Nordlander, Göran
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Research article2017Peer reviewed
Replanting conifer seedlings after pine weevil emigration in spring decreases feeding damage and seedling mortality
Nordlander, Göran; Hellqvist, Claes; Hjelm, Karin
Abstract
Replanting at appropriate times after harvesting a coniferous forest stand can help efforts to suppress seedling mortality caused by the pine weevil Hylobius abietis, but optimal times are uncertain. We hypothesized that planting in June rather than May in the third season after harvest would reduce feeding damage by the pine weevil and increase seedling survival rates in central Sweden, where new-generation weevils mainly fly away from their development sites in May/early June. An experimental test of the hypothesis in eight clear-cuts confirmed that planting in June instead of May reduced proportions of seedlings attacked by pine weevil, bark removal from seedlings' stems, and proportions of seedlings killed by feeding damage. These differences between seedlings planted in May and June declined to some extent with time but still remained significant after two growing seasons. The total seedling mortality after two seasons did, however, not differ significantly between seedlings planted in May and June. Overall, 29% of all seedlings were killed by pine weevil, 4.0% by Hylastes bark beetles, and 2.3% by drought. The results indicate that replanting in spring during the third season after harvest can advantageously continue until mid-June with respect to damage and mortality.
Keywords
Fallow period; forest plantation; Hylastes cunicularius; Hylobius abietis; pest management; planting time; reforestation
Published in
Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
2017, volume: 32, number: 1, pages: 60-67
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS AS
SLU Authors
Hellqvist, Claes
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Hjelm, Karin
- Forestry Research Institute of Sweden, Skogforsk
Associated SLU-program
SLU Plant Protection Network
Global goals (SDG)
UKÄ Subject classification
Forest Science
Ecology
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2016.1186220
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/78419