Tree root defects from current nursery production practices influence short- and long-term tree performance and survivability. The Missouri Gravel Bed (MGB) system, a production method using gravel as a substrate, has been used to prevent many of these defects from occurring. MGB production involves planting bare root stock into a bed of gravel with frequent drip irrigation in order to produce a root system with relatively few defects. MGB production methods have also been purported to allow for summer transplanting of many species, as opposed to traditional dormant transplanting.Because gravel has low water- and nutrient-holding capacity, biochar (5% by volume) was incorporated into one plot as a possible means of improving both water- and nutrient-holding capacity over gravel alone. Wood chip mulch was also investigated as a growing substrate in place of the gravel in a growing system. In 2015, three species, Quercus bicolor (swamp white oak), Taxodium distichum (baldcypress), and Tilia cordata (littleleaf linden), were studied in pea gravel (PG), biochar-amended pea gravel (BC), and wood chip mulch bed (MB) growing environments. Very few differences occurred over the growing season with above- or belowground parameters indicating that the minimal-to-no-cost, more readily available substrate of wood chip mulch should be considered in these growing systems.

Gloomy scale (GS)(Melanaspis tenebricosa) is a major pest of red maple (Acer rubrum) across much of the eastern USA. Current pesticide recommendations for GS management are efficacious when applications are made at the appropriate time. However, appropriate timing may not always be possible. For instance, the tree owner may not contact pest management professionals in time to make timely applications. We established a field trial to determine the efficacy of the pesticides pyriproxyfen plus horticultural oil and dinotefuran, as well as a relatively new pesticide available in the ornamental woody plant market, flupyradifurone, against GS. There were three primary goals of this study: (1) to quantitatively compare the effectiveness of pyriproxyfen plus horticultural oil and dinotefuran; (2) to compare flupyradifurone with these two generally recommended treatments; and (3) to assess whether flupyradifurone is effective when applications are made later in the summer. We found that pyriproxyfen plus horticultural oil, dinotefuran, and flupyradifurone applications made during the active crawler period were equally efficacious, statistically, and that flupyradifurone treatments applied later in the summer were not statistically differentiable from untreated controls. While these pesticide applications are effective at suppressing GS populations, plant health care tactics aimed at preventing outbreaks should be prioritized and incorporated into the complete pest management strategy.

Wooden stakes are used to anchor guy lines on many newly transplanted trees. It has been recommended that the angle of the stake be either in-line with the guy (45 degrees toward the tree) or at right angles to the guy (45 degrees from horizontal away from the tree). This trial was conducted to determine which, if either, of these directions will provide the maximum amount of resistance to extraction. Stakes were driven into the soil at two angles and vertically into the soil then were extracted using a measured force. There was no significant difference in force required to extract the stakes driven in-line with the guy or at a right angle to it. There was a significant difference (p <. 05) between angled stakes and those driven straight into the soil. The force required for extraction of the stake driven vertically was more than twice that of the angle-driven stakes. It was hypothesized that the differences in extraction force were due to soil disruption that occurs when driving stakes into the soil. For maximum strength, it is recommended that wooden stakes be driven vertically into the soil.