Episode 35 - Feeding Trees: Essential Nutrition for Long-Term Forest Productivity

About this episode

This episode explores the role of nutrition in enhancing forest productivity in Australia, featuring insights from researcher John McGrath on key projects aimed at improving hardwood and softwood yield.

In the latest episode of FWPA’s WoodChat podcast, listeners are invited to explore the transformative role of nutrition in enhancing forest productivity across Australia. This insightful episode features researcher John McGrath, who shares insights about three pivotal projects, with the potential to shape the long-term future of forest management for maximum yield and productivity. The discussion kicks off with the hardwood yield gap project aimed at identifying forest management actions to help reduce the hardwood yield gap. This work successfully helped to recalibrate the Agricultural Production System sIMulator (APSIM) model for hardwood productivity. This tool offers a better understanding of environmental limitations to maximising hardwood yield, and invaluable guidance for forestry professionals. Moving on to the softwood nutrition project, McGrath highlights the long-term collection of historical date to enable the extension of the pre-existing South Australian predictive tool ProFert into Western Australia. The recalibrated tool is already helping forest managers in WA to better predict fertiliser response in softwood plantations. Similarly, a project was also conducted…

People in this episode

Guest: John McGrath

Topics covered

• forest productivity
• nutrition
• forest management
• hardwood yield
• softwood nutrition

Keywords

• forest management
• APSIM model
• ProFert
• fertiliser response
• tree growth

Mentioned in this episode

Products: ProFert, APSIM

Books & works: Feeding Trees: Essential Nutrition for Long-Term Forest Productivity

Places: Australia, Western Australia, WA

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