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- Title
WEEDS AS A FACTOR DEPRESSING FOREST GROWTH.
- Authors
Wilde, S. A.; Shaw, B. H.; Fedkenheuer, A. W.
- Abstract
The consumption of water by weeds was determined on the basis of the loss in yield of timber suffered by 28-32-year-old plantations of red pine (<em>Pinus resinosa</em> Ait.). Soil and biomass analyses included several pairs of closely located stands established simultaneously on either cultivated or weed-supporting soils. The water supply of 1050 metric tons/ac, available during the growing season, was estimated as the algebraic sum of precipitation, winter storage, condensed vapour, evaporation of intercepted rainfall and gravitational discharge. The biomass of plantations on soils of satisfactory nutrient content and aeration consumed about 500 kg water for production of 1 kg dry matter. The diversion of available water by weed cover on soils of high potential site indices approached 100 kg per kg oven-dry tissues. Blueberries, sweet fern and other heath plants, with initial weight of about 10 metric tons/ac, caused more than 50% loss in the expected volume of merchantable timber. The established relations facilitate an estimate of the productive potential of weed-supporting soils and the choice of an appropriate tree spacing of forest plantations.
- Subjects
WEEDS; RED pine; PLANTATIONS; PLANTS; BOTANY
- Publication
Weed Research, 1968, Vol 8, Issue 3, p196
- ISSN
0043-1737
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1365-3180.1968.tb01422.x