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Growth and Water Relations of Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Seedlings under Different Weed Control Regimes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

Michael Newton  and
David S. Preest
Michael Newton
Affiliation:
For. Ecol., Oregon State Univ., Coll. of Forestry, Corvallis, OR 97331
David S. Preest
Affiliation:
New Zealand For. Serv., For. Res. Inst., Rotorua, N.Z.
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Abstract

Growth of Douglas fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco] was increased by controlling grasses and broadleaf herbs with eight herbicide regimes during the first 3 yr after planting on a well-drained moist site in the Oregon Coast Range. The greatest growth occurred if weeds were controlled in the same growing season that tree seedlings were transplanted to the field; smaller increments came from second- and third-year weed control. Growth increases attributable to early weed control continued through the fifth year, indicating that conditions during establishment strongly influenced later growth. Plots with no herbaceous vegetation had more available soil water than those with competing vegetation, and tree seedlings on these plots experienced less water stress. Irrigation in the third year increased stem diameter of seedlings in that year but had no effect thereafter. Increases in average seedling stem volume at 5 yr after transplanting were linearly related (r2 = 0.77) to the difference in observed xylem potential during the first three growing seasons after transplanting and the xylem potential at which photosynthesis ceased, −2 MPa.

Keywords

Atrazineweed controlirrigationphenoxy herbicidesstomatal conductancewater potentialAGSTE
Type
Weed Control and Herbicide Technology
Information
Weed Science , Volume 36 , Issue 5 , September 1988 , pp. 653 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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