Inoculation of Fumigated Nursery Beds and Containers With Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Products for Eastern Redcedar Production

Commercially available arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) products were applied at an operational rate to eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) nursery beds and containers to evaluate seedling growth and colonization responses. A field study at the Augusta Forestry Center in Crimora, VA, and a companion container study were initiated in the fall of 2012. MycoApply® Endo products containing the same four species of AM fungi were applied as a liquid, granular, or seed treatment. The field application of AM products did not result in early root colonization by AM fungi. By November 2013, seedlings were colonized by naturally occurring AM fungi and seedlings did not differ in size among treatments. A winter rye cover crop treatment tested in conjunction with the AM treatments in the container study did not significantly affect AM colonization. AM colonization of seedling roots was very low in container seedlings from all treatments and no growth response could be attributed to AM fungi. This paper was presented at a joint meeting of the Northeast Forest and Conservation Nursery Association and Southern Forest Nursery Association (Williamsburg, VA, July 21–24, 2014).