Abstract
One-year-old container seedlings of Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) sown in containers were planted every month from May to October 2014 to evaluate the survival rate, growth and ecophysiological properties. Two-year-old bare-root seedlings were planted in May as a reference. When seedlings were planted before budburst in May, the growth of shoot and root, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance of container seedlings were higher than those of bare-root seedlings, though there was no difference in the height or diameter between container and bare-root seedlings in the second year. Container seedlings planted from June to August had fewer roots with higher fine root electrolyte leakage, water potential at turgor loss point and foliage/root ratio. Container seedlings planted in June and July experienced 62 and 22% survival in the current year, respectively. The low survival was caused by the low drought tolerance of seedlings and low rainfall in the planted period. Container seedlings planted in September and October showed a high drought tolerance and survival rate. The results suggest that the planting period can be extended to two months in the fall by using container seedlings without increasing mortality, but the same may not be true in summer.
