Search Results

Field-grown conifers are usually discarded if their root balls break during digging, but using an alternative holding system until the root systems recover could reduce production losses. The objective of this study was to determine if a gravel bed could be used as a holding treatment for 1.5- to 1.8-m-tall Colorado spruce (Picea pungens) trees that had soil removed from their root systems in the spring. Root systems from 12 trees were washed free from pine bark mulch and soil before the trees were randomly assigned to a gravel bed. One bed held a mixture of 88% pea gravel (1-cm minus), 2% Turface®, and 10% silica sand (by volume). The other bed contained a mixture of 90% basalt gravel (1.2-cm) and 10% sand. Trees were grown in the gravel beds for 5 or 6 months before height increases were determined. If the terminal leader died on the tree, the next highest lateral branch was measured for its increase in length. All trees survived and actually grew a little during the summer after removing all the soil from their root systems. Several trees suffered slight needle burning at the ends of random branches, but the damage appeared minimal. Tips of several small branches randomly located around the canopies on several trees died back, and up to 10 cm of the terminal leaders on about half the trees died back. Height increases were similar among the different trees grown in the two types of gravel, with the mean increase in height being 8.9 cm. The trees regenerated many roots in both types of gravel. In fact, new roots formed all over the root systems and encased large amounts of gravel, making its removal difficult. This study demonstrated that gravel beds can be used to help 1.8-m tall Colorado spruce trees recover from severe root losses.

The goal of this study was to examine the effectiveness of several nutrient treatments to maintain or enhance the growth and foliar nutrition of Colorado spruce (Picea pungens Engelm.) trees while they were in a mulch holding bed. Sixty 1.5 to 1.8 m tall Colorado spruce trees with 61 cm (24 inch) diameter root balls were heeled into a holding bed of fresh pine bark mulch. The treatments applied to the root balls were a control (pine bark without fertilizer), Osmocote 15-9-12 distributed over the top of the ball at 114.2 g (label rate) per root ball, one Ross Gro-Stake 10-10-10 Evergreen fertilizer spike per ball, one-half cartridge of Ross Root Feeder 10-12-12 evergreen fertilizer injected into the root ball at four points, or a 50:50 mixture (by volume) of Eko Compost mixed with pine bark. Trunk diameters and tree heights were measured and foliar samples for nutrient analyses were collected before applying these treatments and at the end of the growing season 17 weeks later. Overall, the Colorado spruce trees appeared quite normal throughout the study. Changes in tree height and trunk diameter by the end of the growing season were unaffected by the nutrient treatments. By fall, needles from trees treated with the mixture of 50:50 compost:bark had the highest levels of foliar N, Mg, Ca, S, MN and B. Trees treated with one fertilizer spike had the second highest levels of foliar N and S, and these levels were significantly higher than those of trees receiving the other fertilizer treatments. Even though all nutrient treatments failed to influence increases in tree heights and trunk diameters during the first growing season after digging, the compost:bark mixture and to some extent the fertilizer spike improved foliar nutrition during this time.

The objective of this study was to determine if fertilization and irrigation practices in the nursery affect plant growth and stress resistance following outplanting in the landscape. Flowering crabapple (Malus) `Sutyzam', grown in containers under factorial combinations of two irrigations schedules (containers irrigated at 25% or 50% container capacity) and three rates of fertilization (N at 50, 200, 350 mg·L^–1) in a nursery in 1997 were outplanted in a low maintenance landscape in 1998. Trees from the high fertility regime grew faster in the landscape the year of transplant. Tree growth in the landscape was positively correlated with N concentration in plants in the nursery and negatively correlated with concentrations of phenolics in the foliage in the landscape. However, the trees showing the greatest amount of diameter growth had the lowest concentrations of foliar phenolics. Trees with low concentrations of phenolics also exhibited a greater potential for herbivory by larvae of the eastern tent caterpillar, gypsy moth, and white-marked tussock moth. Additionally, trees exhibiting rapid growth in the landscape also had reduced photosynthesis during summer drought compared to slower growing trees, suggesting a reduced drought tolerance in the landscape. Differences in growth and stress resistance did not carry beyond the year of transplant. Our results illustrate that irrigation and fertilization methods in the nursery can influence growth post transplant, however fertilization also appears to have a significant impact on stress resistance traits of the trees. These impacts from the nursery production methods had no effect after plants had acclimated to the conditions in the landscape during the year following transplant.

The goal of this study was to determine if nutrient treatments applied to Colorado spruce (Picea pungens Engelm.) trees while they were held in a mulch bed one season after digging affected subsequent shoot growth of the trees after they were planted in the landscape. Sixty 1.5- to 1.8-m-tall trees with 61-cm (24-inch) diameter root balls were heeled into a holding bed of fresh pine bark mulch. The nutrient treatments applied to the root balls were a control (pine bark without fertilizer), 114.2 g Osmocote 15–9–12 distributed over the top of the ball (label rate), one Ross Gro-Stake 10–10–10 Evergreen fertilizer spike per ball, one-half cartridge of Ross Root Feeder 10–12–12 evergreen fertilizer injected into the root ball at four points, or a 50:50 mixture (by volume) of Eko Compost mixed with pine bark. After one growing season in the mulch bed, the trees were transplanted to a landscape site. The height increases of the terminal leaders on all trees were determined for the next 2 years. Changes in tree height by the end of the growing season in the mulch bed were unaffected by the nutrient treatments. By fall, needles from trees treated with the mixture of 50:50 compost: bark had the highest levels of foliar N, Mg, Ca, S, Mn, and B. Trees treated with one fertilizer spike had the second-highest levels of foliar N and S. Leaders on trees that received the compost:bark or fertilizer spike treatments grew at least 70% or 36% taller, respectively, than those receiving the other treatments by the end of the second growing season in the landscape. The compost:bark mixture and to some extent the fertilizer spike improved tree foliar nutrition during the first growing season after digging, which later promoted tree height increases in the landscape.

Holding practices for balled and burlapped conifers may inadvertently impact nutrient availability and tree growth. The objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of several nutrient treatments to maintain or enhance the growth and foliar nutrition of Colorado spruce (Picea pungens Engelm.) trees while they were in a mulch-holding bed. Sixty 1.5 to 1.8-m tall Colorado spruce trees with 61-cm (24 inch) diameter root balls were heeled into a holding bed of fresh pine bark mulch during 2002 and 2003. The treatments applied to the root balls were a control (pine bark without fertilizer), 114.2 g Osmocote (Scotts, Marysville, OH) 15N–3.9P–10K distributed over the top of the ball, one Ross Gro-Stake (Easy Gardener, Waco, TX) 10N–4.3P–8.3K Evergreen fertilizer spike (113 g) per ball, one-half cartridge (≈8.5 g) of Ross Root Feeder (Weatherly Consumer Products, Lexington, KY) 10N–5.2P–10K evergreen fertilizer injected into the root ball at four points, or a 1:1 biosolids-based compost:pine bark mixture (by volume). Trunk diameters and tree heights were measured and foliar samples for nutrient analyses were collected before applying these treatments and at the end of the growing season 20 or 17 weeks later. The 2003 trees were transplanted to a landscape site in 2004, and the height growth of their terminal leaders were measured at the end of the next two growing seasons. Overall, Colorado spruce trees appeared normal while they were held in the mulch beds the first season after nursery harvest. Changes in tree height and trunk diameter by the end of the first season after harvest were unaffected by the nutrient treatments. By fall of both years, needles from trees treated with the mixture of 1:1 compost:bark had the highest levels of foliar N, Mg, Ca, S, and B. Trees treated with the fertilizer spike in 2002 had similar levels of N and S in their needles compared with compost:bark-treated trees, whereas in 2003, spike-treated trees had the second highest levels of foliar N and S, and these levels were significantly higher than those of trees receiving the control or other fertilizer treatments with the exception of N in needles from fertilizer-injected trees in 2002. Plant-available N, however, was highest in the root balls of Osmocote- and fertilizer spike-treated trees only in 2003. Leaders on the 2003 trees that received the compost:bark or fertilizer spike treatments grew at least 70% or 36% taller, respectively, than those trees receiving the other treatments by the end of the second growing season in a managed landscape. Although all nutrient treatments failed to promote increases in tree heights and trunk diameters while the trees were held in a mulch bed for the first growing season after digging, the compost:bark mixture and, to some extent, the fertilizer spike improved foliar nutrition during this time.