Ecolog:
I'm glad to see this point made: "Oak seedlings produce a long and sturdy
tap root that must be carefully managed to produce a seedling that can be
transplanted. Call a nursery manager for the straight practical
information."
In my limited work with western species, I ended up planting acorns on the
site in wire mesh "baskets" to protect them from browsers and burrowers to
ensure good tap-root development. Container-grown oaks tend to have a high
failure rate in drier climates, and from what I could tell from
post-planting excavations, the container plants' root systems did not
develop normally after planting (too shallow), and plants died from
desiccation. I went to the extreme of planting a fraction of the oak seeds
(3 or 5 to a basket) on top of drilled and refilled holes, sometimes drilled
with hydraulic "stingers," sometimes with augers and filling the hole with
water before refilling. Rocky sites didn't need holes; the boulder-soil
interface is all they needed.
In any case, I would like to hear some first-hand information about just how
the seedlings are "carefully managed" and how results of various methods
varied post-planting.
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hallgren, Steve" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2011 1:07 PM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Oak seedling production
There are numerous nurseries across the range of oak species in the southern
USA that produce millions of oak seedlings each year. A call to a nursery
manager that produces oak seedlings would provide plenty of first-hand
information.
Just down the road from OSU the Oklahoma State Nursery produces bare-root
and container seedlings of blackjack oak, bur oak, chinkapin oak, northern
red oak, pin oak, post oak, sawtooth oak, Shumard oak, water oak, white oak,
and willow oak. That is a nice selection of white and red oaks to cover the
range of seed dormancy. They know how to collect, treat, store and plant
seeds and how to grow seedlings. Call Scott Huff the nursery manager at
405-288-2385. The website is: http://www.forestry.ok.gov/regeneration.
Oak seedlings produce a long and sturdy tap root that must be carefully
managed to produce a seedling that can be transplanted. Call a nursery
manager for the straight practical information.
Steve Hallgren
022 Ag Hall
Natural Resource Ecology and Management
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078
office: 405-744-6805
FAX: 405-744-3530
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