The seasonal pattern of morphological leaf characteristics, leaf nutrient and carbohydrate contents in two energy forest stands growing on fertile clay soil and consisting of Salix viminalis (L.) was investigated. One of the stands was irrigated and liquid fertilized (IL) daily from May to August while the other stand was untreated (C). The study was carried out on shoots growing for their second year on five-year-old roots. A pronounced seasonal variation in length, weight, and area of leaves of the same developmental stage was observed, while differences between the stands were small. The leaf content of carbohydrates and starch was low. Nitrogen was the only nutrient that was significantly higher in the IL stand compared with the C stand throughout the growing season. The small differences between stands were most probably an effect of the initially high soil fertility. Different bases for expressing plant nutrient status during the growing season, i.e. nutrient amount per leaf dry weight with and without carbohydrates, nutrient amounts per leaf or leaf area, nutrient proportions in leaves, and nutrient amounts in the total canopy, were compared and discussed. It was concluded that the common expression, nutrient weight per dry weight of leaves, without correction for non-structural carbohydrates, was adequate to describe the nutrient situation in well-growing basket willow plantations. The most appropriate time for leaf sampling was proposed to be the phase of most intensive growth.
