Site Preparation Aids Longleaf Regeneration

This study, on the Olustee Experimental Forest in Florida, was designed to test effects of four site treatments on the regeneration of naturally seeded longleaf pine (4 to 6 seed trees per acre). Site treatments were: (1) burning alone; (2) burning, followed by strip-harrowing; (3) burning, followed by a single barrowing; (4) burning, followed by a double harrowing. Treatments were begun in September 1961, and the study conducted through January 1963. Weather was unfavorable during the 1961 seedfall, and the 1962 seedfall was negligible; thus overall stocking was very low. Stocking for the most intensive treatment was nine times that for burning alone (significant at the .05 level).