Consortium for accelerated pine production studies (CAPPS)

Abstract

After two and a half decades under the influence of intensive cultural management, the trends and stand dynamics of loblolly pine plantations in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain of Georgia are reported in this study. Annual fertilization, complete competition control, and a combination of the two treatments are applied to understand how loblolly pine plantations develop under lack of nutrition deficits and inter-species competition. Site indices for control treatments ranged from 73 to 93 base age 25 across the nine study sites with maximum mean annual increments in green tons ranging from 6.3 tons/acre/year to 12.0 tons/acre year. Overall treatment maximum mean annual increments reached 15.5 tons/acre/year in the combination treatment on the Waycross - Dry site. The majority of the site maximums for mean annual increment occurred in the combination treatment. Basal area per acre reached a maximum of 252.1 ft2/acre in the complete competition control treatment on the Dawsonville - Top site at age 25. Maximum total green weight achieved across the sites occurred on the Waycross - Wet site, where at age 23, an average of 275 tons/acre were on site. Productivity was good across all sites regardless of treatment. Coastal Plain sites saw the greatest gains in fertilization treatments throughout the duration of the study due to nutrient limitations. Piedmont sites saw the greatest gains in sites receiving competition control from establishment until crown closure, where fertilization regimes began to have greater gains.