A Comparison of Cell Grown and Bare-rooted Oak and Beech Seedlings One Season after Outplanting

With the increased availability of cell grown broadleaved plantingstock on the UK market there has been a need to evaluate itsplace in amenity and forestry planting. The results of threeexperiments using oak and beech seedlings grown in three typesof modular cell or as undercut bare-rooted stock are described.Plants were subjected to poor plant handling, planting outsidethe normal season, cold storage and different planting methods. The results demonstrate that, one season after outplanting,cell grown stock was more resistant to poor standards of planthandling, and being planted outside the normal planting season,compared with bare-rooted stock. On the other hand, there wereno significant differences between the stock types due to coldstorage or planting method. The difficulties of conducting trials between stock types arediscussed. The development of a Plant Quality Index which describesthe morphological and physiological features of good plantingstock, and the assessment of complete establishment systemsis advocated as a better approach.