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Home → Publications → Tree Planters' Notes → Tree Planters' Notes Volume 22, Number 1 (1971) → Three New Germination Media Tested For Possible Use in Forest Nurseries

Three New Germination Media Tested For Possible Use in Forest Nurseries

After being watered, mineral soils often crust quickly. This crusting prevents the delicate radicles of the topsown seeds from penetrating the crust. The crust prevents the needle tips or the seedcoats of covered seeds from pushing through the soil surface, resulting in only partial germination. To find a solution to the problems resulting from crust formation, attempts have been made in forest nurseries to use various other germination media instead of mineral soils. Dunemann (1939) proved that spruce needles serve as a good medium for raising conifer seedlings. A series of experiments by Selcuk (1956), Wagner (1958), and Gharib (1965) followed the Dunemann scheme. These indicated that the germination, growth, and survival were better in the spruce litter than in the mineral soils. This material, however, is not available in northern Iraq, because of the scarcity of conifer forests. To test other new types of germination media available in the northern regions of Iraq, the experiment reported here was begun at the University of Sulaimaniyah in the fall of 1969.


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Author(s): M. Saadi Gharib

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 22, Number 1 (1971)

Volume: 22

Number: 1