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Performance of two oak species and three planting stocks on lands damaged by hurricane Katrina

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Hurricane Katrina had a devastating impact on bottomland hardwood forests in 2005. Artificial regeneration was considered the most appropriate method for reforesting these areas, but few studies have evaluated methods for artificially regenerating oaks on clear cut sites in the southern United States. First-year survival and growth of two oak species, live oak (Quercus virginiana Mill.) and Nuttall oak (Quercus texana Buckl.), and three planting stocks [1-0 bareroot, conventional containerized, and Root Production Method (RPM)™ seedlings] were compared. Seedlings were established using recommended methods for each respective planting stock. Conventional containerized live oak and bareroot Nuttall oak seedlings exhibited the greatest survival. RPM™ seedlings exhibited the lowest survival in both species. Conventional containerized seedlings exhibited greater groundline-diameter (GLD) growth and twice as much height growth as bareroot seedlings, regardless of species. RPM™ seedlings exhibited similar GLD growth compared to bareroot seedlings but the least height growth of all planting stocks, regardless of species.

Parent Publication

Citation

Conrad III, John A.; Ezell, Andrew W.; Schultz, Emily B.; Hodges, John D. 2015. Performance of two oak species and three planting stocks on lands damaged by hurricane Katrina. In Proceedings of the 17th biennial southern silvicultural research conference. e–Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS–203. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 6 p.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/47473