Current issue: 58(5)
This paper reports spot sowing experiments of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The seeds were either covered with coarse sand, tramped in the substrate or sowed without any covering, 30 seeds in each treatment in 70 replications. The site was of Vaccinium type with sandy soil. The germination percentage was 81 and 91 on the respective years. The development of seedlings was observed for 3–4 years.
The results indicate that both tramping and covering the seeds to some extent increased the number of seedlings and improved the early development. The highest numbers of seedlings were recorded in the first growing season, after which there was 23 seedlings/100 seeds in the uncovered spots, 27 seedlings in the covered spots and 31 seedlings in the tramped spots in the experiment sowed in 1965.
Mortality of the seedlings was highest between the first and second growing season, and empty spots increased with the time. There was no difference in mortality between the sowing methods, but the number of seedlings after first growing season affected the result. Under favourable conditions four seedlings per spot seemed enough to secure the survival of minimum one seedling per spot during the three first growing seasons. In poor conditions seven seedlings was needed.
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