| Nursery Practices |
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In our nursery soil management practices we have gone into an intensive use of organic amendments. We have used a primary clarifier reject fiber from the Packaging Corporation wastewater treatment plant at Tomahawk,Wisconsin. The organic material was applied at a rate of 400-500 cubic yards per acre to 11 acres of nursery in the last 4 years. Increased organic matter in soil will increase efficiency of water and fertilizer use. It will reduce the risk of disease and enhance mycorrhizea formation. Probably the largest benefit will come from improved stock quality. We have a program of Exponential Nutrient Loading of seedlings to improve outplanting performance on competitive forest sites. Nutrient loaded seedlings are more competitive with weed competition, exhibrating 44 percent more height growth and 37 percent more biomass than conventially fertilized seedlings planted in a weedy environment. Lower shoot root ratio, higher root nutrient reserves, and improved stomatal control in water loss in seedlings produced by exponential fertilization under limited irrigation contributed to better drought and nutritional conditioning for out-planting performance. With our quality seed and cultivar cuttings, nursery knowledge, and improved nursery practices our goal is to produce the best bare-root tree possible at a reasonable price for our customer. |