Table 38. Survival of tillers versus primary culms of bitter panicum transplants, Padre Island. 1 





Percent survival 



Transplants 



1973 



1974 







June 



Oct. 



Nov. 



Dec. 



Jan. 1 Feb. 



Mar. 



Apr. 



May 



North Padre 



Tillers 2 

 Primary culms 3 



91 

 62 



37 



75 



54 

 89 



27 

 78 







40 

 80 



16 

 78 



52 

 48 



72 

 26 



South Padre 



Tillers 

 Primary culms 



.... 



— 



.... 



.... 



57 

 59 



6 

 39 









1. Monthly plantings, 1973 and 1974. N = 100 plants. 



2. Actively growing, young tillers selected from perimeter of panicum clump (leaves green, stems and 

 leaves succulent). 



3. Previous year's growth, selected from center of panicum clump. Comparatively inactive; in winter 

 few leaves are green, while in spring and summer some lateral and apical leaves are green, but main 

 culm is dry and brittle (Fig. 30). 



Bitter panicum culms must be trimmed to a length of 12 to 15 inches for mechanical 

 transplanting. Primary culms are often twice as long, and can be segmented into two or 

 more equal-sized transplants. An experiment in 1974 determined the effect of segmentation 

 on survival rates (Table 39). Comparisons were between 1-yard-long primary culms, and 

 similar 1-yard culms broken in two segments (top and bottom half). None had a root 

 system, since the original culms were harvested at ground level. 



In the January planting, the entire and bottom-half segments had higher survival than the 

 top half, while in February the reverse was true. The conclusion from this experiment is that 



Table dV. Comparison of survival of segmented and entire bitter panicum culms. 1 



Culm description" 



Percent survival 



Jan. 



Feb. 



Total 



Entire 

 Bottom half 

 Top half 



82 a 3 

 87 a 

 58 c, d 



52 d 

 65b,c 

 76 a, b 



67 

 76 

 67 



1. From two 1974 plantings. N = 100 plants. 



2. Each planting, 200 large (1 yard, 50 gram) culms were procured and mixed; 100 were 

 separated and planted intact (entire); the remaining 100 were broken in half and planted 

 (bottom half, top half). 



3. Figures sharing a common letter are not significantly different (P fl 05 ). 



13 



