insect damage, those that survived grew well. Other plants were left in 

 place in the nursery bed and these multipl ied quite wel I but were not as 

 productive as the transplants. 



In the meantime, Westra (8) undertook a fairly intensive study of seed 

 dormancy in this species which he completed in the spring of 1965. Working 

 only with 1964 seed, he found that these were not very responsive to g i b— 

 berilic acid. We rechecked this in February 1965 with 1963 seed that had 

 been held in cold storage, and found that the 1963 crop was still responsive 

 to gibberilic acid and several thousand more seedlings were grown in the 

 nursery during 1965 following this treatment. 



Westra found 1964 seed to be somewhat responsive to thiourea but 

 obtained the best germination from a pre-c h i I I I ng treatment followed by 

 high or alternating high and low temperatures. 



A fairly laborious, but quite successful, procedure that was tried in 

 1965 involved starting seedlings in the greenhouse and transplanting to the 

 Banks. Gibberilic acid treated seed were planted on February 27, 1965 in 

 sma I I peat pots (2V) in the greenhouse. By May 5, 1965, the seed I ings had 

 emerged and were about 7 inches high. At that time the pots were transported 

 to the Banks and planted in the conventional manner. These plants grew off 

 much more rapidly than seedlings from direct seedings either on the Banks or 

 in the nursery. For example, plants from direct seedings that we have ob- 

 served on the Banks have never developed more than 2 or 3 stems (culms), and 

 usually only I, by the end of the first growing season. These peat-pot 

 plants developed vigorous crowns which contained an average of 13 stems (some 

 as high as 30) per plant by August 18 of the first year. 



While a great deal remains to be done on this problem, present knowledge 

 makes nursery production of planting stock of this species a practical pos- 

 s i bi I ity. Acceptabl e germ i nat ion on most seed lots shou I d be atta i nab I e with 

 one or the other of the alternative treatments available. In most cases pre- 

 liminary trials will be needed to determine the effective treatment for any 

 given lot of seed. It is apparent that dormancy in sea oats is quite vari- 

 able, both between years and between lots of seeds of the same year. Once 

 sea oat seed I i ng plants are avai lable, they can be multipl ied by division 

 as with American beachgrass, although production seems likely to be a good 

 bit slower. 



c. Dune Panic Grass 



This grass is very readily multiplied under nursery conditions. 

 Stands may be established by burying stems and rhizomes in furrows or by 

 broadcasting the material on the surface and covering it by disking. 



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