Growing-Season Burns for Control of Hardwoods in Longleaf Pine Stands

摘要

Experimental spring and summer burning for control of hardwoods was conducted in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) stands in southwestern Alabama. When two summer burns were conducted 2 years apart in stands of mainly mature longleaf pine, most hardwood mortality occurred after the second fire--mainly among stems that had suffered complete top-kill after the first fire. Only hardwoods in the 1-inch d.b.h. class suffered over 50-percent mortality, and mortality among stems in the 4-inch and larger d.b.h. classes was negligible. Fire damage to some upland hardwood species increased with increasing density of overstory pine. Summer burning for hardwood control in existing longleaf pine stands is inadvisable because of the danger of unacceptably high pine mortality.