(2) Transplants . Vegetative transplants may be obtained by- 

 thinning natural stands and from plants grown in intertidal nurseries 

 or they may be produced under controlled or semicontrolled conditions 

 by growing seedlings in peat pots. 



(a) Field collected plants are satisfactory and often 

 adequate for small-scale plantings. These should come from uncrowded 

 stands. This usually means stands of recent origin. Plants are ob- 

 tained by loosening individual clumps with a shovel, small back-hoe, 

 or plow, and lifting and separating into individual transplants. 

 Choice transplants consist of large, single stems (culms) with small 

 shoots and short pieces of rhizomes left attached or discarded (Fig, 

 25). Digging and processing of planting stock from old, dense marshes 

 is difficult and usually yields small, poor quality plants. Where 

 planting stock must be obtained from such stands, it is usually pref- 

 erable to resort to plugs or cores as these small single stems are not 

 satisfactory as transplants (Woodhouse, Seneca, and Broome, 1974). 

 Heavy harvest of single-culm plants initially appears to be devastat- 

 ing to the stand. However, the effect is very short-lived, particu- 

 larly in open, vigorous stands on sandy substrates; remaining rhizomes 

 and shoots soon repopulate the area, usually in the same growing 

 season. It is difficult to harvest such sites close enough to prevent 

 overcrowding and the reduction in suitability of the planting stock in 

 succeeding years. 



Due to the rapid recovery of vigorous new stands, the harvesting 

 of planting stock from year-old plantings for marsh building is often 

 feasible. Such stands yield excellent quality transplants at low cost 

 with only a slight delay in the process of marsh development. 



(b) Field nurseries are relatively easy and economical 

 to establish if suitable sites are available. An ideal site is a bare, 

 smooth intertidal slope of sandy material along a relatively protected 

 shore. The initial stand may be established by seeding or transplant- 

 ing single stems. Seeding rate should be low and transplants spaced 

 at least 1.5 meters apart. Row planting would facilitate mechanization 

 of harvest operations. Diked pond sites, constructed of dredged mater- 

 ials, make excellent nursery sites if provided with a suitable water 

 supply. Field nurseries are planted in the spring and planting stock 

 is available for harvest the following late winter, spring, and summer. 

 Although this method has not been widely used, it has potential in many 

 areas under periodic dredging operation. Dredged material can be depos- 

 ited to form an intertidal slope, planted with seeds or transplants in 

 the spring, harvested for planting stock the following winter, spring, 

 and summer, and remain thereafter as an addition to the marshlands of 

 the area. Alternatively, it could be reactivated as a nursery in later 

 years by covering the surface with a thin layer of sandy dredged mate* 



58 



