Eighteen years of seasonal burning in longleaf pine:effects on overstory the growth [Abstract]

Abstract

The effects of several hardwood control treatments on understory succession and overstory growth have been followed for 19 years on a Coastal Plain site in southwest Alabama. The study began in 1973, with 12 treatment combinations in 14-year-old naturally established longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) thinned to about 500 stems/acre. Four burning treatments, namely biennial burns in winter, spring, and summer plus an unburned check were each combined with three supplemental hardwood control treatments: an initial chemical injection of all hardwoods, periodic cutting of all woody stems, and no treatment. Pine stands were thinned to 70 ft² basal area/acre in 1990. All measures of pine growth were significantly reduced by burning. By 1992, the volume yield of 3,222 ft³/acre on unburned plots significantly exceeded the average yield of 2,606 ft³/acre for the three burning treatmeats, which did not differ significantly among themselves. The significant effect of fire on pine diameter and height growth did not extend beyond age 24, although effects on basal area and volume growth have continued to age 30. Supplemental treatments have not yet affected pine volume growth.

Citation

Boyer, William D. 1993. Eighteen years of seasonal burning in longleaf pine:effects on overstory the growth [Abstract]. In: Fire, Meteorology and the Landscape: 12th conference on fire and forest meteorology; 1993 October 26-28; Jekyll Island, GA. [Jekyll Island, GA]: Society of American Foresters: 102.