Green Leaf Plantations Limited: Establishment of a Chinese Mahogany Plantation

Abstract of the presentation of

Sayuri Wicramasinghe

Toona Sinensis also known as Chinese Mahogany, is a deciduous tree. The bark is brown, smooth on young trees, becoming scaly to shaggy on old trees. The leaves are pinnate and the leaflets have an entire serrate margin. The flowers are produced in panicles and the fruit is a capsule. The growing area is up country zone in Sri Lanka mostly above the elevation of 1200 m. The harvesting age is 30 to 35 Years. The mature height is 20- 25 m. The mature DBH is 70 cm. The density is 424 kg per cubic-meter. Toona sinensis is class II timber grading.

Establishment and maintenance plan for Toona sinensis is prepared by a company named as Green Leaf Plantation Limited who is willing to establish a commercial Toona plantation in a barren land of upcountry. The company is mainly targeting to obtain a maximum profit by selling toona timber which is popular as a veneer and used for decorative purposes.

The mission of the company is to develop and operate high-quality and cost-competitive commercial Toona plantations producing lumber sustainably whilst providing environmental, social and economic benefit to local communities and the vision is to be Sri Lanka’s leading forestry company based on sustainability, environmental and social development benefits; with a passionate and determined team.

Land Preparation, planting and other treatments such as weeding, fertilizing, thinning, pruning and pest and disease control will be carried out in a very careful manner in order to obtain maximum volume of timber at the end of the rotation age of 30 years. Fencing and fire lining will be done in the early stages of the plantation establishment to prevent manmade and natural damages to the plantation.

Final stock will be about 220 to 250 trees per ha which will be removed by shelter wood system to minimize environmental damages which can be occurred in clear felling. Selected trees will be felled, extracted the moved to roadside and transported to the local market.