a lot can happen until final felling. However, the survey has been valuable as more data is needed in the area in question. Follow-up of the survey is needed to further explore the relationships between stock treatments and quality development.
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