Fertilization Research

Last updated on January 25, 2024

Although other silvicultural treatments may redistribute volume and/or increase piece size and value, fertilization is the most proven method for increasing harvest volume and accelerating the operability of established stands.

As such, fertilization is widely viewed by forest managers and practitioners as a potentially valuable tool for mitigating "pinch points" in the mid-term timber supply caused by age class imbalances, and for increasing long term harvest levels.

During the past several decades, extensive research has been conducted to determine the nutritional status of coastal and interior forests and to document the effectiveness of single and repeated nutrient additions on improving tree and stand growth across a wide range of species and sites. The biological basis for fertilizing forests is to supply nutrient elements that constrain tree growth. Fertilization research has confirmed that nitrogen (N) deficiencies are widespread in B.C. forests, and that N additions often have a substantial positive effect on tree and stand growth. Other nutrient deficiencies, either induced or aggravated by N fertilization, have also been implicated as growth-limiting factors, especially in interior forests. For example, larger growth responses are often obtained by including sulphur (S) or boron (B) in fertilizer prescriptions for lodgepole pine.

Growth and yield data from area-based fertilization experiments is a vital source of data for treatment response predictions within managed stand growth and yield models. Over the long term, these field installations also provide data for checking a model's growth trends.

On this page


Experimental projects - coast

EP

Title

#installation

Year establ.

703

Extensive Studies of Fertilizing and Thinning Coastal Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock

78

1971-1975

1097

Effects of Thinning and Fertilization on Growth and Yield of Coastal Sitka Spruce - Western Hemlock stands on the Queen Charlotte Islands

1

1991

1177

Whistler Biosolids Forest Fertilization Program

2

1994

1258

Shawnigan Lake Fertilization and Thinning Experiment

  1971 

Experimental projects - interior

 
EP
Title
#Inst
Year established

886.01a

Nitrogen fertilization of lodgepole pine

11

1981 - 1983

886.01b

Nitrogen, sulphur and boron fertilization of lodgepole pine 4 1986

886.01c

Nitrogen and sulphur fertilization of interior conifers 31 1992-2002

886.01d

Fertilizer x thinning interactions in lodgepole pine 1 1992

886.01e

Effects of nitrogen application rate on the growth of lodgepole pine 1 2000

886.04

Response of young lodgepole pine to spring and fall applications of urea and ammonium nitrate fertilizer 3 1984

886.05

Response of juvenile-spaced lodgepole pine to nitrogen and boron fertilization 1 1984

886.07

Response of a young interior spruce plantation to fertilizer application 1 1987

886.08

Interior spruce, Douglas-fir and western larch fertilizer screening trials in the British Columbia interior     27 1987-1988

886.09

Response of young lodgepole pine to nitrogen and sulphur fertilization 7 1988-1999

886.10

The effect of nitrogen and sulphur application rates and sulphur source on the nutrition and growth of lodgepole pine 2 1990

886.12

The effects of nitrogen, sulphur and boron on the nutrition, health and growth of immature lodgepole pine 1 1990

886.13

Maximizing the productivity of young forests in the interior of British Columbia 8 1992 - 1999

886.14

Effects of nitrogen source on the growth of lodgepole pine 1 1999

886.15

Sulphur fertilization of lodgepole pine: a stable isotope tracer study 2 2002

Fertilization publications