Lesson Structure: Trees For Rehabilitation BHT205

There are 10 lessons:

1  Approaches To Land Rehabilitation

• The importance of trees – Erosion control
• Understanding plants
• Understanding plant identification
• Land management programs
• Biodiversity
• Soil degradation
• Erosion – Water erosion, Wind erosion, Control of erosion
• Salinity – Sources of salt, Control methods for salinity
• Soil acidification and other problems – Soil acidification, Compaction, Chemical residues
• Rehabilitation

2  Ecology Of Soils And Plant Health

• Biomass
• The Ecosystem – Abiotic components, Biotic components, Ecological concepts, The web of life, Other relationships between plants and animals
• Indigenous species
• Creating habitat corridors for wildlife – benefits, Other benefits, Situating corridors, Types of corridors
• Design considerations
• Edge effects
• What can happen at edges
• In general
• Soils – How soils develop naturally, The soil environment, Soil composition, Soil temperature
• Mycorrhizae
• Soil physical characteristics – Soil profile, Soil texture, Soil structure
• Soil chemical characteristics – Soil pH, Cation exchange capacity, Buffering capacity
• Improving soils
• Plant nutrition – What nutrients do plants need
• The nutrient elements – The macronutrients, The micronutrients
• Choosing the right fertilizer – How much fertilizer to apply
• Diagnosis of nutritional problems
• Pests and diseases and plant growth – Environmental factors
• Resistant plant species and cultivars
• Pests and Diseases – Biological control, Diseases include, Pests include, Life cycles, Preventative control

3  Introduction To Seed Propagation Techniques

• Seed propagation – Seed sources – 4 sources, Maintaining genetic identity in seed, Hybrid seed production
• Why do plants produce so much seed
• Collecting and harvesting seed – guidelines
• Selecting plants to collect from
• Timing
• Methods of collection
• Cleaning seed
• Storing seed
• Difficult seeds – Germination treatments, Soaking in boiling water
• Stratification
• Fire
• Leaching seeds
• Sowing your seeds – When to sow, Propagation media
• Containers for propagation
• The bog method
• Pricking out or tubing seedlings – After care
• Quality control – The UC System of Soil Mixes
• Example of a production system
• Propagation stage
• Transplanting stage
• Growing on stage
• Distribution stage
• Sources of seed and information
• Books on seeds and seed germination

4  Propagation And Nursery Stock

• Asexual propagation – Why cuttings? How to propagate a cutting, Classification of cutting types, Maintaining genetic identity in seed
• Types of Cuttings – Softwood cuttings, Semi-Hardwood Cuttings, Hardwood cuttings, Variations on cuttings, Nodal cuttings, Basal cuttings, Root cuttings
• Stock Plants – Planting out stock plants, Treatment throughout the year, Stock plants for root cuttings
• Ways of getting roots on difficult to root cuttings – Hormone treatments, Etoliation and banding, Cutting grafts, Misting/fogging, Light treatments, Bacterial treatments, Combining treatments
• Hormone Treatments in detail
• Nursery hygiene
• Spread of pests and diseases
• Recommended nursery hygiene practices
• Propagating Mixes – Vermiculite, Perlite, Sand, Rockwool, Peat moss
• Potting Media – Potting Soil Mixes, Pine Bark, Containers for potting up plants
• How to maintain plants in pots – Feeding, Watering, Ventilation and light, Temperature, Growing-on areas for container plants, Stop roots growing into the soil, Hardening off rooted cuttings
• The greenhouse – Types of greenhouses, Heated or unheated, Deciding on what you need, Problems with greenhouses, Environmental controls in the greenhouse, Temperature control
• Greenhouse irrigation methods, Runoff and leachate, Irrigation systems, Other structures for growing plants, The nursery site, How to propagate different species

5  Dealing With Chemical Problems

• Soil contamination
• Symptoms on plants of chemical contamination
• Foliage burn
• Treating foliage burn
• Rehabilitating damaged soils
• Prevention
• Accidental spillage
• Rehabilitation methods
• Using plants to extract contaminants
• Growing plants on contaminated soil
• Rehabilitating a building site
• Soil chemical composition and plant growth
• Alkaline soils
• Lime contaminated soils
• Trees which grow in lime soils

6  Physical Plant Effects On Degraded Sites

• Pioneer plants
• Site protection – Windbreaks/shelterbelts, Windbreak design, Other considerations
• Designing and planting a firebreak – Fire prone areas, How to arrange plants, Distances from buildings, Consider prevailing winds, Consider vehicular access, Maintenance, Fire resistant plants, Plants likely to burn
• Stormwater, waterlogging and drainage – Stormwater
• Drainage – Water-logging on a home-site, Constructing a swamp
• Soil Compaction

7  Plant Establishment Programs

• What to plant where
• Climate – Temperature, Wind, Frosts, Extreme hazards, Microclimates
• Plant selection criteria, Economics, Ongoing costs, Longevity, General hardiness
• Planting – When to plant
• Plant protection methods – Supporting trees, Staking, Frost protection for young trees, Sun protection, Mulching, Fencing, Wind protection

8  Hostile Environments

• Planning
• Rehabilitation techniques
• Coping with dry conditions – Overcoming dry soils
• Mulch – How to lay mulch, Mulch materials, Commonly used organic mulches, Living mulch and cover crops
• Weed management – Types of weeds, How are weeds spread? Preventative measures, Weed control, Methods, Commonly used herbicides
• Trees and large shrubs that tolerate salt
• Plant species that tolerate salt

9  Plant Establishment Care

• Planting procedures – Evergreens, Deciduous and bare-rooted plants
• Water and plant growth
• Transpiration
• Maintaining appropriate water levels
• Symptoms of water deficiency
• Symptoms of excess water
• Period of watering
• Minimizing plant water requirements
• Plant health – Conducting an inspection
• The Plant – Examining leaves, Examining fruit and flowers, Examining stem and branches, Examining roots, Identifying damage
• The Immediate Environment – Examining the soil, Examining surrounding plants, Other environmental factors, Methods of inspection
• Prioritizing problems
• Research

10 Rehabilitating Degraded Sites

• Environmental Assessment – Conducting an Environmental Audit
• Implementing a Land Rehabilitation Management Program – determining land objectives, determining a program and replanting.

Learning Goals: Trees For Rehabilitation BHT205

• Develop the ability to write the scientific names of plants and to identify and compare different types of land degradation and rehabilitation alternatives.
• Outline the basics of ecology concepts and how soils, flora and fauna interact and affect one another.
• Develop basic seed propagation skills and knowledge.
• Describe further propagation and nursery techniques.
• Describe the effect of plants on improving chemical characteristics of a degraded site.
• Determine the physical effect plants have on improving a degraded site.
• Determine appropriate plant establishment programs.
• Determine procedures to care for plants, during establishment in a hostile environment.
• Determine techniques to maximise plant development in land rehabilitation situations.
• Determine the management procedures and rehabilitation requirements of degraded soil.

Practicals – (Set Tasks):

• Determine ten different examples of land degradation on sites visited by you.
• Explain different reasons for land requiring rehabilitation, including:
  • Salination
  • Erosion
  • Mining
  • Grazing
  • Vegetation harvesting
  • Pests
  • Reduction of biodiversity
  • Soil contamination
  • Urbanisation

• Compare the effectiveness of different policy approaches to land rehabilitation by different agencies and organisation, including:

• Different levels of government
• Mining companies
• Developers
• Conservation groups (i.e. tree planting bodies, landcare groups)

• Develop a risk analysis for a specified site to be rehabilitated, by determining a variety of plant health problems which may impact on the success of plant establishment.
• Analyse the failure of plants to grow successfully on a visited land rehabilitation site.
• Develop a procedure to enhance the success rate of land rehabilitation plantings on a degraded site you visit.
• Describe the use of mulches, to maximise plant condition in a specified land rehabilitation tree planting project.
• Explain different processes of establishing seedlings on land rehabilitation sites, including:
  • tubestock nursery production
  • direct seeding
  • pre-germinated bare rooted seedlings.

• Determine factors which affect the viability of establishing five different species of plant seedlings, from five different plant families; on a specific degraded site.
• Compare the benefits of acquiring plants for a project by buying tubestock, with propagating and growing on, or close to, the planting site, with reference to:
  • costs
  • plant quality
  • local suitability
  • management.

• Prepare production schedules for a plant species, using different propagation techniques, summarising all important tasks from collection of seed to planting out of the tubestock.
• Calculate the cost of production for a tubestock plant, according to the production schedule developed by you.
• Estimate the differences in per plant establishment costs, for tubestock, compared with direct seeding methods, for planting on a degraded site.
• Describe three different methods of planting trees for rehabilitation purposes.
• Describe different plant establishment techniques, including:
  • wind protection
  • frost protection
  • pest control
  • water management
  • weed management

• Describe an appropriate method for preparing soil for planting, at a proposed land rehabilitation site in your locality.
• Evaluate plant establishment techniques used by two different land rehabilitation programs inspected by you at least twelve months after planting was carried out.
• Determine the needs of plants after planting, on two different proposed land rehabilitation sites.
• Describe different, efficient ways, of catering to the needs of large numbers of plants after planting.
• Collect pressed specimens or photographs of twenty trees for a herbarium of suitable trees for rehabilitation, and including information on the culture and care of each tree.
• Describe different types of soil degradation, detected in your locality.
• Determine the risk factors involved in soil degradation, relevant to your locality.
• Compare two different alternative methods of treating each of three different soil degradation problems identified and inspected by you.
• Develop an assessment form to use for evaluating the sensitivity of a site to land degradation.
• Evaluate a site showing signs of degradation, selected by you, using the assessment form you developed.
• Plan a rehabilitation program for the degraded site you evaluated, including:
  • a two year schedule of work to be completed
  • list of quantity and type of materials required
  • approximate cost estimates.

• Explain the effect different plant species may have resisting soil degradation.
• Explain how different plants can have different impacts upon the chemistry of their environment, including both air and soil.
• Evaluate the significance of a group of plants, to the nature of the microclimate in which you find them growing.
• Compare the appropriateness of twenty different plant species for different degraded sites.
• Determine plant varieties, suited to each of six different degradation situations.

The importance of trees to land management cannot be overstated. Often in the past they have been seen as competing for valuable land space and felled indiscriminately. Over clearing of trees can lead to salinity problems and numerous forms of erosion and land slips.

As we have become more familiar with their vital role in ecological processes, retention and selective planting of trees has been widely acknowledged, in improving farm viability and ultimately production.

This course develops an understanding of environmental systems and the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes. You learn about seed collection, storage and germination, propagation, plant selection, establishment techniques, controlling pest and disease after planting.

HOW CUTTINGS WORK

Asexual Propagation A cutting is a piece of vegetative growth (non-sexual ‑ not the flower or fruit) which is detached from a plant and treated in a way so as to stimulate it to grow roots, stems and leaves; hence producing another new plant.

Cutting propagation is most commonly used for shrubs, indoor plants and many herbaceous perennials. It is the most common method of asexual reproduction used by horticulturalists.  As a general rule, it is rarely used to propagate most types of trees.

When a plant is grown from a cutting it is genetically identical to the parent plant.  This is not necessarily so when plants are grown from seed.  Cuttings are the most widely used technique for reproducing “true to type” plants. This ensures that the unique characteristics of the parent plant are passed on to the progeny.

Cuttings can often be used to propagate plants that:

• Don’t produce viable seed, or produce seed at irregular times,
• Have seed that is difficult to germinate
• Have seed that is difficult to collect, for example, plants that have seed pods that burst open dispersing the seeds widely
• Produce their seed at a time when seed cannot be collected, or collection would require a further trip to the area (often very difficult for remote areas), or can only be collected with difficulty (e.g. plants whose seed matures during wet seasons when access may be limited).

Cuttings can be useful as they may avoid the problem of juvenility in the newly propagated plants.  Most plants grown from seeds go through a juvenile stage, in which flowering, and hence seed production does not occur.

Some plants may take 5, 10 or even more years before they commence flowering. Once a plant has flowered, plants propagated from that plant by cuttings will avoid the juvenile stage and flower early, often within months of the cutting having struck.

Many plants also have undesirable growth forms when they are young. These include very vigorousgrowth, thorniness, or unattractive foliage or form. By taking cuttings from adult plants these undesirable characteristics can be avoided. In some cases the juvenile form of a plant may have characteristics that are more desirable than those of the adult form.

You may take cuttings from plants growing in gardens, pots, parks or in the wild; and you may successfully produce new plants from cuttings taken from any source; however, you will always get much better results if you carefully choose your source of cuttings.

• If you know the cultivar name of the plant, you can be more certain of how to propagate it, and be confident of the characteristics that will be demonstrated by the new plants.
• If you take cuttings from healthy plants; they are more likely to develop roots faster, and produce healthier plants quicker.

Why Cuttings? Despite all the difficulties that can be experienced with various techniques to propagate a plant, the cutting technique still remains one of the easiest and cost effective techniques to produce a number of new plants, whether that is for commercial or domestic production.

Cuttings are easy, time effective and cheap; the rewards in watching a plant produce roots and develop into a new plant encourages them to propagate even more plants, and share them with friends etc. Commercial production nurseries know the benefits of the cutting technique.

Their profit and existence relies upon using the right technique for the right plant. Improving their techniques can increase production and hence increase profit. Growing plants by cuttings can be a very rewarding exercise, and for commercial propagators may be the most economically viable method for many plants.

How to Propagate a Cutting
Most cuttings are pieces of stem, often with some leaves left at the top of the stem.

Some plants can be grown from cuttings of other tissue (eg. a piece of leaf, or section of root, or even part of a bulb, with no stem at all). Cuttings are usually planted into a mix of materials such as sand, peat moss, perlite, rockwool or vermiculite. Part of the tissue is usually below the surface of the mix, and some exposed above the surface.

The cuttings should then be kept moist and other conditions such as light, temperature, humidity and hygiene should be kept appropriate to the requirements of the variety of plant being grown.

Other things that can be done to enhance development of the cutting will either speed the rate of growth or improve the percentage of cuttings that succeed. Chemical hormones may be applied to stimulate the formation of either roots, or foliage/shoot growth.

Pesticides or disinfectants may be used to prevent diseases or pests. Heating may be used to warm the root zone (ie. bottom heat), to encourage faster growth of roots; or periodic misting of the foliage to cool the top of the plant, or prevent dehydration of the foliage.

If you want to get the best results from your cutting propagation, you really need to pay attention to selecting the appropriate technique for the time of year, and type of plant you are growing. Different types of plant tissues have varying abilities to

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