Loblolly pine - Georgia(Kormanik et al. 1999: GTR SRS-25)

Block 1: 75 Lb N/acre

No undercutting

Easy to plant due

to small roots.

“well balanced” seedlings

Block 2: 150 Lb N/acre

No undercutting

Difficult to hand plant properly due to large lateral roots. Seedlings were

poorly balanced.

They were not “morphologically improved” due to high seedbed density (24-26/sq ft)

Seedlings grown in raised beds at Athens, GA.

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This is one study where the authors grew seedlings in raised beds with no

root culture and no plow-pan. They confounded treatments with planting location

(the low N treatment was planted in a block next to the 150 lb N/acre block…

therefore, no statistical tests are valid). Since the seedlings were grown in soil

without a plow-pan and no undercutting was provided, the roots grew large in the

ideal soil (which might have contained as much as 25% pine bark). The poorly

balanced seedlings did not survive as well as the better balanced seedlings.

Although the balance was not reported, this illustrates the need for nursery

managers to produce “well-balanced” seedlings.