Effect of Some Seedling Morphology and Planting Quality Variables on Seedling Survival in the Georgia Piedmont

Abstract

Abstract A seedling survival study for site-prepared loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations, consisting of 43 locations, was established during two planting seasons in 1986-87 in the Georgia Piedmont. Seedlings with top lengths less than 15 cm and with root collar diameters less than 2.5 mm survived significantly worse than larger seedlings, but such small seedlings comprised less than 2% of seedlings bagged and planted in the study. Culling in the field to eliminate such a small percentage of seedlings in addition to culling already done at the nursery is probably not worth the expense from a survival standpoint. Terminal bud condition was not related to survival. Seedlings planted deeper than root collar diameter survived the same as seedlings planted at root collar depth, but shallow planted seedlings had significantly poorer survival. Very loosely planted seedlings were more likely to die than firmly planted seedlings, but slightly loose seedlings survived as well as tightly planted seedlings. Differences between operationally planted and experimentally planted plots indicated that an average 10% increase in survival was possible from close planting crew supervision. Over 90% of first-year mortality occurred on both operationally and experimentally planted plots by the end of July. South. J. Appl. For. 14(3):109-114.