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Landscape Tree Field Production
Starting with Liners
Nurseries that sell landscape sized B&B and containerized trees typically buy bare root ‘liners’ from other nurseries specializing in liner production. For most northern states, the most common source of liners is the Pacific Northwest where they can be produced rapidly and inexpensively in the field. |
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In warm climates, such as the southern US, tree liners are often produced in containers. Typically, the stems are not cut back in this production method, as they are in field-produced liners. |
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Field Nursery Practices and Deep Roots
Soil cultivation in the nursery fields can affect root depth in two ways. Frequent cultivation will usually keep roots from developing in the first couple of inches of soil. Unlike the forest where the soil is protected from drying by leaf litter ‘mulch’, the frequent drying of this bare soil between rainfall events or irrigation cycles also discourages root development at the surface. |
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Cultivation practices can also mound soil around the base
of trees. If not removed before harvesting, it will add soil
to the root ball above the structural roots.
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Planting liners too deep has been a major reason for deep structural
roots, though the situation is improving rapidly. Some growers
would purposely plant the liners too deep in order to reduce
the need for staking, to control sprouts from rootstock,
to protect the bud union, and hide the crook in the stem
from the grafting and cutback process. |
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Growers may have assumed that new adventitious roots
would form on the root shank above the adventitious root
flare. Only a few species will do this. Usually those adapted
to floodplains where the soil level is periodically raised
by added silt. They may have simply been unaware that this
could be a problem since the trees would grow well in their
high quality nursery soils. |
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Containerizing Liners
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