Fir. Any damage/improve. removing lower branches?

[MiskisM]

I have up to 10 hectares of fir. They are 8 year old. Though local foresters say to go by lines (from 6 lines to leave 3), I have no heart to do it. I go to remove weak ones. Has anyone done that? I go by height, if it is 2/3 of nearest threes, I remove it. Is it okay? Also if I cut away lower branches if it impedes my walking, will it hurt the growth? If not, then should I cut near the (stub or whatver where branches come), or leave some distance? Maybe it is worth removing all lower branches to get future gain...

[Clark]

We've discussed pruning on fir (Abies sp.) before and the at least with Abies balsamea it is not worth the effort removing live branches. The branch protection zone in balsam fir is not that strong and infection from the branch quickly colonizes the trunk. 30 years down the road you have a hollow tree.

Unless the fir were planted really tight 2,500 trees/hectare or higher I doubt it would be worth thinning them at age 8. Your local foresters are right about removing rows. If you want a future commercial thinning, you'll have to take lines of trees out for the machinery to access the entire stand.

Clark

[MiskisM]

Thanks.
Land is really infertile (is that a right word?), so trees were planted really tight. Judging by eye it was at least 5k/hectare. And most of them survived (80-90%, someplaces it is up to 95%) but when planting pros though only 50% at best will survive.