Soil treatment effects on bark lesions and frost sensitivity of beech (Fagus sylvatica) in southern Sweden

Bark lesions on beech are mostly caused by frost damage and/or insect and f ungal infections. Liming, treatment with wood ash and N-fertilization were hypothesised to affect this type of damage. The frost sensitivity was measu red as an index of injury, calculated from electrolytic leakage of bark sam ples. Samples were taken from the same trees in August and November at five sites. Two sites had been limed, one treated with wood ash and two had bee n fertilized with nitrogen, one of them with an additional phosphorous fert ilization. Trees fertilized with nitrogen had significantly more lesions th an trees from other treatments. The bark was more damaged at -20 degrees C than at -10 degrees C in both August and November at experimental condition s. No clear pattern in temperature sensitivity was detectable among sites o r treatments approximately seven years after soil treatment. Trees with bar k lesions seemed to be less able to withstand low temperatures. (C) 2000 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.