294 Roberts: Compost-Containing Substrates Table 3. Growth of 2-year-old bare-root containerized red maple (Acer rubrum L.) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) seedlings in composted and noncomposted substratesz . Species Red maple Mediay GPT SP CM Sugar maple MM560 MM360 GPT SP CM Height growth (%) 12.2 a 9.0 ab 4.6 ab 3.0 b 5.6 ab 3.2 b 0.6 b 0.6 b MM560 23.2 a MM360 9.8 ab Biomass (g) Leaf 0.85 ab 0.47 b 1.52 a 0.26 b 1.56 a 0.08 b 0.33 ab 0.02 b 0.60 ab 0.64 a Stem 2.06 ab 1.17 b 2.65 a 1.15 b 2.23 ab 1.13ns 0.80 1.20 0.52 0.89 Root 3.58 ab 2.01 bc 4.39 a 1.47 c 2.71 abc 1.74ns 1.96 1.44 1.53 2.17 Total 6.48 ab 3.65 b 8.56 a 2.88 b 6.49 ab 2.95ns 3.18 2.65 2.65 3.70 values in the same column differ significantly when followed by a different letter, LSD0.05; ns not significant. yRefer to text for description of media composition. treatment consisting of three parts native backfill soil to one part yard waste compost (by volume) did not increase height, stem diameter, top dry weight, or root length after 2 years when compared with a treatment of native backfill soil only. In the current study, the compost treatment most closely ap- proximating that used by Kelting et al. was the SP treatment (60% soil:20% compost:20% sand). As already noted, red maple seedlings grown in SP did not show any significant increase in height growth when compared with the other me- dia tested, and there were no significant differences in any of the growth parameters measured between SP and the other soil-containing substrate (GPT) used in these studies (Table 3). For bare-root Acer saccharum, height growth of seedlings in MM560, a soilless compost without any biosolids, was significantly greater than it was in any of the other compost- containing media (GPT, SP, or CM) used in this study (Table 3). Although total biomass of MM560-grown seedlings was not significantly different than it was for any of the other treatments, leaf area was significantly greater than for at least one other compost-containing substrate (CM), and leaf dry weight for maples grown in MM560 was appreciably greater than it was in the other media tested, except for the control. Although no studies could be found in the literature dealing specifically with the effects of soil amendments on posttrans- plant growth of sugar maple, investigators working with other Acer species have reported a variety of responses. Schulte and Whitcomb (1975) found no particular benefit when silver maples (Acer saccharinum L.) were planted in backfill soil amended with bark and peat moss and, as already mentioned, Kelting et al. (1998) found no increase in the growth of bare-root Acer rubrum seedlings planted in native backfill soil amended with composted yard waste. On the other hand, Smalley and Wood (1995) reported increased fibrous root growth in balled-and-burlapped red maples 2 years after ©2006 International Society of Arboriculture planting in backfill amended with topsoil, pine humus, gran- ite sand, crushed granite, expanded shale, and composted poultry litter. The results with 2-year-old bare-root sugar maple seedlings in the current study suggest that there was no particular advantage when seedlings of this species were grown in a variety of compost-containing media for 12 weeks. Acknowledgments. This project was car- ried out with financial support from the TREE Fund’s John Duling research grant program. The author acknowledges sta- tistical advice provided by Bert L. Bishop, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, Ohio. LITERATURE CITED Analytical Software. 2003. Statistix 8 User’s Manual. Talla- hassee, FL. 396 pp. Autio, W.R., D.W. Greene, D.R. Cooley, and J.R. Schupp. 1991. Improving the growth of newly planted apple trees. HortScience 26:840–843. Banko, T.J. 1984. Composted sewage sludge as a soil amend- ment for landscape trees and shrubs. Proceedings of the SNA Research Conference 29:113–117. Beeson, R.C. Jr., and K.G. Keller. 2001. Yard waste compost as a landscape soil amendment for azaleas. Journal of Environmental Horticulture 19:222–225. Brady, N.C., and R.R. Weil. 1999. The Nature and Properties of Soils, 12th edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. 881 pp. Bragg, N.C., and B.J. Chambers. 1988. Interpretation and advisory applications of compost air-filled porosity (AFP) measurements. Acta Horticulturae 221:35–44. R/S 1.39 a 1.30 ab 1.00 cd 1.07 bc 0.73 d 1.98ns 1.98 1.23 1.34 1.86 Leaf area (cm2 ) 145.5 ab 77.6 b 300.0 a 43.7 b 299.2 a 17.5 ab 59.4 a 3.6 b 108.5 a 100.2 a zSeedlings grown for 12 weeks (June to August) in 1 gal plastic containers in the greenhouse under natural daylight. Each value represents the mean of five replications. To standardize the variance, height growth percentages were converted to arcsin transformations before statistical analyses. Within each species,
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