Effect of Cold Storage and Pretransplant Desiccation on Root Growth Potential and Budbreak of Washington Hawthorn and Norway Maple

Abstract

Two-year-old Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum Med.) and Norway maple (Acer platanoides L.) seedlings were subjected to varying cold storage durations and four storage treatments: whole plant covered in polyethylene bags, shoots exposed, roots exposed, and whole plant exposed. After storage, half the seedlings were immediately plant and half received a 12-hour desiccation treatment before transplanting. Root growth potential (RGP), time to budbreak, and marketability were measured. With the root covered treatments, Norway maple RGP increased while Washington hawthorn RGP decreased with increased cold storage duration. RGP for both species remained low throughout storage for treatments exposing roots. The 12-hour desiccation treatment reduced RGP for both species with hawthorn being more affected than maple. Days to budbreak for both species decreased with increased storage time for whole plant covered treatments but increased for both species when stored with exposed roots. Maple marketability for root covered treatments was high for most storage durations. Hawthorn marketability was generally low except for the whole plant covered treatment during the first 6 weeks of storage. For the respective storage durations, hawthorn RGP, time to budbreak and marketability values for the shoots exposed treatment were similar to the root exposed treatments. In contrast, values for the shoots exposed treatment were similar to the whole plant covered treatment for maple. There was a high positive correlation between RGP and marketability for both species.