Field Performance of Nutrient Loaded Red Oak and

Field Performance of Nutrient Loaded Red Oak and White Oak Seedlings on Mine Lands in Southern Indiana By K. Francis Salifu Douglass F. Jacobs and Zonda Birge

What to Expect Ø Poor seedling quality, severe competition and low site fertility are key factors that may limit restoration success on mine sites Nursery fertilization can be used to produce high quality seedlings to improve restoration success Ø Discuss how nursery treatments affect seedling field performance on a mine site in Indiana Ø

Nutrient Loading Building nutrient reserves in seedlings during nursery culture to promote retranslocation and growth when outplanted in the field

Simplified N Cycle in Forest N 2 EXTERNAL Fertilizer N fixation Litter Denitrification INTERNAL Organic N I NO 3 - Le U NO 2 Nitrification M NH 4+ M= Mineralization I= Immobilization

N retranslocation (%) Annual N Demand Met by Retranslocation Tree species (Turner 1975; Miller 1984; Lim and Cousens 1986; Salifu and Timmer 2003)

N applied (mg/seedling) Exponential vs. Conventional Fertilization Weekly application (Ingestad & Lund 1986; Timmer 1997)

How Much Fertilizer Do Plants Need? Nutrient loading Sufficiency Deficiency n f Luxury consumption l Nutrient supply Optimum Toxicity Dry mass or N concentration Seedling N content Biomass Nutrient content Nutrient concentration e (Timmer 1997)

Fertilization Schedule (g N per plant)

Bareroot Production White oak Week 4 Red oak 0 -3. 4 g N plant-1

Week 18 Red oak

Growth and N Storage End of Nursery Phase Red oak White oak Birge et al. 2006

Field Trial

Methods Evaluated: Deer Fence Species at 2 levels Nursery fertility at 10 levels Design = Split-plot design Replications = 5 blocks Blocks separated by 2 m buffers Trees Planted at 1 m within rows and 2 m between rows

Schematic of Field Study N B 5 B 4 B 3 B 2 B 1 42 m Species RO Nursery Fertility WO 5 9 1 21 m 1 6 2 10 5 2 9 3 3 4 4 7 10 7 8 6 8

2500 trees on 5 ha Planted 2004

Field Sampling Ø At Planting Basal diameter Ø Height Ø Nutritional analysis Ø Ø Year-1 Basal diameter Ø Height Ø Survival Ø Nutritional analysis Ø Ø Year-2 Ø Basal diameter Height Survival Ø Ø

Field Survival White Oak Percentage survival Red Oak * * Nursery Treatments

Percentage survival Field Survival vs. Conser. Plantings /Species Jacobs et al. 2004

Red Oak Height (cm) ** * Nursery Treatments

Red Oak Diameter (mm) * * * Nursery Treatments

White Oak Seedling Response: N Status Conventional vs. Exponential regimes N content (mg component-1) Pre-Plant Nursery Fertility Treatments Year-One

Conclusions Ø Nutrient loading improved seedling field performance on mine sites Ø The nutrient loading model is a useful tool for quantifying fertility targets, and may help improve nutrient diagnosis in tree seedling culture Ø Vallonia nursery and Arbor. America have adapted the proposed protocol

Future Directions Rigorously test nutrient loading using balanced fertilizers and with more species Ø Weekly applications could benefit production systems Ø Ø Increases uptake efficiency and minimizes leaching losses Controlled-release fertilization at outplanting Ø Weed control measures Ø

Acknowledgements Ø Ø Ø Ø USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry van Eck Forestry Foundation HTIRC at Purdue University IN-DNR Division of Reclamation Ron Overton, Area Regeneration Specialist, USDA Forest Service Don Carlson, Extension Forester, HTIRC, Purdue University Jim Wichman, Nursery Manager, IN-DNR Vallonia and Jasper Pulaski State Nurseries Jim Mc. Kenna , Operation Breeder, HTIRC, Purdue University

Thank You! QUESTIONS?