Influence of fertilization, weed control, and pine litter on loblolly pine growth and productivity and understory plant development through 12 growing seasons

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (10) ◽  
pp. 1974-1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D Haywood ◽  
Jeffery C Goelz ◽  
Mary A. Sword Sayer ◽  
Allan E Tiarks

On a silt loam soil in central Louisiana, three cultural treatments were applied to a seedling loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation. The treatments were in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design: (1) no fertilization or a broadcast application of 177 kg N/ha and 151 kg P/ha; (2) no herbicides applied or broadcast or spot applications of hexazinone, sulfometuron methyl, or glyphosate herbicides and felling as required to control competing vegetation during the first three growing seasons; and (3) no litter applied or broadcast application of pine litter to form a 10 to 15 cm layer in the first growing season. Through 12 growing seasons, the fertilization or herbicide treatment significantly increased stand growth (α = 0.05), and these two treatments had an additive effect (no treatments, 209 m3/ha; fertilization, 328 m3/ha; herbicide, 280 m3/ha; fertilization and herbicide, 362 m3/ha). However, because litter application probably had a minor fertilization effect, the fertilizer and litter combination produced the greatest yield (370 m3/ha). The herbicide and litter combination adversely affected pine survival, and so applying all three treatments was no more effective than fertilization alone. The loblolly pine overstory was the dominant factor influencing the long-term development of the understory.

2021 ◽  
Vol 491 ◽  
pp. 119176
Author(s):  
Michael A. Blazier ◽  
Thomas Hennessey ◽  
Laurence Schimleck ◽  
Scott Abbey ◽  
Ryan Holbrook ◽  
...  

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 116-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Waldrop

Abstract Four variations of the fell-and-burn technique, a system developed to produce mixed pine-hardwood stands in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, were compared in the Piedmont region. All variations of this technique successfully improved the commercial value of low-quality hardwood stands by introducing a pine component. After six growing seasons, loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) occupied the dominant crown position and oaks the codominant position in fell-and-burn treated stands on poor to medium quality sites. The precise timing of felling residual stems, as prescribed by the fell-and-burn technique, may be flexible because winter and spring felling produced similar results. Although summer site preparation burns reduced hardwood height growth by reducing the length of the first growing season, they did not improve pine survival or growth. Pines were as tall as hardwoods within four growing seasons in burned plots and within six growing seasons in unburned plots. Additional research is needed to determine the level or intensity of site preparation needed to establish pine-hardwood mixtures over a range of site conditions. South. J. Appl. For. 21(3):116-122.


1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine G. Bacon ◽  
Shepard M. Zedaker

Abstract The growth response of young loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) to different amounts of competition control was studied in plantations of three ages in the Virginia Piedmont. Eight competition control treatments involved the removal of all, two-thirds, one-third, or none of the hardwoodstems either with or without herbaceous weed control. Results after three growing seasons showed a significant increase in pine diameter and volume growth with competition control. Treatments combining woody and herbaceous control resulted in better pine growth than the same treatments withoutherbaceous control, in the two youngest stands. The best response, obtained with the two-thirds woody plus herbaceous control treatment, resulted in: a 100% increase in volume growth over the check plots in seedlings treated at the beginning of their second growing season in the field; a 93% increase in one-year-old seedlings; and a 53% increase in the growth of seedlings treated before the third growing season. South. J. Appl. For. 11(2):91-95.


1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. Marx ◽  
Charles E. Cordell ◽  
Alexander Clark

Abstract Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L) seedlings with different initial amounts of Pisolithus tinctorius (Pt) ectomycorrhizae (Pt index 0, 27, 46, 68, or 88) were planted on a good-quality site (site index 90 ft at age 50) in southwest Georgia. After 8 years and crown closure, trees with Pt indices of 88 and 68 had significantly better survival and greater heights, diameters, volumes, and green weights per tree and per ac than nursery-run, control seedlings (Pt index 0). Volume and weight yields per ac were over 50% greater and volume and weight yields per tree were over 20% greater for trees in the Pt index 88 treatment than they were for control trees. A special statistical analysis indicated that average per ac volume was positively correlated with initial Pt index values larger than 58. Tree-ring analyses showed that trees with a Pt index of 88 had significantly greater annual basal area growth than controls during growing seasons with water deficits of 8 to 13 in. Annual growth did not differ when water deficits were greater or less than these amounts. After 8 years, Pt basidiocarps were present throughout the study site. Mycorrhizal treatment integrity may have been lost after 3 or 4 years. South. J. Appl. For. 12(4):275-280


2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
William A. Carey ◽  
David B. South ◽  
M. Williford ◽  
J. Britt

Abstract Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) seedlings were lifted from two nurseries in Georgia, and the roots were washed using equipment built for that purpose. Seedlings then received two levels of storage and were outplanted not far from the nursery of origin (one loam soil and one sandy soil). Immediately after washing, root weights and the length of fine roots did not differ among wash treatments from either nursery. Survival was excellent for all treatments on the loam soil, but a single wash reduced survival by 5 to 10% when seedlings were planted in sand. Washing slowed the rate of budbreak and early height growth. Bud growth of seedlings planted in a stress pit (containing sand) was correlated with both root growth 1 month after planting (r = 0.36,P = 0.0003) and survival 2 months after planting (r =0.62,P = 0.01). Among seedlings outplanted on a sandy site, initial height growth also correlated with survival (r = 0.49,P = 0.007). South. J. Appl. For. 25(1):25–30.


2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2231-2235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Binkley

A litter sandwich approach was used to examine the loss of mass, acidity, and nutrients through 10 years of decomposition in a stand of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). Each year, a new layer of 3-mm mesh fiberglass was placed on the annual accumulation of litterfall. Ten years of decomposition led to a loss of about 80% of the litter organic matter (giving a decomposition constant of 0.1655), which predicted a steady-state mass of the forest floor within 10% of the observed value. The pH (in 0.1 M KCl) showed little variation over time, ranging just from 3.2 to 3.5. The decline in titratable acidity appeared related primarily to the loss of organic matter rather than to any change in the acid characteristics of the material. Nitrogen loss was slow; the 10-year-old cohort of material contained 70% as much nitrogen as the original material. The loss of other nutrients was rapid, exceeding 80% loss by 6 years for phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. The litter-sandwich method for examining decomposition is an easy, long-term approach that appeared to provide reasonable representation of the dynamics of unconfined forest floor materials. Future work should test this method for examining the decomposition effects of litter quality, nutrient supply, and environmental conditions.


1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney L. Busby

Abstract Herbaceous weed control using Oust (sulfometuron methyl²) is economically efficient in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations given reasonable expectations about the long-term effect of the treatment on stand growth. Increases in the sizes of the growth increments following treatment that have been reported in the literature, and the economic returns this analysis shows are possible, indicate that investment in herbaceous weed control can be a prudent silvicultural option. South. J. Appl. For. 16(1):40-47.


1977 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 8-10
Author(s):  
D. H. Van Lear ◽  
N. B. Goebel ◽  
J. G. Williams

Abstract The performance of adjacent unthinned plantations of loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) and slash pine (P. elliottii Engelm.) on three sites in South Carolina was evaluated after 16 growing seasons. Sites ranged from a noneroded Piedmont soil to an excessively drained sandy soil of the Sandhills physiographic region. Growth and survival varied widely among sites, with greatest productivity occurring in the Piedmont and the lowest in the Congaree Sandhills. Despite the droughty nature of the latter site, survival after 16 growing seasons was over 80 percent for both species. On a volume basis, loblolly pine outperformed slash pine at the upper Pidemont and Aiken Plateau sites, while slash pine was superior on the dry Sandhills site. Incidence of fusiform rust was much higher for both species at the Aiken Plateau than at the other sites.


1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Haywood

Abstract Herbaceous weed control influenced the growth of planted loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) over a 10-yr-period. Five treatments were examined: (1) Untreated control: seedlings were planted in the established herbaceous vegetation; (2) Glyphosate: glyphosate was broadcast in September 1981 before planting; (3) Disked: plots were cross-disked in September 1981 before planting; (4) Glyphosate-PPWC: glyphosate was broadcast before planting as in Treatment 2, and postplant weed control (PPWC) herbicides were broadcast yearly for 4 yr (1982, atrazine plus simazine ; 1983, atrazine plus oxyfluorfen; 1984 and 1985, hexazinone ); and (5) Disked-PPWC: plots were disked before planting as in Treatment 3, and the PPWC herbicides were broadcast as in Treatment 4. Four years of PPWC did not affect survival and resulted in greater height, dbh, and volume per loblolly pine through 10 growing seasons. The disked-PPWC plots were the most productive through 8 growing seasons, but higher than average mortality after 8 yr on the disked-PPWC treatment resulted in the glyphosate-PPWC plots producing more volume per acre after 10 growing seasons. Total volume production was 253 inside bark ft³/ac greater on the two PPWC treatments than on the untreated controls. South. J. Appl. For. 18(3): 105-109.


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