Planting and maintaining trees in tough sites Term Paper

Planting and maintaining trees in tough sites - Term Paper Example One of the main researches that were made by this field was the identification and recognition of the characteristics of land that make it tough for trees plantation. A number of characteristics have been identified that make a land a ‘tough site’. CHARACTERISTICS OF TOUGH SITES: 1. POORLY DRAINED SOIL: The drainage of the soil is the main category to consider the toughness of a site for plantation purposes. A site is said to contain well-drained soil if it is capable of draining column of water of 24-inch in 24 hours or less. A test for this purpose is conducted through digging a 24-inch deep hole in the land and filling it with water. It is then examined whether the water is drained in 24 hours or not. If the water is not fully drained even after 24 hours, the soil is deemed to be poorly drained. 2. DROUGHTY SOILS: The soil is said to be droughty soil if the drainage rate is very high and a 24-inch water column is drained in very few minutes. The content of organic mat ter is also very less in droughty soils, sometimes lesser than 1%. This can be calculated by a laboratory test. 3. ALKALINE SOIL: The alkalinity of soil is also considered to determine the toughness of a site. A soil with higher value of PH (PH>7.0) is considered to be alkaline. It is important to note here that most of the trees grow better in acidic soil with PH