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WHY YOU CAN'T "FIX" A "BUSTED" PLANTATION

We inside JMV&CO often say that you can't "fix" a "busted" plantation. These code words are merely a short means of conveying much important information about plantations that all landowners should recognize, so we shall start by defining them.

A "busted" plantation is one that is improperly established and therefore incapable of earning a return on investment large enough to attract normal investors. Its unfortunate condition may be due to one or more of the following causes:

1. Inadequate site-prep. Site-prep must not move large amounts of topsoil, must leave in place as much organic matter as possible, and must control both woody and herbaceous competition.

2. Use of smaller, less-vigorous seedlings. To produce a one-year establishment-quality boost (a one-year gain on the competition), seedlings must have a root-collar diameter of 5mm and a large root system.

3. Initial stocking of more than 300 to 400 seedlings per acre. By "fix" we mean to correct the flaws and thereby to increase growth to the desired level. It's obvious that you can't correct deficiencies due to cause 2.; once the seedlings are in the ground, you can't arrange a substitute. Some mitigation of deficiencies due to cause 1. is possible by applications of herbicides, but this added cost early in the game sharply reduces return.

Many think that pre-commercial thinning will solve the problems connected with cause 3. Don't believe it. In the first place, pre-commercial thinning costs a bundle, often $100/acre or more, so it puts even more drag on return than a herbicide application. In the second place, you can't tell the winners from the losers until about age five, six or seven. By that time, competition, which began between the roots at age two or three, has reduced average live-crown ratios to below 50%, so it will take the trees a while to add enough new foliage to speed up growth.

For these reasons, we keep shouting that you can't "fix" a "busted" plantation. You must do things right from the beginning to earn the returns shown in a nearby article.