Accelerating the growth of red meranti (Shorea leprosula) wildlings by utilizing better topsoil media from under mother trees and optimum tending duration in a simple greenhouse

Abstract

Topsoil under mother trees has been being used for substrates or media of growing wildlings in the nursery in the forest, but information about where the positions of the topsoil should be collected from the base of mother trees was not sufficiently studied. The study divided the positions into three parts: the closest, the middle, and the farthest positions from the base of mother trees within the projection of the crown of the mother trees. In addition, wildlings used as seedling stocks usually suffer from stress because of extraction from the original sites and transportation process, so they need tending in a simple greenhouse. The study divided the tending duration into four periods: without tending, two weeks, three weeks, and four weeks. The experimental design used was a factorial 3 × 4 with a randomized complete design. Based on the F-test, the positions of topsoil from mother trees and tending duration in a simple greenhouse separately affected the growth of the wildlings. With the least significant difference level of 5%, the results showed that the topsoil close to the base of mother trees, and tending for 3-4 weeks in the simple greenhouse yielded the best growth for the red meranti (Shorea leprosula) wildlings.