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Home → Publications → Evaluating Seedling Quality: Principles, Procedures, and Predictive Abilities of Major Tests → 09: Frost hardiness of coniferous seedlings: Principles and applications

09: Frost hardiness of coniferous seedlings: Principles and applications

The external factors that influence frost hardiness such as temperature, light, moisture and nutrients are examined as well as the internal biochemical changes that are associated with hardiness. Several types of freezing such as intra- and intercellular freezing are identified and its resulting injury. It is shown that frost hardiness occurs in two stages and that differential frost hardiness between various types of tissue is important, particularly when assessing injury. The various methods for testing frost hardiness are examined. Those that have practical application, and are used operationally such as the detailed browning test (whole seedling assessment) and electrical conductivity method are discussed in detail as are the semioperational electrical impedance methods. Methods that have operational potential, but require further development are identified, with particular emphasis on the differential thermal analysis (DTA) technique. The importance to the tree grower of frost hardiness and the practical applications of this basic knowledge is discussed in sufficient detail so that it can serve as a guideline for frost hardiness testing.


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Author(s): Christiaan Glerum

Publication: Evaluating Seedling Quality: Principles, Procedures, and Predictive Abilities of Major Tests