This study was carried out in 1966 in the nursery at Hyytiälä, Korkeakoski Forest District, in Southern Finland. The influence of lifting date (two liftings), way of packing (two methods) and length of storage (one, three and six weeks) on the development of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), 2 + 1, during the four years following planting was assessed. On the seedlings stored for six weeks, the influence of compensating for the water deficit was also studied.
According to the results, the lifting carried out later, i.e. when the seedlings had already started growth, gave slightly better results than when seedlings were lifted earlier. No difference could be observed for seedlings stored for one week, but for the seedlings stored for three or six weeks, mortality in the lot lifted earlier was 6- to 7-fold that of the seedlings lifted later. The main reason for this was probably that the seedlings of the earlier lifting suffered from lack of water at the time of lifting.
The growth of the seedlings lifted earlier and stored for three weeks showed a decrease compared to those lifted later. For the seedlings stored for six weeks, on the other hand, faster growth was recorded for both the seedlings of the earlier and the later lifting in comparison with those stored for shorter times. Watering increased to some extent the growth of the seedlings stored for six weeks.
During the normal, one- and three-week storing periods, seedlings were well preserved when packed both in bundles and in polythene sacks. Three years after the planting the average mortality was about 10%. Effect of watering was large for those seedlings that had been longer in the storage.
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