Specific gravity responses of slash and loblolly pine following mid-rotation fertilization

Wood quality attributes were examined in six stands of slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii) and loblolly pine (P. taeda L.) in the lower Coastal Plain of Georgia and Florida. Several plots comprised each stand, and each plot was divided so that it received three fertilizer treatments: a control treatment with herbaceous weed control at planting and brush control at mid-rotation only (control); 45 kg ha−1 N + 56 kg ha−1 P + herbaceous weed control at planting and 224 kg ha−1 N + 45 kg ha−1 P + brush control at mid-rotation (fertilizer with N at planting); and 56 kg ha−1 P + herbaceous weed control at planting and 224 kg ha−1 N + 45 kg ha−1 P + brush control at mid-rotation (fertilizer without N at planting). Ring width, ring earlywood specific gravity (SG), ring latewood SG, whole ring SG, and ring percent latewood were measured on each of seven trees. Of these measurements, this study focused mainly on the properties related to SG. Examination of the rings showed that latewood SG was significantly lower in trees treated with fertilizers with and without N at planting in the two to three years following fertilization, but that latewood SG gradually returned to a level similar to the control. Fertilizer without N at planting may also have had a brief negative effect on earlywood SG following mid-rotation fertilization, but it was not as clear or lasting as the effect on latewood SG. Additionally, although slash and loblolly pine appear to differ in the developmental patterns of these SG properties, there were no significant differences in how these patterns interacted with treatment. This study demonstrated that fertilization treatments have similar short-term effects on the SG of slash and loblolly pines, particularly in latewood, but the trees will return to a SG pattern consistent with unfertilized trees within two or three years.