Supplementary irrigation at container nursery

Abstract

For the period from the 1st of May to the 30th of October 2014, the water balance for Scots pine, Norway spruce, Pedunculate oak and European beech seedlings in a plantation setting was analysed. The experiment was conducted at the container nursery in the Rudy Raciborskie Forest District, Poland. Water was supplied by natural rainfall as well as a by small-droplet irrigation system and two automatic weather stations combined with 32 rain collectors were used to monitor rainfall throughout this research. Rain gauges were located 25 cm above the metal pallets and 10 cm below the nursery containers. An average of 987 mm∙m−2 of water reached the plantation, of which 53% were provided by the irrigation system. Most water was supplied to the oak field, whereas least was given to the spruce plantations and the irrigation water amounted to 535 liters and 422 liters per square meter, respectively. The amount of water percolating through the substrate was approximately 50–65%, depending on the tree species. An average sum of evapotranspiration at the container nursery was estimated to amount to 520 mm∙m−2 during the growth season leading to a total water balance of +463 mm.

Growth of Fagus sylvatica L. and Picea abies (L.) Karst. Seedlings Grown in Hiko Containers in the First Year after Planting

“…The V GRO and V LAI variants used 3.85 dm 3 •ar −1 of Floralesad fertilizer for spruce and 3.11 dm 3 •ar −1 for beech. In all variants, the substrate bulk moisture content was controlled using a semi-automatic measuring and control system consisting of TDR (time domain reflectometer) probes and an MPI DN (multi point interface) recorder, which indicated the production field substrate moisture content in 32 points [18,34]. Only when the value of humidity approached the warning level (80%), the person operating the sprinkler system, depending on the weather conditions, made a decision about the need for irrigation.…”

“…This is due to the improved overcoming of post-planting stress, which is partly related to the higher tolerance of container seedlings to drought [5]. The quality of the planting material depends on a number of factors, including the type and characteristics of the soil or nursery substrate [6][7][8][9], soil compaction [10][11][12][13][14], irrigation [15][16][17][18], light [19], and fertilization [20][21][22].…”

Irrigation in pine nurseries

“…Instead of relying on seed efficiency and biomass data from nursery trials (e.g., May et al 1961;Minko 1976;Hipps et al 1997), some people make irrigation recommendations based on assumptions regarding somewhat complex water balance equations (Day 1984;Prévost 1989;Papadopol 1990). For example, open-pan evaporation (OPE) calculations predict a six-month growing season requires 1.0 to 1.7 kg of water seedling -1 at rain-free nurseries (each at 500 seedlings m -2 ) (Mexal and Khadduri 2011;Durło et al 2018a). However, since irrigation systems are not 100% uniform (Durło et al 2018b), additional irrigation is applied to avoid stunting seedlings located in dry zones.…”

“…A WPF for height growth of Pinus radiata seedlings (Minko 1976) is: height = -62.5cm + (1397 cm x sm)-(4438 cm x sm x sm) (where sm = average soil moisture g/g).Another WPF indicates that doubling irrigation to 42 mm week -1 can increase height of Fagus seedlings by 9 cm (Figure 14). Without WPFs, some researchers guess at how much irrigation should be applied in nurseries by estimating evapotranspiration rates (Prévost et al 1989;Durło et al 2018a). Without conducting an economic analysis, they often assume that nursery managers overwater seedlings during months when rainfall exceeds estimates of potential evapotranspiration.…”

Visualization and quantification of peat substrate moisture by fully automated moisture controlling system (SMCS) in forest container nursery

“…In this zone, there is aeration, and it inhibits the excessive growth of roots. The production of seedlings, though under constant surveillance, requires attention, particularly with respect to water management, which is responsible in maintaining the optimum moisture of the substrate (Campbell et al 2003;Dumroese et al 2006;Prehn et al 2010;Niemali and Iersel 2013;Hoskins et al 2012;Kargas et al 2013;Durło et al 2018).…”