Guidelines For Producing Quality Longleaf Pine Seeds

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) seeds are sensitive to damage during collection, processing, treatment, and storage. High-quality seeds are essential for successfully producing nursery crops that meet management goals and perform well in the field. Uniformity in the production of pine seedlings primarily depends on prompt and uniform seed germination, early seedling establishment, and a variety of cultural practices that are applied as the seedlings develop. The best collecting, handling, and processing methods maximize performance attributes and reduce the need for extensive nursery cultural practices to compensate for poor seed quality. Guidelines are presented that will help seed dealers, orchard managers, and nursery personnel produce high-quality longleaf pine seeds and improve the efficiency of nursery production.

Longleaf pine, although widely distributed in the presettlement forests of the southern Coastal Plain, now occupies less than 10 percent of its original range. It is a highly desirable species because it resists tire, insects, and disease and produces excellent quality solid-wood products. Regeneration of the species either by natural methods or by planting of bare-root nursery stock has been difticult, and renewed interest in it has resulted in evaluation of new approaches to seedling establishment. Using container stock has greatly improved the success of longleaf pine establishment. Practical guidelines are presented that will help nursery personnel consistently produce good container stock that will survive well and initiate early height growth.

This book unites a wealth of current information on the ecology, silviculture and restoration of the Longleaf Pine ecosystem. The book includes a discussion of the significant historical, social and political aspects of ecosystem management, making it a valuable resource for students, land managers, ecologists, private landowners, government agencies, consultants and the forest products industry.

This proceedings is a compilation of 24 papers that were presented at the regional meetings of the forest and conservation nursery associations in the United States in 2006. The Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association meeting was held at the Hilton Resort Hotel and Conference Center in Eugene, Oregon on June 19 to 22. The meeting was hosted by the USDA Forest Service Dorena Genetic Resource Center and Plum Creek Container Nursery. Morning technical sessions were followed by field trips to USDA Forest Service Dorena Genetic Resource Center and Plum Creek Container Nursery in Cottage Grove, and USDA Agricultural Research Service National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis. Subject matter for the technical sessions included bareroot and container nursery culturing and monitoring, disease management, and native species restoration. The Southern Forest Nursery Association meeting was held July 10 to 13 at the Holiday Inn Select in Tyler, Texas. The meeting was hosted by the Texas Forest Service Indian Mound Nursery. Technical sessions were followed by tours of the International Paper SuperTree Nursery, Agtoprof, and Kiepersol Estate, outside Tyler; International Paper Forest Seed Center in Douglass; and Texas Forest Service Indian Mound Nursery in Alto. Subject matter for the technical sessions included labor relations and regulations, bareroot and container nursery culturing, hardwood management, pesticide use, and outplanting strategies.