Platanus (wrightii)
|
David Dreesen USDA NRCS - Los Lunas Plant Materials Center 1036 Miller St. SW Los Lunas, New Mexico 87031 http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/nmpmc |
|
| Family Scientific Name: | Platanaceae | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Common Name: | Plane-tree family | ||
| Scientific Name: | Platanus wrightii Wats. | ||
| Common Name: | Arizona sycamore | ||
| Species Code: | PLAWRI | ||
| Ecotype: | Gila River riparian zone, southwestern New Mexico | ||
| General Distribution: | P. wrightii is found along streams from 600 to 2000m in elevation, from northern Mexico to southern New Mexico and Arizona. | ||
| Propagation Goal: | plants | ||
| Propagation Method: | vegetative | ||
| ProductType: | Container (plug) | ||
| Time To Grow: | |||
| Target Specifications: | Height: 2 to 3 meters Caliper: 3 to 5 cm Root System: Firm root ball without excessive circling in large nursery container (5 gallon pot). | ||
| Propagule Collection: |
Propagation Method: Mound layering of stock plants established in field nursery. Stock Plants: Seedlings in 1 gallon pots were planted into sandy loam soil. Plants were heavily fertilized in May. Surface soil was amended with sulfur to prevent chlorosis; alkalinity of irrigation water is 150mg/L as CaC03 with a ph of 8.0. During establishment, stock plants were flood irrigated on a weekly basis during the growing season. |
||
| Pre-Planting Treatments: | Mounding Method: The stems layered during the previous year are harvested just above the soil surface (2 to 5 cm) while dormant in early spring (March). Any residual media from the prevoius years mound is removed to allow new stems to emerge from the crown of stock plants. By late May, new stems are 0.5 m high and the mounding process is initiated. Soilless media is used and is composed of pumice, peat and bark mix, and commercial peat and perlite mix, and pumice alone. To minimize the amount of media required for mounding, a method of using inverted bottomless containers is employed to contain the mound. For smaller stock plants,(fewer than 5 stems), a bottomless 5 gallon container is used; for larger stock plants (5 to15 stems) a bottomless 20 gallon container is used. The bottomless container is placed over the stems and filled with medium. | ||
| Growing Area Preparation/ Annual Practices for Perennial Crops: |
Outdoor nursery. A Roberts Mini-flow Spot Spitter is inserted into the top of the mounded medium to wet most of the mound surface. Mounds are irrigated daily during the growing season. Mounds are irrigated every 2 weeks during the winter if no precipatation has occurred. Mounds are fertilized during June with 50 to 100 grams of 17-6-12 NPK controlled release fertilizer (3 to 4 month plus minors). |
||
| Establishment Phase: |
Number of stems per stock plant: Average number of large stems (>1.5 cm caliper) produced by 3 year old stock plants was 4 per plant. Out of 73 large stems produced in 1997, 34% had good to excellent rooting,27% had fair to poor rooting, and 39% were etiolated with few to no fine roots. During the winter, all side shoots are removed to ease harvest and to remove potential leaf area of the propagule.In early spring, mounds are disassembled by removing bottomless container and removing media by hand. Stems are severed 2 to 5 cm above soil surface with loppers or pruning saw. Large stems are planted into 5 gallon containers coated with copper hydroxide and small stems are potted into 1 gallon pots. |
||
| Length of Establishment Phase: | 9 to 10 months | ||
| Active Growth Phase: |
Transplanted stems exhibit slow growth until the new root system is well developed. Soil sulfur and controlled released fertilizer are applied in late spring. each 5 gallon pot is placed in a pot-in-pot system with copper coated fabric (Tex-R-Insert) between the 2 pots to limit emergence of roots from the growing pot. a Spot spinner inserted into each pot provides daily micro-irrigation of the newly transplanted stems; after roots are well established, the large leaf area requires daily watering. Vigor of large transplants 3 months after transplanting was as follows: 74% good to excellent vigor 18% fair to poor vigor 8% dead. |
||
| Harvesting, Storage and Shipping: |
Total Time in Mound Layering System: 9 to 10 months. Total Time in Pots: 10 months |
||
| Other Comments: | P. wrightii can be propagated by seed. Cold stratification is required for germination of some seed lots, but not for others. This variability may result from different ecotypes, harvest seasons,or plant condition during seed formation. Vegetative propagation allows for the preservation of desirable traits and production of a particular ecotype if no viable seed is available. Large vegetative propagules may provide shorter production schedules than seed propagation. | ||
| References: | Arizona Flora,Kearney and Peebles, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1984. | ||
Citation:
2000. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Platanus wrightii plants USDA NRCS - Los Lunas Plant Materials Center Los Lunas, New Mexico. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2024/04/19). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.
