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NPN Protocol Details Image

Holodiscus (discolor)

Tara Luna
USDI NPS - Glacier National Park
West Glacier, Montana 59936
(406) 888-7835
http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/azpmc
Family Scientific Name: Rosaceae
Family Common Name: Rose family
Scientific Name: Holodiscus discolor (Pursh) Maxim.
Common Synonym: Sericotheca discolor (Pursh) Rydb.
Common Name: Ocean-spray
Species Code: HOLDIS
Ecotype: Douglas-fir forest, Fish Creek, 1100m elev.
General Distribution: H. discolor occurs from B.C. to southern California, east to western Montana, Idaho, and northeastern Oregon; from coastal bluffs to lower elevation mountains.
Propagation Goal: plants
Propagation Method: vegetative
ProductType: Container (plug)
Stock Type: 3 L containers
Time To Grow: 17 Months
Target Specifications: Stock Type: Container cuttings<br> Height: 22 cm<br> Caliper: n/a<br> Root System: firm plug in 3L (1 gallon) containers.
Propagule Collection: Vegetative Propagation Method: Pre-Rooting
Type of Cutting: Summer softwood stem cuttings collected in early July.
Propagule Processing: Cuttings are kept moist and under refrigeration prior to pre treatment.
Pre-Planting Treatments: Cuttings are cut into 15 cm lengths with 1/3 basal leaves removed. Cuttings were placed in a 2 minute fungicide bath to remove surface pathogens and treated with 2000 ppm IBA powder, placed into the mistbed with bottom heat.
Rooting %:33%
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 12 cm beneath rooting medium. Rooting medium is 50% perlite and 50% sand. 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 to rooting.
Cuttings that were prerooted were lifted out of mistbed after adequate root systems were formed. Roots generate from the nodes below the surface of the rooting medium.
Length of Establishment Phase: 8 weeks
Active Growth Phase: After cuttings were lifted from the mistbed, they were potted into 3L containers.
Growing medium used is 6:1:1 milled sphagnum peat, perlite, and vermiculite 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 5 grams of Osmocote and 2 grams 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: 1.5 years from cuttings

Harvest Date: September
Storage Conditions: Overwinter in outdoor nursery under insulating foam and snow.
Length of Storage: 5 months
Other Comments: Holodiscus discolor is recognized as a disturbance indicator.
It grows well in dry, rocky sites in both forested and non forested communities. It is recommended for erosion control on road cuts.
References: Flora of the Pacific Northwest, Hitchcock and Cronquist, University of Washington Press, 7th printing, 1973.
Seeds of the Woody Plants in North America, Young and Young, Dioscorides Press, 1992.
Seeds of the Woody Plants in the United States, Agriculture Handbook No. 450, U.S.F.S., Washington D.C., 1974.
Glacier National Park Propagation Records, unpublished.

Citation:

Luna, Tara; Wick, Dale. 2008. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Holodiscus discolor (Pursh) Maxim. plants 3 L containers; USDI NPS - Glacier National Park West Glacier, Montana. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2025/04/21). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.