Growth intercept methods for predicting site index in white pine plantations in the glaciated areas of Ohio
2006
Brown, J.H.
Growth intercept (GI) techniques were evaluated for estimating site quality in white pine stands planted on old-field sites in the Wisconsin-aged glaciated areas of northern and western Ohio. Correlations between growth of trees below the breast high (bh) annual growth increment and height growth from bh and above were not statistically significant. Site index estimates were made using age at bh and height from the bh annual growth increment to the growing tip. Three-year and 5-year growth beginning 3 years above the bh annual increment and 10-year growth beginning one internode above bh were significantly more correlated with height than were intercepts beginning at bh. In multiple regression equations developed for predicting site index, 3-, 5- and 10-year intercepts, along with age at bh, accounted for 76, 77, and 80%, respectively, of the variation in tree heights and 35-year site indices varied from 60 to 83 ft. Combining clay content of the B2 soil horizon with GI and age increased the variation accounted for by 3-, 5-, and 10-year GI equations to 79, 78, and 81%, respectively, and the improvement in site index estimates over those using GIs alone was not more than +/-2 ft within any given GI measurement.
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