NURSERY PRACTICE FOR PRAIRIE-PLAIXS PLANTING 



87 



Should it become necessary to irrigate during germination, the 

 minimum amount of water needed to soak up the seed area should be 

 applied. To avoid washing out the seed, the water should be applied 

 immediately adjacent to the rows rather than flooded over them. 

 The formation of pools and standing water in slight depressions should 

 be avoided. It is helpful to have the rows ridged to mark their loca- 

 tion and to prevent washing out of the seed. 



Thinning 



If the stand following germination and early establishment is 

 overdense, i. e., more than 8 to 12 seedlings per foot, it is good practice 

 to remove the surplus seedlings. This will insure optimum develop- 

 ment of the remaining seedlings and will in the end result in a higher 

 total production of better quality stock. 



Thinning should logically be done during one of the early weedings, 

 or as soon as the seedlings have started to develop a woody stem. 

 Prior to becoming woody, the seedlings are still susceptible to heavy 

 losses from diseases and insects. 



Insofar as possible, the smaller, weaker understory seedlings should 

 be removed. The com- 

 mon method of reduc- 

 ing the stand density 

 consists in pulling out 

 the surplus seedlings 

 by hand or cutting 

 them out with knives 

 or weeders. It is de- 

 sirable to leave the 

 remaining seedlings 

 uniformly distributed 

 over the entire seed- 

 ling band. 



Controlling Size and 

 Quality of Seedlings 



After the seedling 

 stand is established, 

 the nurseryman's task 

 is to focus his cultural 

 activities on obtaining 

 a large percentage of 

 seedlings of optimum 

 size and quality for 

 field planting by the 

 end of the season, or. 

 for those species that 

 require it, at the end of 

 the second season (fig. 

 28) . As previously 

 stated, the preferred 

 size of seedlings for 

 plains planting for the 

 majority of the species 

 is a caliper of about 



Figure 28- Undersized 1-year-old seedlings from a 



South Dakota nursery: A, Green ash; B, lilac; C, 

 Siberian pea-tree. These species should be grown 

 1 '_• to 2 years in the nursery in the northern plains 

 States to develop to premium size. 



