Graded Nursery Stock In Shelterbelt Type Planting Evaluated Over 29-Year Spun

The grading of windbreak tree nursery stock by diameter (taken 1 inch above the root collar) classes instead of by the commonly used height classes was started in 1922 by the Northern Great Plains Research Center, Mandan, N. Dak. At that time, the Mandan center was growing and distributing nursery stock of hardy tree and shrub species for planting protective windbreaks on farms in the Plains areas of North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. Observations made of farm windbreaks planted during the 7 years prior to 1922 had shown that first-year survivals were usually higher in those seedlings having the larger diameters. Deciduous stock was shipped as 1- or 2-year seedlings and coniferous stock as 2-1 or 2-2 transplants. Nursery stock of any species is usually grown from seed collected from more than one tree. Differences in seedling growth in the nursery can be attributed to one or more of the following factors: (1) Inherent differences in seed collected from one tree; (2) inherent differences in seed collected from more than one tree; and (3) differences in seedling density in the nursery row. Regardless of the cause, seedlings having the larger stem diameter at 1 year continued to have that characteristic when grown for a second season in the nursery.

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Author(s): Ernest J. George, A. B. Frank

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 24, Number 1 (1973)

Volume: 24

Number: 1