Four hardwood species differ in tolerance to pruning
Current recommendations for hardwood planting stock specify a root collar at least 1/4 inch in diameter for best survival and early growth. However, large seedlings are cumbersome and expensive to bundle, transport, and plant. The solution to this problem has been some degree of root and top pruning. Sycamore and ash top pruned to 8 inches and with the tap root trimmed to 8 inches had better than 95 percent survival on five bottomland sites in East Texas. Water oak and cherrybark oak treated the same survived at around 80 percent.2 Briscoe (1969) reported that toppruned sycamore lost no ability to survive and grow when the tap root was trimmed to less than 4 inches and all laterals were removed.
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Author(s): Ronald A. Woessner
Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 23, Number 1 (1972)
Volume: 23
Number: 1