d. Planting Date . The best time is probably immediately after 

 natural seedlings appear (in March along the North Carolina coast). 

 Earlier seeding is susceptible to weather risks. S. alterniflora can be 

 seeded as late as the end of June in North Carolina. This produces 

 greatly reduced first-year growth, but if the stand survives the winter, 

 growth equals that of earlier seedings by the end of the second growing 

 season. 



e. Elevation . Seeding should usually be confined to about the upper 

 half of the tide range. 



f. Fertilization . Seedlings are usually more responsive to fertili- 

 zer than transplants and first-year growth can be increased substantially 

 by fertilization in nutrient-poor environments. Top dressings of about 

 100 kilograms per hectare of nitrogen (90 pounds per acre) and 25 kilo- 

 grams per hectare of phosphorus (50 pounds per acre P ), applied in 

 late June and again in late July, are suggested where nutrient deficien- 

 cies are suspected. Nitrogen should be from ammonium sulfate and 

 phosphorus from a soluble source such as treble superphosphate. 



VIII. OTHER SPECIES 



Although this study concentrated on the intertidal zone, stability 

 of bare areas lying immediately above this zone could not be ignored. 

 Patens (Ait.) Muhl. (saltmeadow cordgrass) frequently inhabits the zone 

 immediately above the upper limit of S. alterniflora in undisturbed 

 intertidal marshes. It is expected that this grass would be suitable for 

 propagation at elevations higher than the S. alterniflora zone. No formal 

 planting experiments were conducted with S. patens but enough plantings 

 have been made during the last three growing seasons to provide some 

 useful observations. 



Where we have compared S. patens with S. alterniflora over an eleva- 

 tion gradient in transplant experiments, there is some overlap in survival 

 at the end of the first growing season. After several years, competition 

 between the two will probably limit them to their respective elevation 

 zones as observed in nature. At Snow's Cut, the transplanted S. patens 

 survived the first growing season down to 1.05 meters above MLW, but the 

 lower limit of vigorous growth was about 1.25 meters. The upper limit of 

 this species is not well-defined, but its growth is depressed on higher 

 and drier sites. Patens was planted over an elevation gradient 

 at Snow's Cut on 27 April 1971; six samples were harvested from below 

 and six from above the mean high water spring tide line on 15 September 

 1971. The yield of aboveground growth of the plants at the higher ele- 

 vation averaged 26.6 grams per plant while those at the lower elevation 

 zone averaged 141.8 grams per plant. Survival of the transplants was 

 very good (93 percent) over the entire elevation gradient. Careful 

 plant selection is important for good survival and growth. The plants 

 should be from a sparse stand; preferably a sandy area where growth is 

 spreading, and divided into clumps of 6 to 12 culms per hill. 



149 



