Services
Five disciplines.
One standard.
Every job, big or small, is worked by a crew that includes the people who own the business. That's the whole model.
Manual Thinning to Waste Flagship
This is what Pro Thin Northland is built around: hands-on, chainsaw-based manual thinning to waste. Correct tree selection, clean cuts and consistent spacing, delivered by crews that include the business' own owner-operators on the ground. It's the work we've staked our name on, and where we intend to be the best in the country, not just the region. We also offer chemical thin to waste, drilling and treating the stems not selected for the final crop with a targeted herbicide. Which method we recommend comes down to factors like tree age, environmental hazards, the site's walk hindrance and the client's own preference.
Planting
Establishment planting with correct spacing and species handling, setting young stands up for a strong start.
Pruning
Form and access pruning carried out to lift final timber value, with the same attention to detail our crew is known for. We offer both loppers and chainsaw pruning, whichever suits the block and stems, and it's especially recommended on smaller blocks, where pruning makes the most of a limited number of stems and maximizes the forest's potential.
Spraying
Release and site-prep spraying to control competing growth while new stands are getting established.
Forest Management & Consulting
Stand assessment and forest management planning, informed by hands-on experience across every stage of the silviculture cycle, from planting through to thinning.
Included with every job
Every job includes quality control plots at no extra charge, an independent check on our own work to confirm it meets the standard we have set. Every block, every time.
Our default regime · Radiata pine
Where we usually start.
These numbers are specific to radiata pine, New Zealand's dominant plantation species and the bulk of the blocks we work. Every job is still scoped to the owner's goals, the site and the species; if you're growing something else, or want a different outcome from a pine block, the regime below is a starting reference, not a rule.
We generally plant to around 1,000 stems per hectare, roughly two to three times a typical final crop stocking. That gives us plenty of trees to choose from when it comes to pruning or thinning, so we can select the best-formed, healthiest stems without paying to establish extra trees that are only ever going to be thinned back out.
While the full stand is still standing, we select and prune the best 300 to 400 stems per hectare, the trees earmarked as the final crop, with unpruned filler stems left in place around them for early stability and growth.
Where the block's been pruned, thinning to waste brings the stand down to that same 300 to 400 stems per hectare, since the crop trees are already chosen and no fillers are needed. Taking it down that low also gives each crop tree more room to grow, increasing the amount of clear wood it produces. Skip the pruning step and we thin to a slightly higher 500 stems per hectare instead, keeping a broader base of unselected stems to grow on.
These are general go-tos, not a fixed formula. Soil, terrain, species and what you're after from the block (structural timber vs. clearwood, a faster rotation vs. maximum value per stem) all change the numbers. Tell us what you're trying to get out of your forest and we'll scope a regime around that, not the other way around.