Articles containing the keyword 'stand growth'.

The long-term effects of fertilization on the needle nutrient concentrations, growth and financial performance of a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stand was examined in a thick-peated drained peatland forest located in Central Finland. At the trial establishment in 1985, the trees were suffering from P and K deficiencies, but their N status was good. The fertilizer treatments were Control, PK (rock phosphate + potassium chloride), ApaBio (apatite phosphorus + biotite) and wood ash, applied both with and without N and replicated six times. All treatments containing phosphorus and potassium increased foliar P and K concentrations above the deficiency limits up to the end of the study period of 26 years. The effect of the fertilization on stand volume growth of Scots pine was strong and continued still at the end of the study period. The trees on ApaBio and PK plots grew nearly two-fold and those on Ash plots over two-fold compared with the control plots. In a thinning made at the end of the study period the total logging removal on fertilized plots was 1.5–2.2 times greater and included more saw logs than on the control plots. Ash fertilizer treatment outperformed other fertilizer treatments as well as the control. With a 5% discounted equivalent annual income (EAI) of Ash fertilizer treatment was statistically significantly (p=0.009) almost three times higher than that of control. As a conclusion, fertilization (either using PK fertilizers or Ash) in N-rich drained peatlands is a financially feasible method of management.

• Moilanen, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Natural resources and bioproduction, Paavo Havaksen tie 3, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: mikko.moilanen@luke.fi
• Hytönen, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Natural resources and bioproduction, Silmäjärventie 2, FI-69100 Kannus, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: jyrki.hytonen@luke.fi
• Hökkä, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Natural resources and bioproduction, Eteläranta 55, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: hannu.hokka@luke.fi
• Ahtikoski, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Natural resources and bioproduction, Paavo Havaksen tie 3, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: anssi.ahtikoski@luke.fi

• Hökkä, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Rovaniemi Research Unit, P.O. Box 16, FI-96301 Rovaniemi, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: hannu.hokka@metla.fi
• Hyttinen, Metsänhoitoyhdistys Keski-Suomi, Viitasaari, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Marttila, University of Oulu, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Lab, Oulu, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Jämsen, Forestry Centre Keski-Suomi, Pihtipudas, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Kløve, University of Oulu, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Lab, Oulu, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: –

• Silfverberg, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: klaus.silfverberg@metla.fi
• Hartman, The Finnish Forest Research Institute, P.O. Box 18, FIN-01301 Vantaa, Finland ORCID ID: – E-mail: –

• Vasaitis, Department of Forest Mycology & Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7026, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden ORCID ID: – E-mail: rimvys.vasaitis@mykopat.slu.se
• Stenlid, Department of Forest Mycology & Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7026, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Thomsen, Forest & Landscape, University of Copenhagen, Hoersholm Kongevej 11, DK-2970 Hoersholm, Denmark ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Barklund, Department of Forest Mycology & Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7026, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Dahlberg, Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7007, SE-75007 Uppsala, Sweden ORCID ID: – E-mail: –

About one million hectares of forests are fertilized annually in Finland. The goal of the present study was to find out, by means of calculations, how the profitability of forest fertilization varies with variations in the stage of development of tree crops, the quality of the site and its geographical location. Calculations concerned bot fertilization of forests in mineral soil sites and in drained peatlands. The study is a part of a larger project concerning the order of profitability of different forest improvement measures in different conditions. The problems dealt with in this study were approached from the point of view of national economy.

On the basis of two empirical materials it is shown that there is a high correlation between the stand growth percentages before and after the fertilization. Applying the results to existing yield tables the authors calculate benefit/cost ratios showing the stage of development of the stand, the quality of the site and its geographical location. According to the results, fertilization is more profitable in sites of medium fertility than on poor sites. Profitability decreases rather fast from south to north and with decreasing timber prices. 

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Keltikangas, ORCID ID: – E-mail: –
• Seppälä, ORCID ID: – E-mail: –

One of the difficulties in constructing growth and yield tables has been to determine which of the sample plots growing the same tree species and belonging to the same forest site type, with reference to the quality of stands, have to be included in the same growth series.

New growth and yield tables for the most important tree species were constructed in Finland in 1916–1919, using new principles that aim at avoiding some of the common weaknesses. There were two main differences to the earlier work. First, the site quality class (forest site type) was determined for each sample plot when the sample plot was measured, independently of the stand occupying the site. In this way it was possible to treat the sample plots of each site as an independent group from the beginning, and so that the quality classes were the same for all the tree species. Second, mathematic-statistical methods were used to deduct the so-called stem frequency distribution series, when studying which of the sample plots of the same quality class belong to the same growth series. They represent the average number of stems of the different diameter classes. A more detailed description of the method used to create the growth and yield tables is published in Acta Forestalia Fennica no. 15.

In the PDF is included a summary in Finnish.

• Ilvessalo, ORCID ID: – E-mail: –