Preplant Lime and Micronutrient Amendments to Pine Bark Affect Growth of Seedlings of Nine Container-grown Tree Species

Abstract

<jats:p>The objective of this study was to determine the effects of lime and micronutrient amendments on growth of seedlings of nine container-grown landscape tree species in two pine bark substrates with different pHs. <jats:italic>Acer palmatum</jats:italic> Thunb. (Japanese maple), <jats:italic>Acer saccharum</jats:italic> Marsh. (sugar maple), <jats:italic>Cercis canadensis</jats:italic> L. (redbud), <jats:italic>Cornus florida</jats:italic> L. (flowering dogwood), <jats:italic>Cornus kousa</jats:italic> Hance. (kousa dogwood), <jats:italic>Koelreuteria paniculata</jats:italic> Laxm. (golden-rain tree), <jats:italic>Magnolia</jats:italic> ×<jats:italic>soulangiana</jats:italic> Soul.-Bod. `Lennei' (magnolia), <jats:italic>Nyssa sylvatica</jats:italic> Marsh. (blackgum), and <jats:italic>Quercus palustris</jats:italic> Müenchh. (pin oak) were grown from seed in two pine bark substrates with different pHs (pH 4.7 and 5.1) (Expt. 1). Preplant amendment treatments for each of two pine (<jats:italic>Pinus taeda</jats:italic> L.) bark sources were: with and without dolomitic limestone (3.6 kg·m<jats:sup>–3</jats:sup>) and with and without micronutrients (0.9 kg·m<jats:sup>–3</jats:sup>), and with and without micronutrients (0.9 kg·m<jats:sup>–3</jats:sup>), supplied as Micromax. Seedlings were harvested 12 and 19 weeks after seeds were planted, and shoot dry weight and tree height were determined. The same experiment was repeated using two of the nine species from Expt. 1 and pine bark substrates at pH 5.1 and 5.8 (Expt. 2). Seedling shoot dry weight and height were measured 11 weeks after planting. For both experiments, pine bark solutions were extracted using the pour-through method and analyzed for Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn. Growth of all species in both experiments was greater in micronutrient-amended than in lime-amended bark. In general, adding micronutrients increased nutrient concentrations in the pine bark solution, while adding lime decreased them. Effect of bark type on growth in Expt. 1 was variable; however, in Expt. 2, growth was greater in the low pH bark than in the high pH bark. In general, nutrient concentrations in bark solutions were higher in low pH bark than in high pH bark for both experiments. Under the pH conditions of this experiment, micronutrient additions stimulated growth whereas a lime amendment did not.</jats:p>

Growth of Container-grown Pin Oak and Japanese Maple as Influenced by Sulfur and Sulfated Micronutrients

“…2 and 3. This fi nding is consistent with research by Wright et al (1999a) who reported that increasing pine bark substrate pH by liming reduced growth of nine container-grown landscape tree species as well as PB solution Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn concentrations. Micronutrient solution concentrations for both species were generally higher for Micromax than for all other treat-ments (Table 2).…”

“…Substrates of container-grown plants are commonly preplant amended with sulfated micronutrients with the intention of increasing the supply of micronutrients to the plant. Wright et al (1999a) showed that seedling growth of nine container-grown tree species in pine bark was positively affected by the addition of Micromax (Scotts-Sierra, Marysville, Ohio), a sulfated micronutrient fertilizer package. However, Kelk (2002), investigating the infl uence of CuSO 4 , FeSO 4 , MnSO 4 , and ZnSO 4 on the growth of Quercus palustris (Müench), found that growth was increased to the same degree as Micromax by amending pine bark with any three of the four sulfated micronutrients or by any one sulfated micronutrient in the absence of the other three.…”

Growth Response of Container-grown Pin Oak and Japanese Maple Seedlings to Sulfur Fertilization

“…For the limed treatments, the increase in dry weights from the 0.0 rate to the rate at which maximum growth occurred was 54% and 80% for the FeSO 4 and MM treatments, respectively. These data are A pin oak Dry weight (g) consistent with the fi ndings of Wright et al (1999aWright et al ( , 1999b who observed that amending PB with lime reduced growth of nine container-grown tree species in a PB substrate. This growth reduction was attributed to reduced micronutrient availability at higher substrate pH.…”

CRESCIMENTO DE MUDAS DE Prunus sellowii Koehne EM RESPOSTA A ADUBAÇÕES COM NPK E PÓ DE BASALTO

“…Esse fato evidencia a importância da aplicação de micronutrientes na adubação, quando produzidas mudas de pessegueiro-bravo. Wright et al (1999), em estudo de crescimento de nove espécies arbóreas, utilizando ou não calcário e micronutrientes em dois substratos de casca de Pinus taeda, com diferentes valores de pH, observaram uma maior BSPA e altura das plantas em todas as espécies em que foram utilizados micronutrientes.…”