02/17/1992

Forest Weed Control Pays

AUBURN, Ala.—The value of effective weed control in planted pine plantations was demonstrated in a two-year Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station study.

The study, headed by A.U. Assistant Professor of Forestry Glenn Glover, showed that broadcast weed control in a seven-year-old Coastal Plain slash pine plantation increased tree volume by 705 cubic feet per acre (130 percent) and basal area by 38 square feet percent per acre (86 percent). Average tree dominant height was 38 feet when weed control was utilized compared to 21 feet for trees receiving no weed control treatment.

Much of the competing vegetation on the weed control treatment had recovered by age 7 with bare ground averaging 47 percent for two years of broadcast weed control, compared to 25 percent for areas without weed control treatments. The considerable response at this location indicates the loss of potential growth due to competition on bedded and fertilized Coastal Plain sites.

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Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Katie Jackson, 334-844-5886 or smithcl@auburn.edu

02/17/92