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Home → Publications → Tree Planters' Notes → Tree Planters' Notes Volume 62, Numbers 1, 2 (2019) → Effect of Pisolithus tinctorius Nursery Treatment on Long-Term Loblolly and Longleaf Pine Survival and Growth in the South Carolina Sandhills

Effect of Pisolithus tinctorius Nursery Treatment on Long-Term Loblolly and Longleaf Pine Survival and Growth in the South Carolina Sandhills

The long-term effects of artificial inoculation of southern pines with Pisolithus tinctorius (Pt) in the nursery were tested in a demonstration project established on the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service-Savannah River Site, South Carolina. Loblolly (Pinus taeda L.) and longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) bareroot seedlings were produced from 1987 to 1991 with either a vegetative Pt inoculum or no inoculum (NI) at Taylor Nursery, Trenton, SC. At the Savannah River Site, two sites were planted per year for a total of 10 demonstration plantings. In 1991, a containerized longleaf pine treatment was added with and without Pt spores. Survival and growth of the seedlings were monitored at planting, after 4 years, and when sites were 15 to 19 years old. The Pt inoculation of longleaf pine produced a negative effect in the survival of bareroot seedlings in two out of ten plantings after 15 years. The addition of the Pt to loblolly seedlings in the nursery increased diameter at planting for four sites; however, this 8- to 16-percent increase in size did not affect tree size or survival over time. The only positive long-term effect with artificial inoculation with Pt was an increase in overall pine survival for site 2. The containerized longleaf pine treatment, added to the last two sites planted, increased seedlings survival over the bareroot longleaf pine. The addition of Pt in containers had no effect after 15 years on longleaf pine growth or survival. Artificial inoculation of southern pines with Pt did not provide a positive effect to warrant its use for reforestation of the sandhills in South Carolina. This paper was presented at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Southern Forest Nursery Association and the Northeast Forest and Conservation Nursery Association (Pensacola, FL, July 17–19, 2018).


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Author(s): Michelle M. Cram

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 62, Numbers 1, 2 (2019)

Event: Joint Annual Meeting of the Southern Forest Nursery Association and the Northeast Forest and Conservation Nursery Association
2018 - Pensacola, FL

Volume: 62

Numbers: 1, 2