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Home → Publications → Tree Improvement and Genetics → Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference → 26th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference (2001) → Genetic And Silvicultural Factors Affecting Productivity Of Planted Cypress In Florida

Genetic And Silvicultural Factors Affecting Productivity Of Planted Cypress In Florida

The potential of baldcypress (Taxodium distichum var. distichum) and pondcypress (T. distichum var. nutans) for plantation culture in Florida is being evaluated through a series of genetic and silvicultural studies. Five baldcypress provenances planted on muck in southern Florida differed in tree size (up to 13m in height and 20cm in DBH) but not survival and wood density after 13 years. Across six studies established in 1996-97, nine baldcypress provenances and five baldcypress checklots were, on average, similar in survival and height to 16 pondcypress progenies after as many as four years. Within taxa, individual provenance/progeny differences were significant, but no provenances or progenies were consistently better across sites that ranged from bottomland in northwest Florida to wet and dry flatwoods in northeast Florida to a fertile but poorly drained clay settling area in central Florida. Inconsistent topsoil redistribution hindered the growth of 21 baldcypress progenies and two pondcypress progenies planted on a reclaimed phosphate mine in northeast Florida in 1998. Bedding+compost on a good flatwoods site significantly increased the growth of 30 baldcypress and four pondcypress progenies compared to bedding alone in studies established in 1999 and 2000. In another flatwoods study planted in 2000, bedding+compost also resulted in better growth and survival than just bedding, which in turn was superior to no bedding. Performance of 13 seedlots in two progeny tests and two commercial plantings in 2000-01 on central Florida clay settling areas highlighted the advantages of good site preparation and bedding. An intensively managed seed orchard with 12 pondcypress progenies, nine baldcypress provenances, and three baldcypress clones produced cones on trees five years from seed and up to 5.2m tall. Results to date suggest potential for commercial cypress plantations on non-wetland sites for the production of mulchwood and sawtimber in rotations of 10 to 25 years.


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Author(s): Donald L. Rockwood, D. M. Morse, L. T. Gaviria

Publication: Tree Improvement and Genetics - Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference - 2001

Section: Contribution Papers