NURSERY PRACTICE FOR PRAIRIE -PLAINS PLANTING 105 



LIFTING AND FIELD GRADING 



The operation of lifting and field grading requires careful planning 

 and good crew organization if it is to be accomplished with maximum 

 efficiency. 



If the soil is quite dry, it is considered good practice to irrigate the 

 trees from 1 to 3 days in advance to put the soil in best condition for 

 digging and to prevent the stripping of roots that is unavoidable in 

 hard, cloddy soil. Such irrigation is especially necessary on heavy 

 soils; sandy soil is generally reasonably friable and will not break up 

 into large clods even when dry. 



Lifting Practice and Equipment 



Dormant deciduous seedlings may be dug with safety at any time 

 during the fall or spring. In the southern part of the plains, lifting 

 can also be done in the winter. If lifting is delayed until just before 

 planting, the seedling is exposed to less danger than if it is dug earlier 

 and held in storage during the winter months; but on the other hand, 

 digging delayed until spring demands quick work, since deciduous 

 seedlings do not long remain dormant after warm weather sets in. 

 In practice, most deciduous nursery stock is dug during the fall 

 months after the stock has become dormant and shed its leaves. In 

 the northern plains States some stock may be left for spring digging, 

 but in the more southerly States, where planting may be carried on 

 throughout the fall and winter, fall or winter digging is practically 

 mandatory. 



Fall digging is preferable because it allows the seedlings to be 

 graded, counted, and assembled ready for delivery as soon as conditions 

 permit planting. In addition, it clears the land for the next crop, thus 

 permitting ground preparation and fall sowing of certain species. 

 Spring operations can get under way early in the season, resulting in a 

 better distribution of the work load. Since the fall season is short, 

 especially in the northern States, it is good practice to get digging 

 operations under way as early as possible in order to complete the 

 job before freezing weather occurs. Ordinarily, when the nursery is 

 producing a variety of species, it will be possible to start digging soon 

 after the first few frosts, taking first such species as green ash. catalpa, 

 and honeylocust, which shed their leaves readily after having been 

 frosted; following with those seedlings which are practically dormant 

 after the early frosts but retain their leaves for another 10-day or 

 2-week period; and reserving to the last, species like Chinese elm, 

 Russian-olive, chokecherry, and lilac, which retain their leaves tena- 

 ciously until late in the fall. Although not considered a desirable 

 practice, the leaves may be hand-stripped or otherwise removed m 

 order to complete digging before freezing weather stops all work. 

 Removal of leaves can readily be accomplished with an ordinary 

 garden rake the metal parts of which are wrapped with strips of cloth, 

 rubber from inner tubes, or twine to prevent injury to the bark of 

 the seedlings. 



A number of the commercial diggers with U-shaped blades are 

 quite satisfactory for undercutting seedlings. The most desirable is 

 an 18-inch shrub digger on a wheel chassis. The wheel-chassis type 

 has proved more satisfactory than the straight-beam type since the 

 proper depth of undercutting can be more uniformly maintained. 



