Container Type Affects Root Development of Chanticleer® Pear (Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’) During Landscape Establishment

Alison Stoven O’Connor; James E. Klett; Anthony J. Koski

doi:10.48044/jauf.2018.014

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Table 1.
Root ball characteristics of nursery-grown (six months) Chanticleer pear in three container types (2010).
Root ball integrity^{^z} Bottom root ball matting^{^y} Circling roots^{^x}
Black plastic 4.9 1.5c 2.2c
Root Pouch 4.9 3.0b 3.7b
Smart Pot 4.3 4.0a 4.4a
ns ^*** ^**
↵^z Root ball integrity (how well the root ball held together when removed from the container; scale of 1–5, with 5 holding together well).
↵^y Root ball matting (matting on the bottom of the root ball; scale of 1–5, with 1 being many matted roots).
↵^x Circling roots (frequency, based on a scale of 1–5; with 1 being many circling roots).
↵Notes: Means within a column for each measurement followed by different letters are significantly different at P = 0.05 using Tukey’s LSD test; ns = not significant; single asterisk (*) indicates P = 0.05–0.01; double asterisk (**) indicates P = 0.01–0.001; triple asterisk (***) indicates P ≥ 0.001.

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Table 2.

Shoot, root, and leaf growth of Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’ grown in three container types (black plastic, Root Pouch, and Smart Pot) and harvested after one, two, and three years following planting in the landscape.

Harvest year	Container type	Height (cm)	Caliper^{^z} (mm)	Root dry weight (g)	Shoot dry weight (g)	Leaf dry weight (g)	Total plant dry weight (g)	Root:Shoot ratio	Leader growth (cm)	Average branch growth (cm)	Average canopy width (cm)
2011	Black plastic	270	42.2	1248.2	1474.2	369.1	3091.5	0.70 (1:1.4)	47	29.7	94
	Root Pouch	267	42.1	1083.7	1567.7	384.1	3035.5	0.55 (1:1.8)	49	26.8	88
	Smart Pot	277	43.4	1235.5	1558.8	349.2	3143.5	0.65 (1:1.5)	42	30.1	88

2012	Black plastic	351	57.3	2984.4	3579.3	972.5	7536.2	0.65 (1:1.5)	77	27.5	108
	Root Pouch	329	57.2	2621.1	3576.1	978.7	7175.9	0.58 (1:1.7)	112	20.6	114
	Smart Pot	345	59.3	2704.3	3676.6	1026.7	7407.6	0.59 (1:1.7)	94	28.2	108

2013	Black plastic	438	75.8	5875.3a	8662.1	1877.7	16415.1	0.56 (1:1.8)	97	31.1	160
	Root Pouch	437	72.9	4719.4b	7878.4	1757.3	14355.1	0.49 (1:2.0)	93	38.5	142
	Smart Pot	410	72.1	4395.1b	7608.4	1635.1	13638.6	0.48 (1:2.1)	73	33.9	148

↵^z Caliper measured at 15 cm above the soil surface.
Notes: Trees were planted into the landscape in October 2010. Means within years for each measurement followed by different letters are significantly different at P = 0.05 using Tukey’s LSD test.

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Table 3.

Root weight and distribution of Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’ grown in three container types (black plastic, Root Pouch, and Smart Pot) and harvested after one, two, and three years following planting in the landscape.

Harvest year	Container type	Total root ball dry weight (g)	Total dry weight root growth outside root ball (g)	Total dry weight roots inside root ball (g)	Total fine roots (<2.0 mm) inside root ball (g)	Total coarse roots (≥2.1 mm) inside root ball (g)	Total fine roots (<2.0 mm) outside root ball (g)	Total coarse roots (≥2.1 mm) outside root ball (g)	Total fine roots (g)	Total coarse roots (g)
2011	Black plastic	1248.2	105.9	1142.3	161.6	980.7	25.8	80.1	187.4	1060.8
	Root Pouch	1083.7	117.9	965.7	112.7	853.0	24.4	93.5	137.1	946.5
	Smart Pot	1235.5	125.5	1113.0	147.0	966.1	33.4	92.1	180.4	1058.1

2012	Black plastic	2984.4	642.7	2341.7	45.5	2296.3	50.8	591.8	96.3	2888.1
	Root Pouch	2621.1	779.8	1841.3	34.3	1807.0	55.1	724.7	89.3	2531.8
	Smart Pot	2704.3	749.7	1954.3	33.7	1920.6	49.1	700.6	82.8	2621.2

2013	Black plastic	5875.3a	1655.4	4220.0a	32.5	4187.5a	93.0a	1562.4	125.5a	5749.9a
	Root Pouch	4719.4b	1660.0	3059.4b	26.8	3032.6b	92.8a	1567.2	119.7a	4599.8b
	Smart Pot	4395.1b	1638.1	2757.0b	35.9	2721.1b	192.3b	1445.8	228.2b	4166.9b

Note: Means within years for each measurement followed by different letters are significantly different at P = 0.05 using Tukey’s LSD test.

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Table 4.

Percent root distribution of Pyrus calleryana ‘Glen’s Form’ grown in three container types (black plastic, Root Pouch, and Smart Pot) and harvested after one, two, and three years following planting in the landscape.

Harvest year	Container type	Percent root growth beyond original root ball	Percent of total roots inside root ball that are fine (<2.0 mm)	Percent of total roots inside root ball that are coarse (≥2.1 mm)	Percent of total roots outside root ball that are fine (<2.0 mm)	Percent of total roots outside root ball that are coarse (≥2.1 mm)	Percent total fine (<2.0 mm) roots for entire root ball	Percent total coarse (≥2.1 mm) roots for entire root ball	Percent of total roots growing inside the root ball
2011	Black plastic	8.6	13.0	78.5	2.1	6.5	15.0	85.0	91.5
	Root Pouch	10.8	9.7	79.5	2.2	8.6	12.0	88.0	89.2
	Smart Pot	10.1	12.0	77.9	2.7	7.4	14.7	85.3	89.9

2012	Black plastic	21.4b	1.5	77.0a	1.7	19.8b	3.2	96.8	78.6a
	Root Pouch	30.0a	1.3	68.7b	2.1	27.9a	3.4	96.6	70.0b
	Smart Pot	27.3a	1.3	71.5b	1.8	25.4a	3.1	96.9	72.7b

2013	Black plastic	28.1b	0.6	71.4a	1.6b	26.4b	2.2	97.8	72.0a
	Root Pouch	35.0a	0.6	64.4a	2.0b	33.0a	2.6	97.4	65.0b
	Smart Pot	37.3a	0.8	61.9b	4.4a	32.9a	5.2	94.8	62.7b