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:	Subalpine forest margin, Two Medicine,1550m elevation, Glacier National Park, Glacier Co., MT.
General Distribution:	A. alnifolia occurs from southern Alaska to California, east across Canada to western Ontario and 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.
Propagation Goal:	plants
Propagation Method:	vegetative
ProductType:	Container (plug)
Stock Type:	800 ml containers
Time To Grow:	1 Years
Target Specifications:	Stock Type: Container cutting<br> Height: 10 cm<br> Caliper: 7 mm<br> Root System: Firm plug in 800 ml containers.
Propagule Collection:	Vegetative Propagation: Pre-Rooting Type of Cutting: Summer semi-hardwood stem cutting collected in late June.
Propagule Processing:	Cuttings are kept moist and under refrigeration prior to pre treatment.
Pre-Planting Treatments:	The semi-hardwood stem cuttings were 12 to 17 cm in length, 6 mm in diameter, and were treated with 4000 ppm Hormex rooting powder. Cuttings were placed in 50:50 sand and perlite rooting medum under mist and bottom heat maintained at 21C for 8 weeks.
Growing Area Preparation/ Annual Practices for Perennial Crops:	The outdoor mistbed has automatic intermittent mist that is applied at 6 second intervals every 6 minutes. Too frequent misting will result in leaf and stem rot. Misting frequency is increased or decreased according to daily outdoor temperature and wind. Bottom heat is maintained at 21 C with heating cables buried 12 cm beneath rooting medium. Mistbed is covered with shadecloth during rooting. After cuttings are potted, they are moved to an outdoor shadehouse for 4 weeks. They are later moved to full sun exposure in the outdoor nursery and 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:	Time to Transplant: 8 weeks. Cuttings that were pre rooted were lifted out of mistbed after adequate root systems were formed. Roots generate from the basal cut below the surface of the rooting media. Rooting %: 22%
Length of Establishment Phase:	8 weeks
Active Growth Phase:	After cuttingswere lifted from the mistbed, they were potted into 800 ml containers. Growing medium used is 70% 6:1:1 milled sphagnum peat, perlite, and vermiculite and 30% sand 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 2 grams of Osmocote and 1 gram of Micromax per conetainer. Cuttings were irrigated after potting and placed in the shadehouse for 4 weeks. After establishment in the shadehouse, plants were moved to full sun exposure in the outdoor nursery.
Length of Active Growth Phase:	8 weeks
Hardening Phase:	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: 1 year from cuttings. Harvest Date: September Storage Conditions: Overwinter in outdoor nursery under insulating foam cover and snow.
Length of Storage:	5 months
Other Comments:	Rooting success is very dependent on correct timing. Cuttings taken late May into June when the cuttings are at the softwood stage and well before the terminal bud has set have been successful using 3000 ppm IBA talc under mist with bottom heat.
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. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation, Dirr and Heuser, Varsity Press, 1987. ÿ

Citation:

Luna, Tara; Hosokawa, Joy. 2008. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt. plants 800 ml containers; USDI NPS - Glacier National Park West Glacier, Montana. 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.