Early growth and survival of shrub willow on newly reclaimed mine soil

Abstract

Shrub willow (Salix spp.) has been a focus of international efforts to develop renewable alternatives for fossil fuels and to sequester carbon from earth’s atmosphere. In the central Appalachian region of the eastern U.S., short rotation willow could be grown on the significant amount of reclaimed mine land, which would promote economic opportunities for these lands. The objective of this study was to examine various establishment treatments designed to overcome common properties of mine soils: high rock fragment content that causes planting difficulties and reduced water- and nutrient-availability. Three shrub willow clones (Fish Creek, Preble, and SX61) were planted using six planting/fertilizer treatments. The planting treatments compared a horizontal planting method to traditional vertical planting of cuttings. Fertilizer treatments compared no fertilization to controlled release and traditional fertilizer at a rate of 140 kg N ha−1. After two growing seasons, Preble outperformed the others in both survival and production but the influence of fertilizer treatments was inconsistent and varied by clone. Survival and growth for horizontally-planted cuttings was 46% relative to vertically planted cuttings at 83%. Results of this study will be used to direct future establishment practices for willow on reclaimed mine soils in West Virginia.