ABSTRACT
To minimize the damage resulting from strip mining, six of the twelve Appalachia states have passed regulatory laws. Rehabilitating wasteland implies more than simply soil stabilization to prevent damage to adjoining areas as is generally the case with strip mine reclamation work. Poor chemical and physical properties plus the absence of profile development are characteristic of these mine spoils and generally result in slow tree growth. To test the feasibility of growing Christmas trees on unreclaimed strip mine spoils, white pine, Scotch pine, and Norway spruce seedlings were planted on an abandoned strip mine on Little Brushy Mountain in Morgan County, Tennessee, in the spring of 1964. The objective of Christmas tree fertilization is to promote the production of vigorous, dense foliage without excessive height growth. Although mean heights for fertilized white pine and Norway spruce were, respectively, 22 percent and 33 percent greater than mean heights for unfertilized plots, the differences were not significant.
