Amelanchier (alnifolia)

Tara Luna USDI NPS - Glacier National Park West Glacier, Montana 59936 (406) 888-7835 http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/azpmc

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Family Scientific Name:	Rosaceae
Family Common Name:	Rose family
Scientific Name:	Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.
Common Name:	Serviceberry
Species Code:	AMEALN
Ecotype:	Forest margin, Middle Fork Flathead River, 1100m elev. Glacier National Park, Flathead Co., MT
General Distribution:	A. alnifolia occurs from southern Alaska to California, east across Canada to western Ontario, south through the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico, and east to the Dakotas and Nebraska, in open forests, canyons, and hillsides from near sea level to the subalpine zone.
Propagation Goal:	plants
Propagation Method:	seed
ProductType:	Container (plug)
Stock Type:	172 ml conetainer
Time To Grow:	11 Months
Target Specifications:	Stock Type: Container seedling<br> Height: 10 cm<br> Caliper: 7 mm<br> Root System: Firm plug in conetainer.
Propagule Collection:	Seeds are hand collected in late summer when fruit turns dark purple. Seeds are brown at maturity. Fruits are collected in plastic bags and kept under refrigeration prior to cleaning.
Propagule Processing:	Seeds are cleaned by maceration using a Dyb-vig seed cleaner followed by screening. Seeds are cleaned at NRCS. Seed longevity is 5 to 7 years at 3 to 5C in sealed containers. Seed dormancy is classified as physiological dormancy. Seeds/Kg: 180,400/kg % Purity: 100% % Germination: 15 to 100%
Pre-Planting Treatments:	Seeds are placed into a 3:1 water/3% hydrogen peroxide rinse for 10 minutes followed by a 48 hour running water rinse. Seeds are placed into a 120 day cold, moist stratification. Seeds are placed in fine mesh bags and buried in milled sphagnum peat moss in a ventilated container under refrigeration at 1 to 3C. It is very important to wash stratified seeds weekly. Remove net bags from artificial stratification and rinse well to remove mucilaginous material. Lower germination percentages were noted with seed lots that did not receive the hydrogen peroxide: water rinse prior to stratification. This pretreatment of seeds appears to significantly improve germination percentages.
Growing Area Preparation/ Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:	Greenhouse and outdoor nursery growing facility. Sowing Method: Direct Seeding. Seeds are lightly covered with medium. Growing medium used is 6:1:1 milled sphagnum peat, perlite, and vermiculite with Osmocote controlled release fertilizer (13N:13P2O5:13K2O; 8 to 9 month release rate at 21C) and Micromax fertilizer (12%S, 0.1%B, 0.5%Cu, 12%Fe, 2.5%Mn, 0.05%Mo, 1%Zn) at the rate of 1 gram of Osmocote and 0.20 gram of Micromax per 172 ml conetainer. Greenhouse temperatures are maintained at 21 to 25C during the day and 16 to 18C at night. Seedlings are hand watered and remain in greenhouse until mid May. Seedlings arethen moved to outdoor nursery for the remainder of the growing season. Seedlings are irrigated with Rainbird automatic irrigation system in early morning until containers are thoroughly leached. Average growing season of nursery is from late April after snowmelt until October 15th.
Establishment Phase:	Germination is uniform and is usually complete in 3 weeks. True leaves appear 2 weeks after germination. Seedlings are thinned at this stage.
Length of Establishment Phase:	4 weeks
Active Growth Phase:	Seedlings grow at a rapid rate after establishment. Plants are fertilized with 20-20-20 liquid NPK at 100 ppm during the growing season. Plants average 10 cm in height/7 mm caliper in 4 months.
Length of Active Growth Phase:	16 weeks
Hardening Phase:	Plants are fertilized with 10-20-20 liquid NPK at 200 ppm during August and September. Irrigation is gradually reduced in September and October. Plants were given one final irrigation prior to winterization.
Length of Hardening Phase:	4 weeks
Harvesting, Storage and Shipping:	Total Time To Harvest: 11 months Harvest Date: September Storage Conditions: Overwinter in outdoor nursery under insulating foam cover and snow.
Length of Storage:	5 months
Other Comments:	Seedlings in 3L (1 gallon) containers average 65 cm in height with 1.0 cm caliper 16 months following germination. A. alnifolia is a long lived, seral species that is widely used in restoration in many habitats. Deer,moose and elk browse the foliage and twigs and berries are an important food source to birds and mammals. There are 3 botanical varieties; var. pumila, var. humptulipensis, and var. alnifolia.
References:	Flora of the Pacific Northwest, Hitchcock and Cronquist, University of Washington Press, 7th printing, 1973. Seeds of the Woody Plants in the United States, Agriculture Handbook No. 450, U.S.F.S., Washington D.C., 1974. Seeds of Woody Plants in North America, Young and Young, Dioscorides Press, 1992. Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition, Deno, N., published June, 1993. Glacier Park Native Plant Nursery Propagation Records, unpublished. 1998 Revegetation Monitoring Report, Glacier National Park, Asebrook, J. and Kimball, S., unpublished.

Citation:

Luna, Tara; Evans, Jeff; Wick, Dale; Hosokawa, Joy. 2008. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt. plants 172 ml conetainer; USDI NPS - Glacier National Park West Glacier, Montana. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/12/27). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.