First growing period development of Acer saccharum stump sprouts arising after different dates of cut

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Abstract
The study was conducted on a clear-cut area of the Nashwaak Experimental Watershed Project, New Brunswick [Canada]. Thirty residual A. saccharum Marsh. trees (6-10 cm diameter at breast height) were cut during the dormant period and at intervals during the subsequent growing period. Development of dominant and codominant sprouts on stumps of these trees was monitored. Rate of leaf pair and supporting internode production, number of leaf pairs and supporting internodes produced, rate of elongation of sprouts, total length of sprouts, rate of increase of lamina area and total lamina area of sprouts decreased with each successive date of cut. Lamina area of successive leaf pairs and lengths of successive internodes increased acropetally to maxima and then decreased. Sylleptic shoots developed in axils of proximal leaf pairs. On sprouts arising after the dormant-period cut and after mid-June through mid-July cuts, terminal buds formed, whereas on sprouts arising after later July and Aug. cuts, leaf pair and supporting internode production continued until meristems were killed by frost. On some sprouts arising after the dormant-period cut, adventitious roots were observed. The influence on sprout development of carbohydrate reserve levels, photoperiod, solar radiation and depth of rest in dormant buds at the time of cut are discussed.