Review
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Why Healthy Pine Seedlings Die After They Leave the Nursery
Version 1
: Received: 6 February 2023 / Approved: 7 February 2023 / Online: 7 February 2023 (14:01:52 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
South, D.B.; Starkey, T.E.; Lyons, A. Why Healthy Pine Seedlings Die after They Leave the Nursery. Forests 2023, 14, 645. South, D.B.; Starkey, T.E.; Lyons, A. Why Healthy Pine Seedlings Die after They Leave the Nursery. Forests 2023, 14, 645.
Abstract
Artificial regeneration is successful when high performing seedlings are transported with care to the planting site, stored for a short period in an environment without desiccation or fungal growth, and are planted in a deep hole so roots are in contact with moist soil. One of the requirements for success is the ability to avoid common planting mistakes. Due, in part, to use of container stock plus an increase in rainfall, average 1st year survival of pine seedlings (89%) in the southern United States is about 15% greater now than 45 years ago. However, when survival is less than 50% six months after planting, some landowners seek reimbursement for their loss. Some assume poor seedling quality was the cause without realizing that anaerobic soils or sudden freeze events or shallow planting holes or pruning roots, a lack of rain, or underground insects can kill pines. With a focus on pines planted in the southern United States, we list non-nursery factors that have killed seedlings in North America, Africa and Europe.
Keywords
planting depth; drought; freeze injury; herbivory; mortality; survival; insects
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Forestry
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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