Productive whole-tree bundling gives more options for first thinning

Research carried out by Metla and Skogforsk shows good productivity levels from this new bundler.

The trees felled during a first thinning often have little commercial value due to the high logging costs involved. New technologies that fells and accumulates multiple stems, and then bundles them, may be a method of reducing these costs.

A Fixteri FX15a bundling unit was mounted onto a Logman 811FC base machine. A Nisula 280E+ accumulating felling head was used to fell trees and feed the bundler. The productivity studies showed that the bundler could process 9.7 m3 of trees per hour in 0.028 m3 trees, 11.9 m3 of trees per hour in 0.044 m3 trees, and 13.8 m3 of trees per hour in 0.084 m3 trees. These results show substantial improvements over the previous Fixteri model studied. The improvements were attributed to increased multi-tree cutting and improved capacity of the bundler. Source (information and image): http://www.metla.fi/tiedotteet/2013/2013-04-22-whole-tree-bundler.htm