Identifying heartwood-rich stands or stems of Pinus sylvestris by using inventory data

Variations in heartwood percentage, heartwood radius and sapwood width, wit hin and between stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), were analysed u sing a database of 198 CT-scanned (computer tomography) stems from 33 resea rch pilots (stands) throughout Sweden. Heartwood percentage varied greatly both between individual trees and between stands, and correlated poorly to site, stand and tree variables. This implies that it seems unfeasible to id entify heartwood-rich stands or stems, e.g., for production of heartwood pr oducts, by using inventory data. Heartwood formation expressed as the numbe r of new heartwood rings formed each year was found to increase with increa sing cambial age, from about 0.5 rings per year at a cambial age of 45 year s, to about 0.8 rings per year at a cambial age of 115 years.