Field survival poor for stored and heeled-in ponderosa pine seedlings
Several thousand 3-0 ponderosa pine seedlings of a Siskiyou National Forest seed source were erroneously lifted from nursery beds in mid-November 1968. Immediately after sorting, bundles of seedlings were wrapped in waterproof paper with moist peat and packed in polyethylene-lined kraft bags. After 5 and 16 weeks of cold storage, some were heeled in for 14 and 3 weeks, respectively, at the nursery. The rest were held in storage for 19 weeks. In the spring of 1969, field foresters, seeking information concerning the quality of both the heeled-in and stored seedlings, asked reforestation specialists (including the author) to examine them. We recommended that all seedlings stored longer than 5 weeks be discarded and that those heeled-in after 5 weeks' storage be re-sorted before shipment. A limited study was established to test the validity of this recommendation and to gain more insight into extended storage and heeling in of ponderosa pine seedlings.
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Details
Author(s): James W. Edgren
Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 23, Number 1 (1972)
Volume: 23
Number: 1