1967. Six of the 12 

 land-owning members of 

 the cooperative collectively 

 treat an estimated 100,000 

 acres per year in Florida 

 and Georgia, with others 

 treating an undetermined 

 acreage of coastal lands in 

 North and South Carolina, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Louisiana, and Texas. 



Fundamental research on 

 tree nutrition, forest soils, 

 and fertilizer reactions in 

 soils are conducted in 

 greenhouses and other 

 facilities of the University of 

 Florida. Cooperators' annual 

 grants of approximately 

 $100,000 are combined 

 with supporting agency 

 funds and university funds 

 to finance graduate 

 students, visiting scientists, 

 and university support 

 personnel to promote this 

 basic phase of the program. 



Over 300 field experiments 

 (160 ongoing) have been 

 installed on cooperators' 

 lands throughout the lower 

 coastal plain and are 

 yielding valuable 

 observations on the 

 interactions between 

 fertilization and other 

 silvicultural treatments, 

 such as site preparation, 

 burning, thinning, and 

 herbicide use. 



Observations show that 

 fertilization at planting time 



may increase volume growth 

 on many sites by an average 

 of about 20 percent during 

 a rotation. 



Midrotation fertilization may 

 increase volume growth by 

 about 40 percent for up to 

 1 years on many wetter 

 sites. 



One truism emerging from 

 this work is that fertilization 

 is not a general treatment 

 or panacea to increase 

 forest productivity. It is site 

 and time specific and can 

 be unproductive or even 

 have a negative impact 

 unless done under the 

 correct circumstances. 



Insect and disease research 

 has included both 

 cooperative and individual 

 projects involving root rot, 

 brownspot affecting longleaf 

 pine seedlings, and 

 extensive work on the 

 southern pine beetles. Work 

 on the root rot program 

 was pioneered by 

 International Paper 

 Company at its Bainbridge, 

 GA, research center. 

 Working in cooperation 

 with the USDA Forest 

 Service and other agencies, 

 investigators in a crash 

 program discovered that 

 applying borax to a stump, 

 immediately after the tree 

 had been felled, prevents 

 the spread of the fungus 

 Heterobasidion annosum. 



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