Site Requirements for Commercial Afforestation in the Cape

SYNOPSIS General guidelines for the mapping of forest sites in the Cape suggest that a soil based resource inventory at a field mapping scale of 1:10 000 may offer the best compromise for selection of species. The soil requirements at the form level for Acacia melanoxylon, Eucalyptus diversicolor, Pinus elliottii, P. patula, P. pinaster, P. radiata and P. taeda are given for the eastern, southern and western Cape. The influence of soil morphology, indicator species, leaching status, effective rooting depth, available phosphate, exposure to winds and other adverse climatic conditions on the yields of these species is indicated in relative terms.