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First-year survival and growth of fertilized slash pine in south Alabama

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Early survival and growth rates are critical to the successful establishment of pine stands. Landowners need options to improve first-year growth on pine stands that will help them meet their land management objectives. One way to improve early stand survival and growth is through fertilization. In January 2008, approximately 5 acres of slash pine (Pinus elliottii Englem.) were planted on an old field site in south Alabama. Slash pine seedlings were treated with Accele-Grow-M™, a patent pending fertilizer supplement, to determine if there were any growth differences as a result of foliar application, root dip, or a combination of both and compared to a control group. Comparisons between initial seedling height and root-collar diameter measurements that were taken shortly after planting and first-year growth measurements showed that the control seedlings had increased growth in height and groundline diameter when compared to treated seedlings. In addition to the early effect on growth, it is possible that the fertilized seedlings also invested more in increased foliar density and root mass, parameters that were not measured. If this is the case, we expect to see acceleration in the growth rates of the fertilized seedlings in subsequent years.

Parent Publication

Citation

Barlow, Rebecca; Dimov, Luben; Connor, Kris; Smith, Mark. 2013. First-year survival and growth of fertilized slash pine in south Alabama. In: Guldin, James M., ed. 2013. Proceedings of the 15th biennial southern silvicultural research conference. e-Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-GTR-175. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 17-19.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/43470