Release of suppressed oak advance regeneration
This article is part of a larger document. View the larger document here.Abstract
Oaks are not consistently regenerating on intermediate- and high-quality sites due to the lack of well-developed advance regeneration. Studies of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedling cohorts have shown that when grown under well-developed canopies and mid-stories, height growth is suppressed, and seedling mortality increases with time resulting in a sparsely populated bank of low-vigor advance regeneration. A mid-story removal treatment has been shown to improve vigor of northern red oak and cherrybark oak (Q. pagoda Raf.) regeneration in advance of a harvest. However, this treatment has not been widely tested, and indicators of advance regeneration vigor, such as height/age relationships, have not been defined for a number of important oak species. This study profiled the developmental characteristics of white and black oak (Q. alba L. and Q. velutina Lam.) seedlings growing under dense over-stories and mid-stories in central Kentucky and reports the initial growth response of these seedlings to a mid-story removal.