Treesearch

Increasing demand for hardwood seedlings has prompted research to identify target seedling characteristics that promote hardwood plantation establishment. Operational establishment of hardwood plantations has typically emphasized seed collection from non-improved genetic sources, bareroot nursery seedling production, and spring planting using machine planters. The increasing diversity in objectives of hardwood planting projects, however, has led to identification of a wider range of management options to meet specific goals. Use of container hardwood seedlings may help to reduce transplant...

The target plant concept originated with morphological classification of conifer nursery stock in the 1930s, and the concept was enhanced through physiological research and seedling testing towards the end of the century. Morphological grading standards such as shoot height, stem diameter, and root mass are the most common use of the target plant concept, and some physiological grading standards are also being operationally implemented by nursery workers and seedling users. Since 2000, the concept has been expanded to include all types of plant materials, including seeds, cuttings, or...

Seedling production across the southern US for the 2008 to 2009 planting season was 1.05 billion seedlings, a decrease of 53.6 million (5%) from the 2007 to 2008 planting season. The vast majority (90%) of reduction in conifer seedling production from 2008 was bareroot loblolly (Pinus taeda) and slash (P. elliottii) pine. Hardwoods were about 1% of regional seedling production, a decrease of 2.7% from the 2007 planting season. Only 1% of all seedlings were grown in containers, with longleaf pine (P. palustris) comprising the majority of this production. During the past 80 years of tree...

The USDA Forest Service Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) offers technical expertise, technology transfer, and new equipment development to federal, state, and private forest nurseries. Current and recently completed projects at MTDC include a front and mid-mount tractor evaluation, ATV-pulled mechanical tree planter, greenhouse snow remover, freeze chamber, brush cleaner improvements, greenhouse crop mower, non-chemical vegetation control, pine seed screening, evaluation of single seed planters, wireless soil moisture monitors, herbicide shield for spraying irrigation...

This article gives a brief history of the importance of methyl bromide in the production of forest seedlings in the southern United States and the timeline for the Montreal Protocol and Clean Air Act to phase out ozone-depleting compounds. In addition, the process, steps, and potential for continued MBr use under the Critical Use Exemption and Quarantine Pre-shipment articles within the treaty are discussed. A summary of the re-registration decisions proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency for the re-registration of all soil fumigants under the Food Quality Protection Act is...

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late 1979. During the next 23 years, the war between the Mujahideen Resistance and the Soviet forces, the ensuing civil war, and eventual take over by the Taliban caused enormous harm to the natural resources of Afghanistan. In 2003, the USDA Forest Service (USFS) was asked by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service to provide technical assistance to the Afghan Government to rehabilitate tree seedling nurseries. The past 7 years have seen severe drought that has significantly reduced agricultural production. The work of the USFS National Reforestation,...

Laboratory, greenhouse, and field trials have shown Proline® to be efficacious against three fungal pathogens that cause damage and seedling mortality in forest seedling nurseries. Disease control using Proline® has been obtained at 365 ml/ha (5 fl oz/ac) for the control of fusiform rust (Cronartium quercuum f.sp. fusiforme) on loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) in both greenhouse and field trials. In greenhouse trials, a biweekly application at 365 ml/ha (5 fl oz/ac) controlled pitch canker (Fusarium circinatum) on longleaf pine (P. palustris) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata), and resulted in a...

Fire danger rating systems commonly ignore fine scale, topographically-induced weather variations. These variations will likely create heterogeneous, landscape-scale fire danger conditions that have never been examined in detail. We modeled the evolution of fuel moistures and the Energy Release Component (ERC) from the US National Fire Danger Rating System across the 2009 fire season using very high resolution (30 m) surface air temperature, humidity and snow ablation date models developed from a network of inexpensive weather sensors. Snow ablation date occurred as much as 28 days later...

A 2002 National Research Council (NRC) evaluation of ungulate management practices in Yellowstone specifically concluded that previous (1957 to present) vegetation monitoring efforts were insufficient to determine whether climate or ungulates were more influential on shrub/steppe dynamics on the northern ungulate winter range. The NRC further recommended that the National Park Service employ more contemporary and acceptable "range" monitoring efforts in the future that allow for deterministic analyses of vegetation change. In response to these recommendations, we have begun to develop and...

Arkansas has had a long and storied history related to its forests and forestry. Ever since its acquisition in the Louisiana Purchase, timber has played a large role in the socioeconomic development of this state. In the 1880s, it was estimated that Arkansas had about 13 million ha (32 million ac) of forests and several hundred billion board feet of timber, numbers that fell dramatically as commercial lumbering spread across the state. After reaching historic lows in forest coverage and volume around the end of World War II, better conservation measures and the widespread implementation of...