Hexazinone Gridballs™ applied with concurrent underplanting of white spruce in boreal mixedwoods: 7-year results

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Abstract
In mid-June 1978, hexazinone Gridball™ pellets were individually placed on the ground surface in two10-m × 10-m plots at each of two grid spacings in moderate-to-dense, woody weed growth in each of three boreal mixedwood stands in the Chapleau and Manitouwadge areas of Ontario. The rates of application were equivalent to 0.0, 1.4 and 4.2 kg a.i./ha. In these and a similar number of untreated plots, 16 white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) were planted centrally in each plot at the same grid spacings used for the Gridballs™ but offset so as to give maximum separation between outplants and herbicide. The main study was supplemented by another to determine safe separation distance. GridballsTM at close spacing very significantly (P 0.01) increased growth of white spruce: at one location, the mean stem volume of spruce 7 years after planting was 438% that of spruce in the no-herbicide treatment; at a second location the comparable value was 503%. The evidence suggests that white spruce may be established in the boreal mixedwoods by underplanting and, concurrently, applying Gridballs™ at 1-m × 1-m spacing.