RAISING AND USE OF LARGE CLOSE-ROOTED TRANSPLANTS FOR COMMERCIAL AFFORESTATION IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA

Abstract

Under summer rainfall conditions prevailing on a Forestry Estate in the Melsetter district of Southern Rhodesia, particularly in the rank weed and grass growth described, comparatively extensive afforestation of 19,500 acres during the past five years has indicated that large (15″ to 20″ tall), close-rooted transplants (i.e. a tree planted with a ball of original seedbed soil attached to its roots) preferably planted early in a season, are vastly superior to conventionally-used smaller transplants, are preferable to open-rooted transplants, and are cheaper than pot-transplants.