Effects of Control-Release Fertilizer in a Wild Cherry Plantation: Fifth-Year Results

Fertilization can improve survival and growth of tree seedlings, and their tolerance to pests in the forest, and may mitigate impact of climate change on trees. Positive effects of fertilization on young seedlings are even more pronounced in fast-growing tree species. Control-release fertilizers are superior to the traditional agricultural fertilizers, providing tree seedlings a slow, sustainable, and safe nutritional support. Wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) is a native and important element of the moist western Black Sea Region forests of Turkey. This broadleaved tree species grows fast and has important ecologic and economic functions and services. This papers reports the fifth-year results of a young wild cherry plantation fertilized at different rates with a control-release fertilizer on a mesic western Black Sea Region site. A control-release fertilizer (Basacote® Plus 6 M, COMPO Benelux, Belgium) was applied in a one-year old wild cherry plantation at five different rates (0, 80, 160, 240 ve 320 g seedlings-1) in the spring of 2009. Five years after treatment (YAT), fertilizer rates did not make a significant effect on survival and growth for wild cherry. Earlier positive fertilization effects on seedling growth reported two YAT did not appear to be sustained after five years. The toxic effect of high-rate fertilizer in the early assessment was also noted to a lesser degree five YAT. Mechanism by which control-release fertilizer affects survival and growth of young wild cherry seedlings seems to be complex and/or site-specific. Inherent site fertility and lack of successive fertilization might account for the lack survival and growth enhancement in cherry by fertilization.