The effects of pruning treatments and initial seedling morphology on northern red oak seedling growth

Abstract

Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings exhibit relatively high survival rates following planting, but their growth rates are often slow and extensive stem dieback can occur. This study was designed to investigate the growth responses of northern red oak seedlings planted with or without root-pruning or shoot-pruning. One-year-old (1-0) northern red oak nursery stock was planted without top-pruning while the two-year-old (2-0) stock was top-pruned to a shoot length of 25 cm. Both types of seedlings were planted with or without root-pruning. Morphological characteristics of each seedling were measured prior to planting to relate growth to a single or multiple morphological traits. Seedlings which were shoot-pruned had positive height growth during the first growing season and larger seedlings had greater growth than smaller seedlings. Seedlings not shoot-pruned showed varying degrees of stem dieback and larger seedlings had greater stem dieback than smaller seedlings. After one growing season, a subsample of the seedlings was excavated to evaluate root growth. Shoot-pruning reduced seedling root growth and root regeneration compared to non shoot-pruned seedlings. Although shoot-pruning reduced stem dieback, it also reduced seedling root growth.

Citation

Kaczmarek, Donald J.; Pope, Phillip E. 1993. The effects of pruning treatments and initial seedling morphology on northern red oak seedling growth. In: Gillespie, Andrew R.; Parker, George R.; Pope, Phillip E.; Rink, George: eds. Proceedings of the 9th Central Hardwood Forest Conference; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-161. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station: 436-446