Stand started as an abandoned hay field that came to Itasca County as tax forfeited land.
June 1996. Stand treated with Velpar at 4 quarts / acre.
September 1996. Stand double disced.
May 1997. Site planted to improved white spruce at roughly 8’ x 8’ spacing (~2.5 x 2.5 m) and then plug + 1 seedlings of hybrid aspen were interspersed amongst the spruce. Large and small hybrid aspen seedlings were planted in “dense packs’ of 16-100 seedlings at ~1’ x 1’ spacing (0.3 x 0.3m) by trenching with a #2 shovel. Hybrid aspen dense packs were established with minimal removal of white spruce (Figure 2). No additional site preparation or vegetation management was used. Four replications of large stock hybrid aspen (Populus tremuloides X P. tremula) measuring 0.25 – 0.4 in. (7-10 mm) at root collar, top pruned to 12 in. (30 cm) and root pruned prior to winter storage, were planted in dense packs of 16, 25, 49 and 81 seedlings. Four replications of small stock hybrid aspen measuring < 0.25 in. (7 mm) at root collar and similarly top and root pruned were planted in dense packs of 25, 49 and 100 seedlings (Figure 1).
April 2001. Rep 1 of small stock and Rep 2 of large stock are sheared with a chainsaw after 4 growing seasons.
June 2001. Fusilade herbicide applied to half of the sheared plots at rate of 0.4 quart / acre (~1.0 L / ha).
Summer 2002. Large outbreak of forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria) defoliates the seedlings and suckers.
April 2006. All spruce within 20 ft (6 m) of all plot centers are cut with a chainsaw and removed.
December 2006. All 10 year old dense packs and 6 year old suckers (from Rep 1 of small stock and Rep 2 of large stock) are sheared with a chainsaw.