Optimizing nursery technologies involved in the production of pine and oak planting stock

The increase in demand for wood products is stimulating increased production efficiency; namely greater production on less land at a lower cost. Artificial regeneration of loblolly pine (P. taeda L.) does not pose the same problems as successful artificial oak regeneration. Studies show cherrybark oak (Q. pagoda Raf) seems to be more successful in the bottomland areas than does northern red oak (Q. rubra L.) on indigenous upland sites. Oak ground-line diameter has been a good indicator of belowground root mass, while stem height ensures a seedling's early competitive advantage. These size factors are expressed in a term called “yield.” Seedlings of high yield in the forest tree nursery provide a good forecast of future plantation yield. Seed germination in the nursery and planting survival in the field are essential factors when nursery or plantation yield is evaluated.; Many cultural measures are used to enhance nursery or plantation yield for pine and oak and to evaluate associated costs. Cost estimations for this study are employed from empirical results and assign value to the product. The process of integrating yield with associated costs, or “cost efficiency,” is reported in several production trials, and soil and tissue-nutrient analyses were also evaluated. Use of activated biosolids caused a minimal increase in our soil organic matter content and provided an available macro and micronutrient supply (except for nitrogen) in both pine and oak studies. Symmetrical sowing as compared to precision sowing in the first pine study was useful in producing larger stems at increased seedbed densities. Perforated containers were utilized to create plantable sapling size cherrybark oak, and lateral branch pruning made it possible to grow them at higher densities. Pruning the more succulent tops of pine in the first study was not a costly procedure but helped to maintain seedling uniformity. With cost efficiency evaluation of these and other operations between regions and over time, nursery enterprises should move closer toward optimizing the production of pine and oak planting stock.