Competitive capacity of Quercus rubra L. planted in Arkansas' Boston Mountains

Results of an 11 yr study of the growth and survival of planted northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) seedlings (2-0 bare-root) are presented. More than 4,000 seedlings were planted under shelterwood overstories that were harvested 3 yr after planting. Results are expressed as planted-tree dominance probabilities. Dominance probability is the probability that a planted tree will live to attain a favorable competitive position (i.e., at least 80% of the mean height of dominant competitors) at a specified year. We interpret the resulting probability as a measure of the competitive capacity of an individual seedling, i.e., its potential of attaining dominance in a specified environment. Based on logistic regression analysis, dominance probabilities increase with time after shelterwood overstory removal for any given environment and initial seedling characteristics. At any specified time, dominance probabilities depend on initial seedling basal diameter before planting (stem caliper 2 cm above the root collar), site quality, intensity of weed control, and shelterwood percent stocking. Dominance probabilities increase with decreasing shelterwood stocking, increasing initial stem caliper, and increasing intensity of weed control. Other factors being equal, top clipped seedlings have higher dominance probabilities than unclipped seedlings. The reciprocals of the dominance probabilities provide silviculturally useful estimates of the numbers of trees that would need to be planted to obtain, on the average, one competitively successful tree. For example, if clipped seedlings averaging 6 mm in caliper were planted where oak site index was 24 m, shelterwood stocking was 80%, and the site was given no weed control before or after planting, obtaining one competitively successful tree 11 yr after planting (8 yr after shelterwood removal) would require planting 144 seedlings. Other factors remaining the same, increasing initial caliper to 22 mm would require planting only 5 trees to obtain 1 competitively successful tree. For the same size (22 mm) and type of seedling planted on site index 18 m under a shelterwood at 40 to 60% stocking and given two weed control treatments, only 1.4 trees would need to be planted. Results emphasize the sensitivity of competitive capacity, and thus the silvicultural potential, of planted northern red oaks in the Boston Mountains of Arkansas to the joint effects of field environment and initial seedling characteristics.