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Home → Publications → Tree Planters' Notes → Tree Planters' Notes Volume 67, Number 2 (2024) → Evaluating Cold Storage Effects on Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Seedlings Through Seedling Quality Tests

Evaluating Cold Storage Effects on Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Seedlings Through Seedling Quality Tests

The accumulation of chilling hours prior to cold storage and outplanting is essential for seedling cold hardiness, which allows seedlings to withstand cold temperatures. This project analyzed the effects of cold storage on outplanted big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) seedlings and performed electrolyte leakage and root growth potential tests. Big sagebrush seedlings with the highest survival had 500 chilling hours prior to cold storage, and electrolyte leakage tests showed this was a sufficient number of chilling hours for this species to become cold hardy prior to storage. Additionally, the fewer hours that big sagebrush seedlings spent in cold storage, the more successfully the seedlings grew roots in the root growth chamber. Determining the sufficient number of chilling hours that big sagebrush requires can aid nurseries in managing the storage of sagebrush, while understanding the relationship between cold storage and root growth potential can aid restoration professionals in estimating how well seedlings will grow when outplanted at restoration sites.


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Author(s): Kennedy Pendell

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 67, Number 2 (2024)

Volume: 67

Number: 2