Can the use of large, alternative nursery containers aid in field establishment of Juglans regia and Quercus robur seedlings?

Over the last 30 years in Italy, a high percentage of tree plantations have failed to achieve the objective of enhancing the quality of forest products, and also restoring/ rehabilitating abandoned or degraded agricultural lands. In this study, we evaluated the effects of nursery cultivation in large, novel containers and duration of cultivation on early field establishment of 2-year-old seedlings of Quercus robur L. and Juglans regia L. Two sizes (9800 and 15,500 cm3) of a new container (Superoots Air-pot) and one size (4900 cm3) of a traditional container (Plastecnic) were tested and seedlings were sampled for shoot and root growth and biomass allocation.Prolonging the cultivation period to 2 years had a positive effect on both species, with a marked increase in above- and belowground biomass, maintaining a desirable balance between shoot and root systems. Seedlings grown in both Air-pots exhibited well-developed and wellstructured root and shoot systems, thus showing promise in the establishment of high quality timber plantations of fine hardwoods; such attributes can be beneficial wherever proper seedling shoot and/or root sizes confer an advantage in reforestation and restoration scenarios.