1 ,rest service 45A4b Paper RM-78 SCOTS PINE IN EASTERN NEBRASKAm lountain Forest and Range txperiment Station A PROVENANCE STUDY Forest Service by Ralph A. Read U. S. Department of Agriculture Fort Collins, Colorado This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain. ABSTRACT Seedling progenies of 36 rangewide provenances of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) were established in a field test in eastern Ne- braska. Results in growth and other characteristics after 8 years reveal that (1) southern origins bordering the Mediterranean grow slowly to moderately fast and remain dark green in winter, (2) central European origins grow very fast and turn yellowish green in winter, (3) northern origins grow slowly and turn very yellow in winter. Southern origins are therefore recommended for Christ- mas trees; fast growing central European origins are recommended for windbreaks; and the northern origins recommended as special- purpose ornamentals. Key words: Pinus ~ylvestris,provenances, growth, Christmas trees, windbreaks, ornamentals. - USDA Forest Service December 1971 Research Paper RM-78 Scots Pine in Eastern Nebraska: A Provenance Study Ralph A. Read, Principal Si lvicul turist Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment ~tation l lCentra1 headquarters maintained at Fort Coll ins, in cooperation with Colorado State University ; research reported here was conducted at Lincoln, in cooperation with the University of Nebraska. PREFACE The provenance study described in this Paper is one of a dozen experimental plantations of various tree species established on the Horning State Farm near Plattsmouth, Nebraska, which is administered by the Department of Horticulture and Forestry of the University of Nebraska. The USDA Forest Service, through its Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station work unit at Lincoln, cooperates with the Nebraska Agricultural Experi- ment Station on this research. The purpose of this work is to find and develop better adapted genetic tree materials for use in all kinds of plantings, environ- mental and commercial, throughout Nebraska and the Central Plains. These provenance studies of different species provide basic materials of known origin for evaluation of adaptability, for study of genetic variation, and for selection, propagation, and breeding for resistance to disease and insect pests. The diversity of tree planting materials under study at this and many other locations in the Plains was made possible through cooperation in a Regional Tree Improvement Project (NC-99, for- merly NC-51) of the North Central State Agricultural Experiment Stations. Credits are due Jonathan W. Wright, Professor of Forestry, Michigan State University, for initiating the Regional study and providing the planting stock, and to Walter T. Bagley, Associate Professor of Horticulture and Forestry, University of Nebraska, for cooperation in planting and maintenance of the plantation. Con tents Page Past Work .................. 1 Materials and Methods .............. 4 Res ults 4 Height Growth ................ 4 Spring Growth ................ 8 Needle Color and Length ........... 9 Floweri ng Patterns .............. 9 Application of Results .............. 9 Literature Cited ................13 Scots Pine in Eastern Nebraska: A Provenance Study Ralph A. Read Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) has become beetles. Generally, however, the full value an important exotic in the United States in the of Scots pine as a tree for the Plains has been last 20 years because of its greatly increased overlooked, because performance has been use for Christmas trees. It has been planted in judged on relatively few and mostly unknown this country since colonial times, but until seed origins. recently has seen limited use in the Eastern A cooperative Regional Tree Improvement Great Plains. More people are growing Christ- Project (NC-51) of the North Central State mas trees on a commercial basis in the Plains Agricultural Experiment Stations made it pos- States now, and conifers are being used more sible to test, for the first time, a wide range generally for landscaping along highways, of Scots pine origins for adaptability and growth around rural and urban homes, and for in Nebraska. This Paper reports the results windbreaks. of that field study 8 years after it was estab- This increase in demand has brought up lished in 1959 in eastern Nebraska. questions concerning the origin of seed sources, especially of planting stock to be used for Christmas trees. Experiences with planting stock purchased from commercial producers Past Work have resulted in plantations containing a large percentage of off-color yellow trees. Such Scots pine is the most widely distributed trees are not readily marketable as Christmas species of pine in the World (Critchfield and trees. Although many Christmas tree growers Little 1966). It grows in natural stands now spray their trees with plastic paint to give throughout Europe and northern Asia from them a uniform green color, this operation is southern Spain to Greece and Turkey, north an added expense passed on to the consumer. to Finland, and east to Manchuria (fig. 1). Planting stock of selections which stay fairly It occurs on a great variety of soils and in green have become available recently in limited regions of diverse climates, from 38" to 70" amounts from some nurserymen. north latitude, and from 5" west to 135" east The performance of early plantings of Scots longitude. pine in the Eastern Plains was not recorded Reports concerning the nature of genetic in detail, although many old trees 40 to 60 variation in this species are not entirely in feet tall and 24 to 30 inches d.b.h. are still agreement. Langlet (1959) contended that vari- to be seen on farmsteads. Several plantations, ation is clinal, based upon seedling characters labeled variety aga, were established in the of Swedish provenances and 17-year height 1920's on sandhills in the Nebraska National data in European plantations. Khalil (1969), Forest. These grew well for 40 years before King (1965), Ruby (1967), Wright and Bull succumbing to an infestation of turpentine (1963) and Wright et al. (1966b) considered the Figwre I.--Natu~ud dinfiblLtion 06 Swtb pine (pinus syZuestris L. ) md Location 06 ohigi~dincubed in Rkis bRudg. variation as ecotypic or discontinuous. Wright's The provenance plantation is 20 miles south analysis was based upon 3-year seedling growth of Omaha, near Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on the of 122 range wide origins in Michigan and upon Horning State Farm experimental area operated 5- to 7-year field performance of these origins by the Department of Horticulture and Forestry, in various plantations in the North Central University of Nebraska. This location, at 96" States. Garrett (1969), on the other hand, west longitude and 41" north latitude, is about concluded that 5-year field results of 83 origins the same latitude as many of the southern in northern Michigan seem to agree more closely origins tested. The site is near the top of a with the clinal variation concept, with no well- gentle east-facing slope of silt loam soil derived defined breaks among origins in height and from loess, which had been cultivated for a foliage characteristics. Ruby's (1967) detailed number of years in row crops. The layout study of cone and seed characters of the paren- consists of 14 tree rows, 500 feet long, on the tal populations and needle data of Wright's contour. There are seven replications of two progenies grown in Michigan, indicated the rows, and 36 randomly located four-tree plots existence of distinct regional groups or identi- in each replication. Trees are 7 feet apart, in fiable entities. rows 14 feet apart. In their analysis of 17 field plantations in The 2+1 transplant stock was planted by the North Central States at 5 to 7 years age, machine during April 1962 on previously disked Wright et al. (1966b) grouped the origins by land. A 20-inch-wide band on both sides of varieties as determined by multivariate analy- each tree row was sprayed soon after planting ses (Wright and Bull 1963). The choice of with simazine at a rate of 4 pounds per acre variety names was suggested by Ruby (1967). for weed control (fig. 2). Plantation failures Several variety x plantation interactions were were replanted from extra lineout stock during significant, but these were small compared with the first two seasons. Maintenance through main effects. They found that Central European the first 6 years consisted of weed control with origins grew fastest, and Scandinavian and simazine in the tree rows and mowing between Siberian origins slowest. Origins from the rows. Thereafter, only mowing was necessary. most southerly latitudes remained darkest green, Tree heights were measured at the end of while origins from far north turned yellow. each growing season, 1963 through 1969. Winter Winter foliage color differences by variety were color of foliage was rated in December 1964, essentially the same in the 10 widely scattered and checked in several subsequent years. Needle plantations from which data were available. samples (two fascicles per tree from midpoint The southern varieties, however, suffered winter of current year's terminal) were collected in injury in plantations in Minnesota and Michigan. December 1964. Terminal growth development Susceptibility to European sawfly was greatest and amount of flowering were measured in on the tallest or fastest growing origins from spring 1967. central Europe (Wright et al. 1967). Although performance in the Nebraska plan- tation has been similar in some respects to Results other north-central plantations, there are dif- ferences in growth, hardiness, and flowering Height Growth by certain origins which are of importance in choosing the best seed sources for the Plains. The fastest growing trees, of origins from central Europe, were twice the height of the slowest growing origins at 8 years (table 2). Trees of thehaguenensis variety from the Vosges Mountain region (237, 241, and 250) and from Belgium (318 and 530) were the fastest growers Materials and Methods of the central European origins.