the Wright Brothers Memorial; it is found on flats and around buildings. 

 Knotgrass occurs on the poorly drained flats and moist road shoulders. 



The Bermudas will tolerate a considerable amount of salt either as spray 



or in the soil and a moderate rate of sand buildup. Observations indicate 



that these plants require at least as much, if not more, nitrogen than the 



dune grasses to maintain them in a healthy condition. They should be sprigged 



in early spring in order to insure establishment before excessive drying of 



the sand occurs. Planting can be done satisfactorily up to early summer 

 where irrigation is available. 



4. FERTILIZATION 



a. Response to Fertilizer 



The only species of which stands were ava i I ab I e for the pre I imi nary 

 trials in the spring of 1961 were American beachgrass, Ammophila brevi-ligulata 

 and saltmeadow cordgrass, Spartina patens. The former was located largely 

 on the dunes and the latter on the sand flats and low dunes. The first 

 treatments were applied in March 1961. As mentioned earlier, no usable data 

 were taken that summer due to the lack of a suitable technique. It was pos- 

 sible to observe some response, particularly to nitrogen (N); plants were 

 greener and growth increased 50 percent to perhaps 100 percent. The overall 

 effect was disappointing in light of the very poor growth of untreated areas. 

 Doubling this very sparse growth still left the cover inadequate. 



Other trials were then established in September 1961 and as soon as new 

 growth was initiated in the spring of 1962, it appeared that the fall fer- 

 tilization had improved the situation materially. Fortunately, although a 

 number of trials were lost in the March 1962 storm, the two reported in 

 Tables I and 2 were not seriously damaged. 



TABLE I 



Growth Response of American Beachgrass to Fertilizers - Hatteras Island 



Treatments 



Plot P 2 5 K 2 



No. Nitrogen, lb/acre I b/acre I b/acre 

 Apr Jun Aug Sep 



2. 33 33 33 50 



3. 33 33 33 50 50 



4. 33 33 33 50 50 50 



Least Significant Difference - .05 

 Least Significant Difference - .01 

 Coefficient of Variability - 



Y 



ield, lb/acre 

 (dry weight) 



1962 



1963 



1964 



1965 



341 



216 



896 



104 



2557 



2871 



6781 



5570 



2871 



3172 



6458 



5698 



2359 



3575 



5593 



5554 



340 

 516 



