Summary:

The aim of the study was to compare the growth of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) as well as the state of soil mites (Acari) in two-year cultivations on the reclaimed post-military area at Forest Dis-trict Żołędowo. Afforestation was carried out with the use of two-year old birch and pine seedlings obtained from bare root nurseries (production with mulching and without mulching - traditional method). The experiments were conducted in 2010-2011 on Brunic Arenosols characterized by texture of loamy sand in the surface layer as well as by the strongly acid reaction. The experiments included the following variants: BrzC - birch cultivation which was afforested by the use of traditional seedlings (production of seedlings without mulching), BrzS - birch cultivation which was afforested by the use of seedlings produced with mulching, SoC - pine cultivation which was afforested by the use of traditional seedlings (production of seedlings without mulching), SoS - pine cultivation which was affor-ested by the use of seedlings produced with mulching. The cultivation of Scots pine was characterized by the better efficiency of planting (over 96 %). The mulching treatment - conducted at the nursery - had the positive influence on the growth indices of the birch and the pine in the first and in the second year of cultivation. The reclaimed post-military area was characterized by low abundance of soil mites and their low species diversity which indicates the low biological activity of the studied soils. It was found that during the two years of the study the abundance of oribatid mites (Oribatida) and their species diversity increased. This trend indicates slow process of revitalization of the studied area.