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Wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) is receiving increasing attention from foresters in Europe and Turkey for its fast growth, highly-valued wood and benefits for wildlife and biodiversity. Little documentation may be found concerning the selection of appropriate cultural treatments and the quality and types of seedlings used for wild cherry plantations. This study reports the effects of various combinations of intensive cultural treatments (including weed control, soil tillage, and fertilization) and seedling types on early growth, survival, and nutrition of one-year-old wild cherry seedlings out-planted on four different sites in the western Black Sea Region of Turkey. After two years, early seedling survival and growth were clearly enhanced for potted seedlings. For bare-root seedlings, initial seedling root-collar diameter and height successfully correlated with survival two years after planting. Seedlings with a root-collar diameter of 6-8 mm and height of 60-70 cm demonstrated the best survival rates in the field. The wild cherry seedlings were shown to be highly sensitive to herbaceous weed competition early in their establishment, warranting effective weed control. When used in addition to weed control, neither intensive fertilization nor soil tillage treatments significantly increased seedling survival and growth two years after planting. Therefore, intensive site preparation, as well as fertilization, are not recommended at this stage for planting sites without severe nutrient deficiencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fire is a long-standing and poorly understood component of the Mediterranean forestlands in Turkey. Fire can alter plant composition, destroy biomass, alter soil physical and chemical properties and reduce soil nutrient pools. However fire can also promote productivity of certain ecosystems by mineralizing soil nutrients and promoting fast growing nitrogen fixing plant species. Fire effects on soils and ecosystems in Turkey and Mediterranean regions are not well understood. This study uses a retrospective space-for-time substitution to study soil macro-nutrient changes on sites which were burned at different times during the last 8 years. The study sites are in the Fethiye Forest Management Directorate in the western Mediterranean Sea region of Turkey. Our samples show 40% less Soil C, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) at 0-20 cm soil depth two weeks after the fire. Soil C and CEC appear to recover to pre-fire level in one year. Concentrations of Mg were significantly lower on new-burn sites, but returned to pre-fire levels in one year. Total soil N concentrations one and two years after fire were 90% higher than other sites, and total P was 9 times higher on new-burn site than averages from other sites. Some implications of these results for forest managers are discussed.

Establishing intensive plantations of fast growing hardwood tree species that have high market values in the forest industry can narrow the gap between Turkey's demand and the supply of quality hardwood products. Black cherry (P. serotina Ehrh.) is a fast growing hardwood species with a high market value. Introducing and intensively growing black cherry (BC) in Turkey may significantly reduce the country's quality wood shortage. Adequate seed germination constitutes the first essential step for successful establishments. In this paper effects of different pretreatments, including artificial and natural stratification, on the seeds of different BC seed sources (SSs) were studied. Pretreatments had substantial effects on the dormancy breaking and germination behaviours of the SSs. Consecutive periods of complex warm and cold artificial stratification regimes longer than 90 days or natural stratification (where seeds were assumed to be naturally exposed to this complexity) resulted in best dormancy breaking and, in turn, germination among all pretreatments. Deeper dormancy and reduced germination rates of some BC seeds as the altitude of the source increases might suggest an ecological adaptive strategy of the species. BC may have deeper morphophysiological dormancy than is commonly believed. Seed size may have a positive effect on seed germination.