Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 44(4): July 2018 Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 2018. 44(4):165–173 165 Container Type Affects Root Development of Chanticleer® Pear (Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’) During Landscape Establishment Alison Stoven O’Connor, James E. Klett, and Anthony J. Koski Abstract. While there are many advantages to producing woody plants in the industry-standard black plastic (BP) container, circling and girdling roots on plants grown in them may reduce transplant success, predispose plants to stress, shorten life span in the landscape, and increase the potential for the development of hazard trees. Plants grown in fabric containers may have fewer circling and girdling roots, possibly eliminating transplant problems sometimes seen with plants grown in BP containers. This study evaluated post-transplant root and shoot growth of Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’ (Chanticleer®) produced using three container types: black plastic, Root Pouch® (RP) and Smart Pot® (SP). Researchers found no container effects on aboveground growth one, two, and three years following transplant into the landscape. All trees doubled their root dry weight annually over the three-year study. No container effects were found for any measured root parameters one year aſter planting. However, two and three years following planting, trees grown in RP and SP con- tainers showed greater total root growth beyond the original root ball than BP-grown trees. Three years aſter planting, 72% of all root growth of trees grown in BP containers was within the original root ball, while more than one-third of all roots of RP- and SP-grown trees were found outside of the original root ball. Researchers believe that fabric containers should be considered as alternatives to BP containers because they may enhance root growth of transplanted trees and reduce the formation of future circling and girdling roots. Key Words. Black Plastic Container; Circling Roots; Deciduous Tree; Fabric Containers; Girdling Roots; Landscape Establishment; Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’ (Chanticleer®); Root Pouch®; Smart Pot®; Transplanting. Container tree production is a popular way to grow ornamental trees and is more commonly used than field production in many parts of the United States. A national survey by the United States Department of Agriculture found that nursery crop sales in 2007 topped USD $6.5 bil- lion (USDA 2007). Aboveground container nurs- ery production makes up more than 75% of total nursery crop value in 17 of the top nursery pro- ducing states in the United States (USDA 2008); it’s estimated that 80%–90% of woody plants pro- duced in California, Florida, and Texas are grown in containers (Davidson et al. 2000). There are many advantages to producing woody plants in containers, including ease of handling at the nurs- ery, uniformity in plant growth, ease of shipping, consumer appeal, ability to produce more plants on less land, shorter production cycles, production of a plant with an intact root ball, and a longer sea- sonal market for plant material, since field-grown plants have a narrow window when they can be harvested and shipped (Harris and Gilman 1991; Gilman and Beeson 1996; Davidson et al. 2000; Whitcomb 2004). Studies comparing field-grown to container-grown trees found better transplant success with those produced in containers if irri- gation wasn’t a limiting factor following planting (Harris and Gilman 1991; Harris and Gilman 1993; Gilman and Beeson 1996; Mathers et al. 2005). The industry standard for container produc- tion is the black plastic (BP) container. Although lightweight, durable, efficient, and cost-effective, there are numerous disadvantages to using the BP container for nursery production. Circling and/ or malformed roots, a common problem with plants grown in plastic containers, can nega- tively impact plant health and/or stability fol- lowing planting in the landscape (Nichols and ©2018 International Society of Arboriculture
July 2018
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