Pot size is vital for raising of nursery seedlings. Different sizes of pots are needed for various tree species. An experiment was set up to investigate the best pot size for Cupressus lusitanica and Grevillea robusta species. The experiment was laid down as a RCBD with 8 treatments replicated 3 times. Treatments comprised of 4 different pot sizes as follows: large, medium, small and smallest as well as two species. Forest soil mixture was used for potting and 10 pots were used per each treatment per replicate while 7 plants were randomly selected for sampling. The experiment was carried out from September 2017 for a period of 8 months. The variables measured included; shoot, foliage and roots. ANOVA was done using Genstat package while the means were separated at P< 0.001 using LSD. The results showed that large pots had significantly (P<0.001) higher values in height, shoot fresh biomass, total fresh plant biomass and seedling stem volume compared with the other pot sizes. Large pots also showed significantly higher root collar diameter (6.23 mm) compared with the medium pot (4.33 mm). For species, Cypress showed significantly superior height (27.84 cm) and number of leaves (24.52) compared with Grevillea (18.73 and 18.27 cm respectively). In conclusion, shoot fresh biomass and total fresh plant biomass were positively correlated with pot size. This study recommends the use of large pots for raising Grevillea and Cypress seedlings in the nursery since they take 8 months to attain planting size.
Water is essential in raising seedlings but needs to be efficiently utilized since it is a scarce resource. Hardening off of nursery seedlings through reduction of watering regime leads to better survival. Watering interval is not well determined and this can vary with species type and locality. An experiment was set up in dry season to determine the most appropriate watering interval for African stinkwood (Prunus africana) seedlings in Egerton University, Kenya. The experiment was laid down as a Completely Randomized Design with 4 treatments replicated 3 times. Treatments comprised of different watering intervals, which were as follows; twice daily, once daily, 2 days and 4 days, which were applied for 2 months on seedlings during January to March 2018. ANOVA was used to determine treatment differences while SED was used to determine the significantly different treatment means at p ≤ 0.05. Results showed that watering twice daily gives the best growth of Prunus seedlings but encourages succulent foliage growth which is not favourable for planting out seedlings. Therefore two days watering interval is the most ideal for hardening off seedlings that are non-succulent in the highlands since it reduces foliage growth and encourages woodiness. The recommended interval is 2 days since it showed good growth with minimal water use equivalent to 25% of the water used by seedling watered twice daily. The results can be applied in the Kenyan highlands for non-succulent species. Further studies needs to be done for different pot sizes and soil mixtures.
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