Controlling vegetation in forest plantations: first results on micro-environmental changes caused by the use of cover plants

Abstract

Young tree establishment in forest plantation is often compromised by herbaceous vegetation competition. At present, this vegetation is generally controlled by chemical or mechanical operations but they are criticized either from environmental points of view either for their efficiency. In this prospect, an alternative method consists of sowing cover plants in order to control vegetation. This paper presents first results on the consequences of vegetation cover modification on micro-environmental variables and resources availability in two experiments of planted and seeded trees. Tree development is encouraging but results show that further studies on plants dynamics and seed mixture composition are needed before spreading the technique.