Fertiliser Experiment in Pole stage Scots Pine 1975-1983
This graph image was part of a collection passed to Forestry Memories from a storage shed in Newton Nursery used by Forest Research.
This relatively short experiment was picked as an example of the type of work carried out by Forest Research on research into tree species growth, responses to cultivation and to fertiliser applications. At this time in the 1970s and 19080s the trend was to seek improvements in growth by trialling extensive and deep site cultivation and also applying a variety of fertilisers at varying quantities to newly planted or younger tree crops. In this experiment the attention has moved to slow growing pole stage Scots pine. The experiment is labelled as Speymouth (Teindland) 31/75. Some details are below:
“Preamble - There is considerable evidence that S.P. responds to fertilisers on ironpan soils, probably mainly to N with some P effect. There may be a threshold of about Y.C. 8 above which crops do not respond.
There is evidence to suggest that urea and ammonium nitrate produce similar B.A. response although this has not been proved conclusively. Urea is cheaper on the base of price per Kg of N and also in aerial application. Urea does not leach like ammonium nitrate but it volatilizes instead. A further complication is that ammonium nitrate is an explosive and its use may be prohibited as is the case in many European countries. As urea is less energy intensive in its manufacture than ammonium nitrate the price difference is closely allied to the cost of energy. When there is enough room an experiment will have a urea/ammonium nitrate comparison although there is a risk that the result will merely reflect the weather at the time of application.
Object - To quantify the basal area response of 36-40 year old S.P. to high rates of nitrogen and standard phosphorus.”
A diary records the main operations:
14-17 Mar 1975 – area selected and 18 plots laid out
25 Mar 1957 – inserting marker posts, banding trees (painted at BHD point) and dead and suppressed trees removed
16-22 April 1975 – Numbering all the trees
25 Apr 1975 – Every tree in each plot breast height diameter measurement (BHD) recorded and tree top height noted.
8 May 1975 – Fertiliser applied Unground Rock Phosphate at 20 kg per treated plot – Double rate Urea applied at 32.3 kg per treated plot.
25 Nov 1976 – Breast Height Diameters for all trees in plots recorded
27 Oct 1978 - as above plus additional N added to selected plots
22 Oct 1980 – Breast Height Diameters for all trees in plots recorded
4 Nov 1981 – as above
26 Oct 1982 – as above
7 Sep 1983 – as above plus top heights
Tally and summary sheets all maintained and double checked, basal areas and volumes per plot calculated. Foliage samples collected in 1975 and analysis carried out on nutrient status. In 1983 all the data was analysed and results circulated and the experiment closed. This experiment was replicated in at least two other forest locations. Correspondence file now 20mm deep!
People initially involved included:
(Based in Northern Research Station (NRS), Edinburgh)
G J Mayhead
R McIntosh (Bob?)
C M A Taylor (Charlie)
Alan Low
(Based in Forest Research at Newton)
A L Sharpe (Tony)
A M Walker (Sandy)
Graham R Menzies
The PDF link below includes pages from Form 11 which provides details of the experiment and the outcome results.
Any comments and further information very welcome.
Download Large Version (1.6MB)
Groups: Forest Research, Forestry Areas, Northeast Scotland