1. Field Performance of Nutrient Loaded Red Oak and White Oak Seedlings on Mine Lands in Southern Indiana By K. Francis Salifu Douglass F. Jacobs and Zonda Birge

2. What to Expect  Poor seedling quality, severe competition and low site fertility are key factors that may limit restoration success on mine sites  Nursery fertilization can be used to produce high quality seedlings to improve restoration success  Discuss how nursery treatments affect seedling field performance on a mine site in Indiana

3. Nutrient Loading Building nutrient reserves in seedlings during nursery culture to promote retranslocation and growth when out- planted in the field

4. Simplified N Cycle in Forest N2N2N2N2 Organic N M= Mineralization I= Immobilization INTERNAL EXTERNAL Le NH 4 + NO 3 - NO 2 - Fertilizer Litter N fixation I M Nitrification Denitrification U

5. Annual N Demand Met by Retranslocation Tree species N retranslocation (%) (Turner 1975; Miller 1984; Lim and Cousens 1986; Salifu and Timmer 2003)

6. Exponential vs. Conventional Fertilization Weekly application N applied (mg/seedling) (Ingestad & Lund 1986; Timmer 1997)

7. How Much Fertilizer Do Plants Need? Dry mass or N concentration Nutrient supply Seedling N content Biomass Nutrient content n f l Sufficiency Toxicity Luxury consumption Deficiency Nutrient loading Nutrient concentration e Optimum (Timmer 1997)

8. Fertilization Schedule (g N per plant)

9. Bareroot Production Week 4 0-3.4 g N plant -1 White oak Red oak

10. Week 18 Red oak

11. Growth and N Storage White oak Red oak Birge et al. 2006 End of Nursery Phase

12. Field Trial

13. Methods Evaluated: Deer Fence Species at 2 levels Nursery fertility at 10 levels Design = Split-plot design Replications = 5 blocks Blocks separated by 2m buffers Trees Planted at 1m within rows and 2m between rows

14. Schematic of Field Study N ROWO B1B2B3B4B5 Species NurseryFertility 5 9 1410329768 23410815 6 7 21m 42m

15. 2500 trees on 5 ha Planted 2004

16. Field Sampling  At Planting  Basal diameter  Height  Nutritional analysis  Year-1  Basal diameter  Height  Survival  Nutritional analysis  Year-2  Basal diameter  Height  Survival

17. Field Survival Percentage survival Nursery Treatments Red Oak White Oak **

18. Field Survival vs. Conser. Plantings Percentage survival Jacobs et al. 2004 Plantings /Species

19. Red Oak Height Height (cm) Nursery Treatments * * *

20. Red Oak Diameter Diameter (mm) Nursery Treatments * * *

21. Nursery Fertility Treatments White Oak Seedling Response: N Status N content (mg component -1 ) Pre-Plant Year-One Conventional vs. Exponential regimes

22. Conclusions  Nutrient loading improved seedling field performance on mine sites  The nutrient loading model is a useful tool for quantifying fertility targets, and may help improve nutrient diagnosis in tree seedling culture  Vallonia nursery and ArborAmerica have adapted the proposed protocol

23. Future Directions  Rigorously test nutrient loading using balanced fertilizers and with more species  Weekly applications could benefit production systems  Increases uptake efficiency and minimizes leaching losses  Controlled-release fertilization at outplanting  Weed control measures

24. Acknowledgements  USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry  van Eck Forestry Foundation  HTIRC at Purdue University  IN-DNR Division of Reclamation  Ron Overton, Area Regeneration Specialist, USDA Forest Service  Don Carlson, Extension Forester, HTIRC, Purdue University  Jim Wichman, Nursery Manager, IN-DNR Vallonia and Jasper Pulaski State Nurseries  Jim McKenna, Operation Breeder, HTIRC, Purdue University

25. Thank You! QUESTIONS?