Influence of Soil Types on Establishment and Early Growth of Populus trichocarpa

When planning poplar plantations there are many factors to consider that can influence young plant development. In addition to soil preparation, vegetation management, protection against browsers, and plant-type, it is important to have information on how soil properties influence young plant development. Comparisons of establishment and growth in different soils are complicated as experimental sites often are geographically distant where temperature, precipitation and vegetation can vary, thus complicate the analysis. In this case study, a new approach of studying growth of different soil at one experimental site are undertaken by translocating agricultural soils, a silty clay loam and a sandy soil, and common forest soil types, forest moraine soil and forest peat to a single experimental site, thus guaranteeing identical climatic conditions. In all soils, transplanted P. trichocarpa cuttings initially developed in to plants. After 4 weeks though, plants grown in forest peat stopped their growth while plants in the other soils gradually continued their growth with no evidence that soil types influenced above ground plant development. Unlike above-ground growth, root growth and morphology were influenced by soil texture with more root growth occurring if soils have sandy texture. These findings give advice to some of the limitations when planning for establishment of poplar plantations either at agricultural or at forest land.