Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Monitoring the Temperature of Tree Seedlings With the Thermochron iButton Data Logger

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Tracking the temperature of tree seedlings from the nursery to the planting site can be the key to evaluating possible physiological causes of mortality after seedlings are planted. Seedlings enter and leave nursery storage with easily documented levels of cold hardiness, root growth potential, and general stress tolerance (Burr 1990: Ritchie and Tanaka 1990). The temperatures to which seedlings are exposed after leaving the nursery, and the duration of the exposure, can dramatically alter these levels. The effects may be direct, affecting tissue viability, or indirect, affecting respiration, transpiration, and plant-water relations. Environmental conditions seedlings experience must be measured to determine how those conditions may have altered seedling physiology and affected outplanting survival and performance.

Citation

Gasvoda, David S.; Tinus, Richard W.; Burr, Karen E.; Trent, Andy. 2002. Monitoring the Temperature of Tree Seedlings With the Thermochron iButton Data Logger. USDA Forest Service, Technology and Development Program, Timber Tech Tips, 2400, March 2002
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/7173