Management of Tree Species
Quality of Seed:
Choice of good seeds ensures germination and vigour. Good quality seeds should be collected and used to produce quality seedling. The seeds should be collected from tall, straight and best shaped middle straight and best shaped middle aged to mature trees. Young and cover matured trees should be avoided since the seeds from these trees may have low viability.
Nursery Management:
1. Seed Treatment:
Seeds of many species shown degree of democracy. These seeds require a period of storage referred to as post- harvest dormancy. Seeds of Oaks and chestnut respond well to immersion in boiling of water for 30 seconds. Alternate soaking and drying in the sun is a recognized method of trating the seeds of teak. The most commonly used chemical for various tree species is concentrated Sulphuric acid. Bio- fertilizer such as Rhizobium and Frankia are commonly used for supplying N to the tree species. Ectomycorrhiza fungi (VAM) are used for temperature forest species particularly for pines and Eucalyptus.
2. Fertilizer Application:
Proper manuring i.e organic and inorganic is important to boost the growth of the seedlings.
3. Sowing:
Seeds are sown in the containers or in the nursery bed from where they are taken to the main field for planting. E.g Acacia, Cassia. All the large sized seeds are sown by this method.
However, small sized seeds and those with poor germination are first sown in the mother method. After a specific duration they are pricked out. E.g Eucalyptus, Casurina. Raising seedlings in the containers is a common practice. The nursery is prepared by mixing soil, sand and farm yard manure in the ratio of 3:1:1. it is preferable to take up line sowing. After sowing, watering is important and this can be done using rose can. The seedlings should be protected from hot sunshine by providing shade with that, grass, palm leaf matting etc.
4. Stump or Root Shoot Cutting:
Cutting root and shoot is known as stump. Plants with a collar diameter of 1.5 – 2.0 cm and taproot with a length of not less then 30 cm are selected. Shoots are cutoff at 3 cm all the lateral roots are pruned. The tap roots should be cut at a distance of 20-30 cm from the collage region.
Nursery care: watering, weeding, cutting out and pest and disease control are important for raising quality seedlings. Container plants should be shifted periodically to avoid roots striking the ground. This can be carried out after 45 days and subsequently at an interval of one month.
5. Planting:
Watering, weeding plays a vital role in survival and growth of tree plants. The most opportune time for planting tree seedlings is at start of monsoon rains. Planting should be done in such a way that the collar of the palnt should be at or near ground level and neither buried nor raised.
6. After Care:
After planting, weeding and soil working at he end of the rainy season are needed for the summer, mulching around the tree seedlings helps in checking evaporation loses. Leaf litter or some organic matter is used as Mich. In case, seedlings, mortality is high, the plants are replaced with healthy seedlings. This operation is known as replacement of casually and is called ‘beating up’ or refilling’. Healthy, vigorous, robust and tall seedlllings should be used for beating up.
Tree management:
Proper management of tree is very important in agro forestry otherwise, the crown may produce a striking shade effect which, in turn, may affect the productivity of the system. Tree canopy or tree cover has enormous effect which in turn may affect the productivity of the system. Tree canopy or tree cover has enormous effect on the under storey grown crops. The tree having dense canopy permits very little solar radiation to fall on the underneath crop to meet its light requirement. There are several management option available viz. cropping, pollarding, lopping and pruning.
7. Cropping:
The word ‘crop piece’ means the ability to regenerate by shoot or root suckers of an established forest tree. This practice involves regular harvesting of trees which produce numerous shoots from the stumps after cutting.
Pollarding: in this practice, the branches are removed usually at a height of about 1-3 m at periodical intervals. The practice is mostly adopted for live fence and alley cropping.
Lopping: During the lean period. Major branches are removed to obtain fresh fodder. Lopping is powerful management tool for controlling crown spread in the agro forestry systems.
Pruning: Small branches and twigs are removed one or two times during a year. The biomass/ foliage obtained due to this operation is used as fodder. Such a practice is mostly adopted for maintaining tress / shrubs especially in live ferrce and alley cropping systems.