Wood of Gmelina arborea in Costa Rica

Gmelina arborea Roxb. (gmelina) was introduced in Costa Rica in the late 1960s. At the present time, gmelina is the most widely planted tree species in Costa Rica. According to estimations by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), there are about 65,000ha reforested with gmelina in the country. This forested land has the potential of producing over 400,000 cubic meters of timber per year. Most of the gmelina plantations in Costa Rica were planted at 3m×3m spacing and were established with cuttings from seedlings. Trees are thinned and pruned three times during a rotation on sites that are good and only two times on sites of medium or low quality. In both cases the average rotation age is approximately 14 years. At the end of the rotation, the average diameter increment at breast height is approximately 3.5cm with total yields of 25-40m ³/ha/year. The introduction of this species into Costa Rica has produced a radical change in the primary wood industry, since the kind of equipment needed to process the small diameter logs from young plantations was not previously available in the country. Today, the wood from gmelina plays an integral part in the forest industry of the country. The logs coming from the lower part of the tree are being used for furniture and plywood production. The logs from the middle of the stem are used for construction timbers and the smallest logs are processed for boxes, pallets and log cabins.