Shoot and Root Growth of Paper Pot-grown Sugi Cuttings during the 2 Years after Outplanting

Abstract

We compared shoot growth and root development of sugi cuttings grown in biodegradable paper pots with container-grown cuttings during the 2 years after outplanting. The paper pot-grown cuttings showed similar vigor, shoot growth and root development as the container-grown cutting, indicating their potential of survivorship and early growth equal to that of the container-grown cuttings. The deterioration of the paper pots two years after outplanting was observed only in 23％ of its surface area; however, many roots of the sugi cuttings elongated outside of the pots penetrating the paper material. Further, the number, length and diameter of roots elongated outside the root ball were same or larger than those of the containerized cuttings. We concluded from these results that the sugi cuttings grown in biodegradable paper pots have the same usability as the container-grown cuttings for the practical plantation.