Storage in snow has proven successful and convenient for most planting projects in 

 the Intermountain Region (Curtis and Coonrod 1961). The trees, still packed in nursery 

 bundles, are buried in snow; sometimes snow is collected and placed in small sheds con- 

 structed for tree storage at a central location such as a Ranger station, but more 

 often snowbanks along roads at higher elevations than the planting site are used. Each 

 day enough trees for the day's planting are transported to the planting site and kept 

 in snow inside a tent. The trees are sorted, graded, and placed in planting bags inside 

 a tent. This procedure minimizes the exposure of planting stock to drying from heat 

 and wind before it is planted. 



Field planting . --Shallow soils make planting difficult because some soil must be 

 removed in preparing the site, and too little may remain. If the site is prepared by 

 stripping, plowing, or furrowing with tractors, 18 inches or more of soil may be dis- 

 placed. On steep slopes where manual labor replaces machines in the site preparation 

 and planting process, the 8- to 12-inch roots of the planting stock require at least 

 18 inches of soil to survive and grow. Therefore, it is inadvisable to plant sites 

 having less than 24 inches of soil. 



Ponderosa pine plantings have been attempted in both spring and fall. Earlier 

 research suggested that early spring was generally the best season for planting in this 

 region (Schopmeyer 1940). In recent years, however, both fall and spring plantings 

 have been successful under certain circumstances. Fall planting has been recommended 

 for high elevation sites where the trees are protected by an early snow cover. Deep 

 snow also makes these sites inaccessible during the early spring planting season. 

 Ponderosa pine is most often planted on low elevation sites, however. These are 

 accessible in early spring and do not receive a protective snow cover until late in the 

 fall. Therefore, ponderosa pine is usually planted as early as possible in the spring. 



Several different hand planting tools have been used, including shovels, mattocks, 

 planting bars, modified one-hand mattocks, and backpack power-driven augers. These 

 tools have given satisfactory survival when good stock was planted on well-prepared 

 sites and the recommended planting technique was carefully followed. The kind of soil 

 and its stoniness, steepness of slope, kind and amount of site preparation required, 

 and custom all influence choice of planting tool. Detailed descriptions of the precise 

 technique for each tool are available in textbooks and manuals (Tourney and Korstian 

 1942; Lynch 1952; Corson and Powells 1952). With any method, a little extra care in 

 planting can easily increase survival 10 to 20 percent (Cushman and Weidman 1937). 



In Intermountain forests, planting on contour strips is common. In this method, 

 an influential factor is the spacing pattern of trees on the strips, which may be 

 30 feet or more apart on slopes up to 60 percent. The usual practice is to plant two 

 rows of trees about 3 feet apart on the strip, with 8-foot spacing of trees in staggered 

 rows. There is danger that trees in this spacing pattern may grow much like open-grown 

 trees, at least on one side, thus reducing wood quality. Group plantings on the strips 

 can possibly improve the quality of at least some trees, which could be favored as crop 

 trees. The effects of different spacing patterns on growth and yield and quality of 

 trees planted on bulldozed contour strips need further study. 



Where the ground is prepared by terracing, some soil is displaced from the inside 

 of the terrace to the outside, thus creating a range of soil conditions across the 

 terrace. Trees can be planted on the inside of the terrace near the cutbank, in the 

 middle of the prepared surface, or on the outside in the fill soils. Nursery stock 

 and potted seedlings were planted in three rows on the inside, middle, and outside of 

 terraces in central Idaho to determine the most favorable position (Curtis and Foiles 

 1964). Survival of trees was significantly highest on the inside of the terrace, 

 intermediate on the middle, and lowest on the outside of the terrace where the loose 

 fill soil dried rapidly. 



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