An Inexpensive Method of Determining Plant Moisture Stress Using Freezing-Point Depression1

Characteristics of planting stock which reflect quality (defined here as performance potential) are categorized as either "performance'" attributes or "materia\"' attributes. Performance attributes. such as root-growth potential. cold hardiness. and stress resistance. are assessed by subjecting whole seedlings to certain environmental regimes and evaluating their response. Because performance attributes are integrators of all or many seedling subsystems. they often correlate well with seedling performance potential; however. they tend to require laborious and time-consumlng procedures. Material attributes. such as dormancy status. water relations. nutrition. and morphology. are assessed by measuring the attribute in question by any number of direct or Indirect methods. Although material attributes are often more easily and rapidly measured than performance attributes. the former generally yield little definitive Information on seedling quality unless values fall well outside of some established range. Of the Northwest nurseries responding to the OSU Nursery Survey. many reported using various methods to assess seedling conditions. However. most methods were used to indicate the desirability of carrying out certain cultural operations. such as irrigation or lifting. rather than to measure seedling quality Itself.

show abstract

“…Cary and Fisher [14] and Fisher [30] describe an inexpensive. a measure of the former providing an estimate of the latter.…”

Section: Freezing-point Depression Method-the Freezing Pointmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Seedling Quality

Ritchie¹

1984

Forestry Sciences

164

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The three techniques described above represent procedures that have enjoyed wide acceptance by plantsmen over the years. This does not mean that there are not other methods available for measuring plant water status (14,20,37,39,48), but most of these techniques have disadvantages which limit their usefulness for woody plants in the field. In addition to the aforementioned procedures, there are a number of more recent innovations for measuring or estimating plant water status which may have applicability for use with urban trees.…”

Section: Measurement Of Water Potential By Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%