Reclamation of roads and landings with balsam poplar cuttings

Balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.) can easily be grown when planted as dormant, unrooted cuttings. The first part of this research project consisted of a greenhouse study to identify the best combination of pre-planting treatments to maximize rooting of hardwood cuttings for large-scale greenhouse propagation. Eightyfour treatment combinations were tested on 10 cm-long cuttings, including seven soaking lengths of time (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 14 days), three dips (none, powder and liquid rooting hormone), two collection dates (fall and spring), and two cutting selections (average trees and a superior clone). Secondly, we tested the performance of unrooted cuttings on typical forestry sites lacking natural regeneration, using 30 cm-long cuttings and full-length whips (>60 cm). Three pre-planting treatment combinations were used (soaking for 1 or 3 days, or 3 days with a dip in rooting hormone). Other factors tested were two collection dates (fall and spring), two cutting selections (average trees and a superior clone), two storage methods (stored as full whips or cut to size), and two cutting locations (basal or top 30 cm of stools).