Optimising restoration of Polylepis australis forests through reforestation: When, where and how to transplant seedlings to the mountains?

RENISON, D.; CINGOLANI, A.M.; SCHINNER, D.

ECOTROPICA (BONN)

SOC TROPICAL ECOLOGY

Año: 2002 vol. 8 p. 219 - 224

0949-3026

With the objective of contributing to the conservation of P. australis woodlands we began a reforestation project in the Sierras Grandes (Cordoba province, Argentina), and are developing the appropriate techniques to optimize the reforestation process. The objectives of this study were to determine, in terms of seedling survival and growth, (1) the best date for transplanting the seedlings to the mountains, (2) whether protection of the seedlings with stones and plastic tubing makes a difference, and (3) whether planting is convenient both in good soils and in degraded soils. During two seasons seedlings were produced in a greenhouse, transported and planted in the study areas when less than one year old. Our results indicate that the best months for transplanting the seedlings differed according to the year depending on precipitation, but December and January were good months for transplanting in the two seasons of our study. Seedlings protected with stones plus plastic tubing had the highest growth, seedlings protected with stones alone were intermediate in growth, and unprotected seedlings had the lowest growth. Non-degraded soils were the best for seedling growth, while seedlings in eroded soils and bare rock had similarly low growth. Though the different treatments appeared to affect growth, we found few differences in survival.