Sixteen open-top chambers, each equipped with two non-weighable gravity-drained lysimeter compartments, were used to investigate the impacts of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration and nitrogen (N) deposition on the water relations and growth of young model forest ecosystems on two different types of soils. The same vegetation of a mixed spruce and beech overstorey and various herbs in the understorey was planted in all treatments on both soils. The soils were repacked on top of a drainage layer. Four combinations of treatments were applied in four replicates each: ambient (370 cm³ m^-3) CO2 + low (7 kg N ha^-1 a^-1) N deposition, ambient CO₂ + high (70 kg N ha^-1 a^-1) N deposition, elevated (590 cm³ m^-3) CO₂ + low N deposition, and elevated CO₂ + high N deposition. After canopy closure, treatment effects on evapotranspiration and growth during the third year of study were very different for the two soils. On the acidic sandy loam, elevated CO₂ enhanced growth (leaf biomass +21%, roots +27%) at reduced evapotranspiration (–9%). High N deposition increased aboveground growth even more strongly (+50%), but also increased evapotranspiration (+16%). Together, elevated CO₂ and high N had a more than additive fertilizer effect on growth, while their effects on evapotranspiration compensated. On the calcareous loamy sand, elevated CO₂ not only tended to enhance growth (leaf biomass +17%, roots +20%), but also increased evapotranspiration (+5%). On this soil, aboveground growth was stimulated by N only in combination with elevated CO₂, but less than on the acidic soil, while evapotranspiration (–6.5%) and root growth into the subsoil (–54%) were decreased by increased N deposition at both CO₂ concentrations, in contrast to the N treatments on the acidic sandy loam. The inf uence of the soil on the observed ecosystem responses can be interpreted in terms of the concept of optimal resource allocation.