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Abstract
A brief review of the published proceedings from meetings of nursery managers over the past 30 years reveals a high level of consistency with respect to topics of interest from year to year. Seedling quality, defined as seedling capacity to effectively compete after outplanting, has been the unifying theme. Production issues, including collection, storage, and sowing of seeds, planting density, irrigation, nutrition, pest control, and lifting, have been commonly featured. Soil management, with emphasis on organic matter and nutrition, occupies a prominent position among the individual titles. It seems that nursery production knowledge and practice have been maintained at a relatively high level; one would be hard pressed to identify the year of publication simply from a list of titles from any single proceedings. This paper focuses on soil and nutrition in nursery seedling production. One of the most recent additions is the topic of exponential nutrient loading. This practice is used to induce luxury consumption, producing "loaded" seedlings that are better able to compete in the outplanting environment. Performance of outplanted seedlings, followed for as long as 6 years, suggests that nutrient loading is an effective nursery practice; seedlings effectively compete in their out-planted environments. Nutrient loading papers are appearing with increasing frequency in the literature, reflecting a high degree of interest. Nutrient loading may become a standard practice as outplanted seedling success becomes more widely demonstrated.
Parent Publication
Citation
Briggs, Russell D. 2008. Soils and nutrition: A forest nursery perspective. In: Dumroese, R. K.; Riley, L. E., tech. coords. National Proceedings: Forest and Conservation Nursery Associations-2007. Proc. RMRS-P-57. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 55-64
