10 MISC. PUBLICATION 99 2, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



root system grows from the shoot, the part of a seedling that is above 

 the seed. 



On a compressed pellet seeding in southern Idaho, Moomaw et at. 

 (1954) observed about 25 percent of the first-year seedlings to be 

 "lying loosely on the soil surface and attached by only two or three 

 roots." Though these plants had many tillers, they had as much as 6 

 inches of root exposed. Only 5 percent of the loosely attached seed- 

 lings survived into the second growing season as compared with 50- 

 percent survival for normally rooted seedlings. 



In another test in Idaho compressed earthen pellets, coated seed 

 pellets, and nonpelleted seed were broadcast on small plots on a clean 

 sagebrush burn. On all plots 30 to 35 percent of the seedlings that i 

 lived into their first summer had about one-fourth inch of their 

 single primary roots exposed. They lay on their sides and rolled 

 about in the wind. Of the original poor stands, only 4 to 8 percent 

 were alive at the end of the growing season. 7 In both of these tests, 

 germination of seeds on the soil surface resulted in plants with little 

 chance of developing good root systems. 



The materials used in pelleting have sometimes included various 

 kinds and amounts of fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, rodent re 

 pellants, growth hormones, and other additives to stimulate seed 

 germination and seedling growth (Silen, 1948; Rudolf, 1949; Gath- 

 erum, 1951; Moomaw et al., 1954). Gatherum (1951) and others 

 found no increase in germination or seedling vigor as the result of 

 various additives. One rodent repellant, dry lime-sulfur, did not 

 deter rodents from breaking open compressed earthen pellets and 

 consuming the seeds (Wagner, 1949). 



SEEDINGS WITH COMPRESSED EARTHEN PELLETS 



Large-scale seedings with compressed earthen pellets and with non- 

 pelleted seed were made in Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Wyoming, 

 Nevada, and Utah, from 1946 to 1961 (table 2). Experimental field 

 seedings were made with different methods of seedbed preparation 

 on many types of vegetation. Most of the experimental seedings 

 were in connection with large-scale seedings and are discussed with 

 them. 



Papago Indian Reservation, Arizona 



The first large-scale airplane seeding of rangeland with compressed 

 earthen pellets was made at the San Vincente Ranch, on the Papago 

 Indian Reservation in Arizona. It was on desert-shrub type of 

 vegetation at an elevation of 2,800 to 3,400 feet. 



7 Unpublished data from the Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment 

 Station, Ogden, Utah. 



