Abstract After reviewing 25 years of research on pre-commercial thinning, the authors conclude that all southern pine stands with 5,000 or more stems per acre should be thinned. To minimize costs and prevent redaction in live crowns, stands should be strip thinned at about age three. A residual stocking of 500 to 750 stems per acre will give rapid diameter growth without reducing volume production.
Mann et al. (Sun,) studied this question.