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Technique Fokienia hodginsii planting

Than Van Canh Non-Timber Forest Products Research Centre

I. Some General features

Fokienia hodginsii (Dunn) Henry et Thomas belongs to Cupresaceae family with many local names such as Do sam, Do thu, Bach phuc kien (Chinese), Thong dau, Thong hoi, May long lanh, May vac. F. hodginsii wood is fine, durable, straight bole, easily sawn, fine texture and is used in construction, fine art articles manufacture, sculpture, statue carving; Roots branches and tree tops are used for essential oil distillation to make perfume. Being buried deep under the ground or water in some years F. hodginsii wood is not damaged by termites, wood borers.

* Biological characteristics:

F. hodginsii is an evergreen, large timber species with straight bole, pyramidic crown, no buttresses at tree base, 25 – 30m in height and 1 – 2m in diameter. F. hodginsii has a life- span upto hundreds of years. This species has slow growth and in old age, the tree usually has hollow trunk. F. hodginsii roots are shallow without distinct tap root, lateral roots are well developed. The bark is greyish brown in colour and in young stage bark peels in small fragments. In old tree the bark has longitudinal fissures, inner bark pink, aromatic. F. hodginsii leaves are scale-shaped with two forms: vegetative leaf spreads large on both sides, lanceolate; productive leaf small, scale- shaped, almost overlapping, opposite in pairs, middle scale leaf has convex tip, two scale leaves on both sides have obtuse or pointed tip. Upper leaf- surface green with silvery white powder on lower surface, flowers monoecious. Males cones: axillary, ovule or ovate, 1cm long; female cones: terminal, short, globulus when mature. Flowering is in March – April. Fruit ripe in mid Nov. to early Dec. and splitted into many fruit scales. Fruit globulus, about 2.0 – 2.5cm in diameter. Coat of ripe fruit turns from yellowish green to dark brown. Each fruit scale contains 2 seed, seed with thin wing. Each fruit has 12 – 18 seed. Heavy fruit bearing cycle is about 2 – 4 years. 30 – 40 – year-old trees usually yield good seed.

*Ecological characteristics

F. hodginsii is one of the temperate gymnospermous tree species adaptable to moist, warm climatic conditions with average annual temperature of 15 0C, average temperature of coldest month 10 0C and extremely lowest temperature of 0 0C. Annual rainfall is 1,200mm and evenly distributed all the year round. F. hodginsii is suitable to yellowish red soil generated on granite parent rock, varied soil layer depth, low acidity. Being planted in light, clayish soil, rich in organic matter, F. hodginsii grows very well. F. hodginsii usually grows mixed with other species in natural forest such as Quercus sp., Cinnamomum sp. Talauma gioi, Podocarpus imbricatus. F. hodginsii is light demanding at young stage and later requires 0.5 – 0.6 shading.

*Distribution.

F. hodginsii is an endemic, gymnospermous tree species in Southern China, Northern Indochina. F. hodginsii is distributed in 7 provinces of Southern China and in some places in Laos. In Vietnam it is distributed from 13 0N latitude to 23 0N latitude widely spreads over 15 provinces Lai Chau, Son La, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dac Lac to Lam Dong, Ninh Thuan mainly at 950 – 1,200m a.s.l.

II. Planting technique

2.1.Seedling production technique

*Selection of mother trees. Mother trees selected are usually plus trees with good growth and development, are not crooked or attacked by disease and insect. Mother trees are from 30 to 40 years old, D13 = 25 – 35cm, rather heavy fruit bearing, 70% of the seed is full seed. Weight of fruit on a tree is over 30kg.

*Seed collection

-Seed collection season: fruit collection is usually done in Nov. And early Dec. when the fruit coat turns from yellowish green to dark brown. -Method of fruit collection and splitting for seed: F. hodginsii fruits are best collected by hand. After being collected and brought home, the fruit are left to dry in a shaded place and after 7 – 10 days all the seed are splitted from fruit coat (90%). He seed are gathered, sieved to remove empty seed and impurities. The seed are then sown or kept in storage.

*Seed storage: After collection the seed is best sown to attain high germination rate (50%). If the seed is stored in a long time there need be cold storage (9 0C) and germination rate of 30% is ensured. The storage however must not exceed 150 days.

*Sowing season: F. hodginsii seed is best sown in late March to early April. At this time of the year the moisture is high the weather gets warmer, seed germination is easy.

*Land preparation for seed sowing.

The land for seed sowing must be well ploughed and harrowed for good water drainage, the soil is loose, moist; beds are then constructed. The bed is 1m wide, 20cm high and varied in length depending on the site. The space between the 2 beds is 35cm wide. Decomposed farmyard manure mixed with NPK is evenly strewn on the bed surface. Before being sown the seed is treated with benlate 0.05% for fungal control.

*Seed treatment: seed is treated by immersion in warm water (2 volumes of boiling water + 3 volumes of room temperature water) in 4 hours. The seed is then taken out and rinsed with KMnO 4 0.05% to remove the acidity and then again washed with ordinary water, mixed with sand before sowing. Germination rate can be highest (50%). Page 2 of 3

*Seed sowing: seed are sown evenly on the bed surface (0.3kg seed/ 10 2) and then are covered with a thin layer of fine earth, fine sand 0.5cm thick. Watering is done daily to provide moisture for seed germination.

*Tending of seedlings on sowing bed: watering is done daily for seedlings on sowing bed 2 litre/ m 2, water mist spraying or watering with fine rosed-can. When the seed begin germinating, Benlate 0.05% is sprayed once for fungal control. Weeding must be done daily. When the seedlings are 8 – 10cm high their pulling up is done to plant in pots.

*Filling the pots: pots are made of polyetylen tube each having a bottom, 6 holes are made on the pot side for water drainage, pot size is 9 x 13cm. The earth for filling the pots must be porous with fine texture, rich in humus and added with decomposed farmyard manure (30%), NPK (2%) weight of the pot is 250 – 300g. The content of the pot must be well pressed to avoid breaking during transportation. After being prepared the pots must be placed to form a bed 1m wide, 10m long for convenient examination and tending. Before planting the seedlings in the pots, benlate 0.05% is sprayed for fungal control, 10 litres on a 10m 2 bed.

*Pricking the seedlings into the pots. Using a small stick or trowel to make a hole in the middle of the earth pot, insert the seedling neatly without folding its root, pressing with the fingers to make the root firm in the pot. A shading lattice is constructed over the pots of seedling (0.7 – 0.9 shading) and watering is done twice daily to provide sufficient moisture, two pails a bed. When the seedlings are detected to be attacked by fungal disease, fungicide spraying must be done immediately. When the seedlings are 12 – 15cm high the shading is regulated to about 0.5 and when they are 20 – 25cm high the shading is reduced to 0.3. After 18 months, the seedlings are 25cm high, diameter at the base 0.5cm then they are up to the standard for planting in the field, the shading is removed to allow the seedlings familiarized with full sun-light. Success or failure in sowing technique is dictated by shading regulation and fungal disease control.

*Production of ramets from cuttings.

The research subject has successfully applied the research results of the Centre for Forest tree improvement on rooting of F. hodginsii cuttings. In the process of trial some supplementary new techniques were developed to suit concrete conditions. Results of the trial show that the people can produce F. hodginsii ramets to serve well the forest planting: rooted cuttings represent >85% and >70% of the rooted cuttings produce ramets; two months after planting, survival rate attained >90%, the trees grew and developed well.

2.2.Planting technique

Experimental planting was carried out in two main site types:

-In area of secondary depleted forest rehabilitated after slash- and- burn cultivation, forest cover 0.4; vegetation consisting of some regenerated light demanding species: Tong qua su, Castanopsis sp., Tremaangustifolia, mean height >4m, diameter breast high: mean 10 – 15cm. Ground vegetation consists of Saccharum arundinaceum, Miscanthus japonicus... -In open area after lash-and- burn cultivation.

*Planting system:

Suitable planting system is chosen depending on the soil type. In area of depleted secondary forest main planting system is mixed planting in patches, clumps, with existing regenerated trees. These trees are first left to provide shade. In open area, pure planting is done in which there is a formula of mixed planting with agricultural crops in early stage such as with rice.

*Planting density: Mainly 1,100 trees/ ha (3 x 3m);

*Planting season: July – August;

*Vegetation treatment: clearing of climbers, bushes in planting area.

*Digging of planting holes: Holes are dug 1 month before planting, size of the hole: 40 x 40 x 40cm.

*Filling the planting holes and weeding around the holes 2 weeks after digging. *Planting: taking out the earth in the hole and place the seedling in, filling the hole and tightly press the earth around the seedling base.

*Tending. Tending is carried out 3 times a year by cutting the weed and upturning and breaking the earth around tree base, 0.4 – 0.5m from tree base. NPK application is combined with tending, 0.2kg/ tree. Regular protection of the trees and insect pest and disease control is practised.

In the research subject implementation process, measurements of the growth of F. hodginsii trees in various sites are as follows: Experimental formulae all give high survival rates (>85%) and highest in open area with combined rice cultivation 92%. Growth indices 2 years after planting

Formulae Hvn(cm) Growth performance D00 (mm)

PM1 34,5 200,3 Good PM2 25,9 141,4 Average PM3 61,3 225,3 Good

Note: H vn = Total tree height

The above data show that formula PM3 gives best growth in the early years. Through comparison of statistical indices it is found that there is an obvious variation in growth indices at reliability of 95%. This means growth of planted F. hodginsii trees is best in open land with combined agricultural crops cultivation in the early years.

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