386 



SEEDING AND PLANTING 



that is likely to occur in planting and is the most serious in its 

 effect upon the future stand. Although the plants remain alive, 

 shoot growth is unsatisfactory and the old root system makes 

 little or no growth. In from 3 to 5 years after planting only dead 

 roots of the original root system remain. Later the dead roots 

 become infested with fungi (species of Polyporus and Nectria), 

 which are the primary or contributing cause of the later death of 

 many of the trees (Fig. 105). 



It appears from investigations on Scotch pine and Norway 

 spruce in Prussia that 1-year seedlings can safely be set consid- 

 erably deeper than their original position in the seedbed. The 

 1-year plant has the capacity for changing its root system without 



FIG. 105. Diagram showing the effect of deep planting. 



A. The correct position of the collar of the tree in planting. 



B. The collar of the tree too deep in the soil. 



C. Two years after deep planting. 



a. A new root system formed above the old. 

 6. The old root system dead and dying. 



losing any part of it, but when more than a year old it suffers 

 severe injury. 



Although the planting with the collar well below the general 

 level of the soil will often enable trees to survive summer drought, 

 the practice is not desirable even on dry sites because of its effect 

 upon later root development. 



Species like the oak, chestnut, and hickory which naturally 

 develop a deeply penetrating tap root during their juvenile growth, 

 suffer much less from deep planting than spruce, hemlock, and 

 most pines. Deep planting is less harmful on open, porous soils, 

 such as sand and loam, than it is on heavy soils such as clay 

 and lime. 



