KELLY, FUSS, md HALL: TRANSPLANTING TURTLE GRASS 



and containing four to five short-shoots were 

 dug from natural beds adjacent to the control 

 site. Three methods of transporting and anch- 

 oring the plugs were tried: (1) placing them 

 in tin cans, (2) balling them in burlap, and (3) 

 temporarily bagging the roots and rhizomes in 

 polyethylene, which was removed just before 

 planting. 



A total of 120 plugs was transplanted — 60 

 at the control site and 60 at the finger-fill canal. 

 At both locations, 30 were placed inside and 30 

 outside of enclosures. Each group of 30 plugs 

 was planted three ways: 10 in cans, 10 in bur- 

 lap, and 10 unanchored (Figure 3). 



Phase II consisted of testing additional an- 

 choring devices to hold individual sprigs of turtle 

 grass in the substrate of the finger-fill canal. 

 The devices were cast iron, 2-inch (5.1-cm) 

 pipe, brick, and construction rod. Sprigs used 

 in this study were single short-shoots with 

 leaves, many roots, and with or without a por- 

 tion of the parent rhizome. Also tested in phase 

 II was the plant hormone, NAPH (Naphtha- 

 lene Acetic Acid),° which is used for rooting 

 grass stolons and plant cuttings. 



Sixty sprigs, obtained from the same natural 

 bed as the plugs in phase I, were washed and 

 prepared for the experiment by breaking entire 

 rhizomes from some, breaking only the apexes 

 of rhizomes from others, and leaving the rhi- 

 zomes attached and entire on others. Half of the 

 sprigs were placed in a 10% solution of NAPH 

 in seawater for 1 hr. The other half were left 

 untreated. The sprigs were planted in groups 

 to test various combinations of treatment and 

 non treatment with NAPH, presence and ab- 

 sence of apexes of rhizomes, presence and ab- 

 sence of rhizomes, and types of anchors ( Figure 

 4). 



Sprigs anchored with construction rod had 

 no rhizomes. Sprigs anchored with pipe had 

 rhizomes that were buried in hand-dug holes; 

 whereas, sprigs anchored with brick were simply 

 placed on the surface of the substrate and their 



POLYETHYLENE 



' Manufactured by Nutri-Sol Chemical Company, 

 Tampa, Fla. 33609. References to trade names in this 

 publication do not imply endorsement of commercial 

 products. 



Figure 3. — Details of concrete-block wave and current 

 barriers, tin-can anchors for plugs, and placement of 

 transplants at planting sites. 



rhizomes held in contact with the sediment by 

 the weight of the brick. 



RESULTS 



Transplants were considered successful if 

 they established themselves in the new envi- 

 ronment and exhibited new rhizome growth 

 (Figure 5) . Individual sprigs met these criteria 

 if short-shoots appeared healthy, had new roots, 

 and had either given rise to a new rhizome or 

 were still part of an old long-shoot with an active 

 apex. Plug transplants (phase I) were con- 

 sidered successful if only one of the short-shoots 

 met the above criteria. 



275 



