Effects of flooding regime, mycorrhizal inoculation and seedling treatment type on first-year survival of Nuttal Oak (Quercus nuttallii Palmer)

Abstract

Three different types of Nuttall oak ( Quercus nuttallii Palmer) seedlings were planted on floodprone, former cropland in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The three types of 1+0 seedlings planted at each site in January and February of 1995 were bareroot seedlings, seedlings grown in 164 square centimeters plastic containers, and container grown seedlings inoculated with vegetative mycelia of Pisolithus tinctorious (Pers.) Coker and Couch. Seedlings at the Mississippi site were planted in a split-plot design at three different elevations, which provided three different natural flooding treatments. Seedlings at the other two sites were planted in a Latin square design at a single elevation. Significant differences in the survival and condition of the seedlings during the first growing season were observed at the Louisiana site, favoring the inoculated container-grown seedlings over the other two stock types. First-year seedling survival at the site in Texas, which had the best drainage of the three sites, was not significantly different between treatments. Small mammals clipped 98 percent of the container-grown seedlings at the Mississippi site.