Studies on Container Seedlings Cultural Techniques of Three Native Broad-leaved Tree Species

This paper dealt with the studies on how the media mixture and the containers size affect seedling quality of three native broad-leaved species of Cinnamomum camphora, Manglietia yuyuanensis and Liriodendron chinense. The results indicated that media type and mixture produced a great impact on the growth of container seedlings of various species. There was great interaction between species and media. The container seedlings in the media of peat as main material grew more quickly. However, the container seedlings in the media of sawdust as main material grew more slowly. The pure peat has many advantages, but it should not be used widely in production because of higher price and unfavorable effect of saturated water content on the root growth after watering. The test showed that the best medium mixture ratio of peat, burnt-soil, yellow soil and calcium magnesium phosphate was 39∶40∶20∶1. If sawdust is used as medium, the sawdust mixture ratio of medium should be reduced and controlled below 20%. To counter biological characteristics of tree species and applicable medium mixture, the size of container seedlings should be made in order to achieve afforestation in the rainy season in the south of Yangtze River area. The studies showed that the fistular container seedlings may be adopted, but the prior condition is to make sure afforestation in rainy season in time, or the bigger size of cuppy container should be used.