Abstract
Herbaceous weed control (HWC) is prescribed for growing season control of vegetative competition in hardwood afforestation attempts on former agricultural areas. Without HWC, planted seedlings often exhibit poor growth and survival. While currently employed HWC methods are proven, there is a substantial void in research comparing HWC treatments spanning multiple years. A total of 4,320 bare-root seedlings of three oak species were planted on three Mississippi sites. All sites were of comparable soils and received above average precipitation for the majority of the three-year study. Eight combinations of HWC and mechanical site preparation were utilized at each site, with 480 seedlings planted in each of the nine blocks, and a total of 1,440 seedlings per species planted across all sites. Treatments were installed on 3.1 m centers, with mechanical treatments as follows: control, subsoiling, bedding, and combination plowing. HWC treatments included one and two-year applications of Oust® XP. Treatments were applied over seedlings post-planting in 1.5 m bands, at a rate of 140.1 g product/hectare. Excepting one species, HWC dependent height or groundline diameter differences were not detected among mechanical treatments, species, HWC regime, or combinations thereof. No survival differences were observed among site preparation treatments or species. However, analysis detected a growing season/HWC treatment interaction for seedling survival.
Highlights
Cost share funding and recognition of important functions and values of bottomland ecosystems by public and private entities has driven efforts to afforest large sections of retired agricultural areas over the last 25 years [1,2]
No interaction effects were observed for seedling groundline diameter (GLD) or height among mechanical site preparation and Herbaceous weed control (HWC) combinations
Seedlings in areas treated with one year of Oust® XP exhibited greater average height compared to seedlings in areas treated with the two-year Oust® XP treatment (90.4 cm and 83.1 cm, respectively) (Table 1)
Summary
Cost share funding and recognition of important functions and values of bottomland ecosystems by public and private entities has driven efforts to afforest large sections of retired agricultural areas over the last 25 years [1,2]. Groninger et al [14] found that green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh.) treated with a 140.1 grams (g) /hectare application of Oust® exhibited 40 percent greater height growth after three years than untreated seedlings. Buckley), water oak (Quercus nigra L.), willow oak (Quercus phellos L.), and white oak, Ezell and Catchot [16] found that Oust®, when used as a pre-emergent application, caused no damage and resulted in an increase of approximately 20 percent in first-year survival across all species. Ezell and Hodges [17] reported that a pre-emergent application of Oust® resulted in higher second-year survival of planted Shumard oak with no observable phytotoxicity in seedlings
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