In Valdivia, the plantations of Pinus radiata must compete with a great variety of herbaceous and shrub species that have a great capacity of regeneration. This fact increases the costs of settlement and production in a considerable way.
The present work evaluates the fertilization and combination with herbicides as a method to accelerate the growth of the pine plantations in their first years of development to outgrow the surrounding species. 
After thre e years of treatment, the results indi cat e tha t they were significatively bette r in the pine plants settled in land covered with a natura l prairie. In land with a great amoun t of wood-shru b species, th e effect instead was less noticeable. Some treatments show a favorable effect of the fertilizers; the effect of the herbicide instead was little.
In general, the compoun d and mixe d fertilizers ha d a bette r effect tha n th e simple fertilizers. The herbicide s wer e effective in controlling the herbaceou s species and the wood-shru b species were not.