Shoot characteristics of stagnant and vigorous lodgepole pines, and their growth after reciprocal grafting

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Abstract
Differences between shoots of normal and stagnant 20-year-old lodgepole pine were assessed in an attempt to elucidate possible causes of stagnated growth. Leaves of the stagnant plants are relatively short, narrow and few, and the intemodes between fascicles are short. At least on the site studied, foliar mineral concentration was the same for the two types of plant. Long shoot apical meristems are relatively small in height and diameter. The possibility that the differences reside in the apical meristem, i.e., are epigenetic rather than directly environmentally induced, was tested. Reciprocal grafts of vigorous and stagnant scions onto the two types of rootstock showed, however, that growth assumed that typical of the rootstock by the third growing season, and this was maintained in the subsequent season. This result, and the strong resemblance of stagnant shoots to those resulting from transplant shock, suggest that differences in the form and activity of the root systems is a potential cause of stagnation in lodgepole pine.

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