ZLV Online

Abstrakt

Tree species used to afforest formerly-agricultural land influence total production of the forest. Among well-performing species, Douglas-fir is the one that is considered to have positive effects on soil fertility and forest crop stability on many ecosites. Three-year-old plantation of Douglas-fir is able to achieve a mean height of 1.5 m. Therefore, new crops can meet requirements of established plantations even at this age. We examined performance of Douglas-fir under conditions of beech (north aspect) and beech-with-fir (south aspect) ecosites on former meadows. In the 10th year after planting, Douglas-fir began to keep up with the initially best-growing European larch on the north-facing site. There is, however, some risk related to growing Douglas-fir; this species can be prone to infection by needle-cast fungi. The drier conditions seem to influence negatively the performance of the species on the south-facing site. In the 6th year after planting, Douglas-fir remains lower along with Norway spruce compared to European larch.