Abstract
In the southern USA oaks (Quercusspp.) are often favored by forest owners havingmultiple objectives for forest ownership as oaksprovide mast for wildlife, are consideredaesthetically pleasing, and are valuable for timberproducts. Regeneration and early seedling growth isa concern to those forest owners interested insustaining oaks as a component of their forests. Theeffects of tree shelters and herbaceous weed controlon second-year seedling survival, browse by deer andrabbits, and seedling growth of hand-plantedcherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.) wereexamined. The study was established on a cutovermixed pine-hardwood forest in Alabama. Fourtreatments were: weed control only, tree shelter only,tree shelter with weed control, and a controlconsisting of a seedling without a tree shelter orweed control. No significant difference in seedlingsurvival was found among the treatments after twoyears. Tree shelters were effective in preventingbrowsing. No seedlings in the tree-shelter-onlytreatment were browsed. There was no significant,difference, however, in the percentage of seedlingsbrowsed between the control treatment and the weedcontrol treatment. The use of tree shelters with weedcontrol was the most effective treatment for promoting2-year ground-line diameter, height, and stem volumegrowth.
Published Version
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