TY - JOUR T1 - Response of Eight Maple Cultivars (<em>Acer</em> spp.) to Soil Compaction and Effects of Two Rates of Pre-plant Nitrogen on Tree Establishment and Aboveground Growth JF - Arboriculture &amp; Urban Forestry (AUF) SP - 64 LP - 74 DO - 10.48044/jauf.2012.011 VL - 38 IS - 2 AU - Barbara A. Fair AU - James D. Metzger AU - James Vent Y1 - 2012/03/01 UR - http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/38/2/64.abstract N2 - This study assessed soil compaction effects on aboveground growth of maple cultivars, and compared two nitrogen rates applied pre-planting for their influence on establishment and growth of trees planted into compacted soils. Eight commonly used maple cultivars of Acer rubrum and Acer × freemanii were evaluated. During container production, plants received either 25 or 100 mg·L−1 nitrogen through fertigation twice per day. Trees were planted into non-compacted field plots with a mean bulk density of 1.40 g·cm−3, or into compacted plots with a mean bulk density of 1.60 g·cm−3. In 2002, researchers randomly selected half of the compacted plots and applied an additional soil treatment. At the completion of this treatment, mean bulk density was 1.55 g·cm−3. Trees growing in higher density soils had significantly smaller aboveground biomass measures (P &lt; 0.05), than those growing in non-compacted plots. There was a significant difference between cultivars (P &lt; 0.0001); for example, ‘Celzam’ and ‘Fairview Flame’ had greater aboveground biomass values than other cultivars when grown in compacted soils, but compaction still affected growth. The 100 mg·L−1 nitrogen rate increased leaf dry weight and area, but did not impact height and caliper growth or stem dry weight. ER -