Abstract
I studied the comparison of juvenile growth characteristics of cuttings and seedlings of sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) in heavy snowfall region. I selected three pairs of a seedling-trial and a cutting-trial that are closely located with similar environmental conditions. Only seedlings and only cuttings are planted in seedling-trial and cutting-trial, respectively. Data for each cuttings and seedlings from identical varieties in a pair of trials was defined as a dataset. Three datasets were used to compare. Survival rates of cuttings and seedlings at 5 years were almost the same; however, the survival rates of cuttings at 10 years were clearly less than those of seedlings. The main cause of tree death was broken stems or roots. Basal bending and the height of the cuttings were less than those of the seedlings. From these results, I conclude that cuttings can resist basal bending caused by snow pressure better than seedlings; however, the survival rate of cuttings is lower than that of seedlings because of the greater incidence of broken stems in cuttings as they grow. The cuttings' inferior height growth causes them to be buried in the snow for long periods during winter. Therefore, I conclude that afforestation using cuttings in heavy snowfall region has a high risk of poor survival because of stem breakage caused by snow pressure.
