Damage by small mammals and local erosion 

 accounted for the deaths of several seedlings. 



Natural sprouting of planted seedlings oc- 

 curred following dieback. Twenty-two percent 

 of all live trees measured in 1976 originated 

 from natural sprouts following dieback. Ninety 

 percent of all seedlings coppiced in 1966 

 sprouted successfully. Although their average 

 height had almost caught up to that of the uncut 

 seedlings after only two growing seasons, they 

 were still the shorter trees. Their competitive 

 status relative to surrounding trees was not im- 

 proved. Therefore, the primary effect of cop- 

 picing was to delay mortality due to suppression 

 over the short run only. It did not significantly 

 reduce mortality or increase height gi*owth dur- 

 ing the length of the experiment. Because of the 



amount of natural sprouting that occurred, in- 

 clusion of the coppiced seedlings in table 1 does 

 not distort the results to any major degree. 



Red oak. — Site apparently did not have 

 much effect on the survival or height growth of 

 the red oak seedlings (tables 1 and 2). Growth, 

 mortality, and crown class of the seedlings were 

 similar on all four blocks. 



Forty-nine percent of the red oak seedlings on 

 all four blocks survived the 13 growing seasons. 

 However, the average height was only 16.0 feet 

 (4.88 m), and the average diameter^ was only 1.2 

 inches (3.0 cm). Most of the remaining red oaks 

 are now well below the main crown canopy and 



'Quadratic mean, breast height. The diameter of a tree of 

 average basal area. 



Table 1. — Survival and average height of trees, in feet, 13 growing seasons after planting, 



by treatment, species, and site 



Check Mulch Rake Spray Average 



class 



Survival ^ 



Average b 

 height 



Survival 



Average Survival V^'tf 

 height height 



Survival 



Average 

 height 



Survival 



Average 

 height 





Pet. 



Ft. 



Pet. 



Ft. Pet. Ft. 



Pet. 



Ft. 



Pet. 



Ft. 











NORTHERN RED OAK 











Good 



38 



13.1 



63 



17.9 50 15.6 



63 



15.5 



53 



15.8 



Medium 



44 



16.7 



56 



16.8 50 16.5 



31 



14.6 



45 



16.3 











BLACK WALNUT 











Good 



38 



16.0 



56 



26.3 75 25.1 



75 



23.7 



61 



23.5 



Medium 



13 



13.1 



13 



15.9 6 12.3 



13 



13.9 



11 



14.0 



^ There were 16 original seedlings planted in each species x site x treatment category, 

 b Height in meters = 0.3048 x height in feet. 



Table 2.— Crown class distribution of surviving trees, 13 growing seasons after planting, 



by species and site, all treatments combined 



Site 

 class 



Original number 

 of seedlings 



Dominant/ 

 codominant 



Intermediate 



Suppressed 



Total, all 

 crown classes 



. , Average 

 Survival height a 



„ . , Average ^ . , Average , Average 



Survival height Survival height Survival height 





No. 



No. 



Ft. No. Ft. 



No. 



Ft. 



No. 



Ft. 









NORTHERN RED OAK 











Good 



64 



2 



27.9 8 21.8 



24 



12.8 



34 



15.8 



Medium 



64 



9 



21.5 8 16.5 



12 



12.4 



29 



16.3 









BLACK WALNUT 











Good 



64 



25 



29.3 3 20.2 



11 



11.4 



39 



23.5 



Medium 



64 



1 



20.6 1 11.1 



5 



13.2 





14.0 



^ Average height in meters 



= 0.3048 x height in feet. 











