48 Sydnor et al.: Contrasting Ohio Nursery Stock Availability with Community Planting Needs plantings would be useful. The objective of this study was to identify differences between what was requested by urban forest- ers and what nurseries offer for sale and to provide a means for a community forester to begin a dialog with potential suppliers to provide less commonly grown trees for use on community streets. MATERIALS AND METHODS In February 2008, fifty-nine e-mail surveys were sent to all of Ohio’s urban foresters on the Ohio Division of Forestry’s com- munity urban forester mailing list. The survey instrument was similar to those used in previous years (Sydnor 1996; Syd- nor et al. 2000; Sydnor 2008). Responses could be returned by e-mail, FAX, or postage mail. A follow-up survey mail- ing was not conducted. A total of twenty-two responses were returned for a 39% response rate. Responses were received from all areas of the state and all community size classes. Urban foresters were asked to identify, from a predetermined list on the survey form, how many trees of a species were planted in 2005 and how many plants of the same species were expected to be planted in 2010. The original list contained more than 200 species of trees that might be planted on Ohio streets. Of the plants listed on the survey form, responses were given for 183 taxa. Plants re- quested one or more times for either 2005 or 2010 were identified for comparison with the nursery stock survey. Plants not request- ed by urban foresters but grown by Ohio nursery producers were not evaluated. Respondents were asked for contact information in case follow-up questions were needed. Appendix 1 shows an abbreviated survey instrument with the first five lines presented. In March 2008, permission was obtained to access the online version of the Ohio Nursery Stock Survey (Anonymous 2008). Table 1 gives an example of a portion of a stock survey entry. Nursery stock entries are reported by taxa, grower, plant size, production method (container or field), and quantity. Individual records were created for each nursery, 5 cm (2 in) size, produc- tion method, and taxa, with an associated quantity code. Quan- tity codes in the nursery stock survey represented ranges, such as 50–100 plants. The range mid-point, 75 in this example, was en- tered into the resulting database for further exploration. Family, genera and species codes were assigned by the investigators. All cultivars, size, production technique, and quantity counts were combined into a single species count. Information on grower was not carried into the evaluation. Counts thus represented the totals of all growers with 5 cm trees of a single genus and species (in- cluding all cultivars). There were a total of 277,856 trees listed for sale from the Ohio Nursery Stock Survey for 2008 in the 5 cm size class (as described in the next section, this was the plant size most commonly purchased by responding urban foresters). There were 9,279 trees planted in 2005 in the respondents’ 22 communities, and 15,333 requests for trees anticipated for plant- ed during 2010. It was decided to normalize the data such that comparisons could be made between years and sources. Thus, in 2005, responding urban foresters planted 9,279 of the 277,856 trees available in Ohio nurseries (3.339% of the trees available). By multiplying the number of trees of a given species available in nurseries by 0.03339 (3.339%), one obtains the number of trees available to communities for planting. Then by subtracting the number planted in 2005 from the number available in nurseries, one gets a measure of the difference between available trees rela- tive to planting needs. A positive number for a given family or ©2010 International Society of Arboriculture species suggests an excess of trees in nurseries, while negative numbers indicate a shortage of plants available for communities from nurseries. Similarly, in 2010, there were 15,333 requests an- ticipated by responding urban foresters. The 277,856 trees listed for sale in the 2008 Ohio Nursery Stock Survey were again used as the nursery stock base. If one divides the 15,333 forester re- quests by 277,856 (trees available), one finds that 5.518% of Ohio nursery output will be requested by these communities for 2010. Table 1. An example of an Ohio Nursery Stock Survey entry for a given species. Grower codes are listed in the first col- umn, and sizes in the remaining columns. Quantity codes for each grower are noted under the size headings with nu- meric codes given for container plants and alpha codes for B&B stock. Hedge Maple (Tree Form) Acer campestre Grower NP SL 1" 1.5" 2"z AFI DKR DTF KLY 1 2.5" 3" 4"+ B A A A A A 2 2 B B B B A C B B A z Column contains the data used to generate nursery availability. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The survey of urban foresters showed that trees were normally purchased as 5 cm plants. Thus it was this size of plant for which quantities were recorded from the Nursery Stock Survey. Results contrasting nursery stock availability with urban foresters’ planting requests for 2005 and 2010 are reported at the family and species levels. After a review of the data, a cut-off of plus or minus 70 trees was selected for brevity of presentation in the species table (Table 2). As shown in Appendix 2, several species were somewhat bal- anced in terms of urban foresters’ requests and nursery production. Family Level The rose family had the greatest excess with 628 more plants available to communities than were requested in 2005 and with nearly 2,282 more available for 2010 (Table 3). Plants in the rose family are generally smaller flowering trees, such as crabapples and medium-sized Callery pears. Crabapples are often planted beneath utility lines and both crabapples and Callery pears are frequently planted in sidewalk cuts or smaller tree lawns. This will likely continue as crabapples and pears are among the only flowering trees capable of withstanding the environmen- tal stress found in these planting sites. This also likely reflects the heavy demand for flowering trees in landscape applications. Whereas species from the rose family are smaller trees with reduced environmental benefits, maples are generally used as canopy trees. Most of the environmental benefits of trees in urban areas accrue to larger trees (Sydnor and Subburayalu 2008a); as a result, communities are often planting larger trees where the site allows. Toward this end, maple availability in Ohio nurseries exceeded what urban foresters wanted both in 2005 and 2010, by 536 and 1,178 plants, respectively. Maples have become popular street trees for a variety of reasons, including ease of clonal prop- agation, ease of transplant, shade, often vivid fall color, and mar- keting efforts by nursery suppliers. Further analysis in many cit- ies, however, suggest canopy-sized maples are currently present
January 2010
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