Full notes do not exist for this meeting, this is based on the pre-meeting informaton
Wareham Forest for many years was the cradle of forest nutrition research. So poor were the soils that in the 1920s and 30s foresters despaired of growing trees with any vigour. The first really major breakthrough was discovering the significance of phosphate, which was followed by a remarkable period of sustained research into nursery nutrition led by Dr Blanche Benzian. By the 1960s so famous had Wareham become that it was the site chosen for seeing what the maximum rate of growth could be achieved for species that could outgrow Corsican pine. This famous experiment, Wareham 156, created what became Britain’s fastest ever growing plot of Sitka Spruce (of all species!) achieving a YC far exceeding 30. Annual foliar samples guided annual fertiliser applications and even copper deficiencies were induced. All this work will be reviewed and, where still surviving, old experiment sites visited.
The growth and prospects of Pinus radiata and P. muricata will also be examined.
Wessex Silvicultural Group: Notes from previous meetings can be found here.