At middle and lower elevations, red spruce Picea rubens , yellow birch Betula alleghaniensis , eastern hemlock Tsuga canadensis , yellow buckeye Aesculus octandra , and sugar maple Acer saccharum are the most common canopy associates 6,7,8,13,16, Mountain maple Acer spicatum and serviceberry Amelanchier spp.
Shrubs associated with Fraser fir include hobblebush Viburnum alnifolium , witherod V. Flowering and Fruiting- Fraser fir is monoecious. Flower buds usually open from mid-May to early June. Female flowers are borne mostly in the top few feet of the crown and on the outer ends of branches.
Male flowers are borne below female flowers, but mostly in the top half of the crown. The fruit is an erect cone, 3. The strongly reflexed bracts, much longer than the scales, distinguish Fraser fir from balsam fir.
Seed Production and Dissemination- Seed production may begin when trees are 15 years old. Good seed crops occur every other year with light crops in the intervening year. The combination of lightweight winged seeds, steep slopes, and high winds makes for good seed dispersal. Seeds may be moved as much as 1. Fruit ripens and is dispersed from September through mid-October. Seedling Development- Germination is epigeal. It approximates 50 percent of sound seeds and appears to be correlated with length of the maturation period.
Germination of seeds collected on August 31 was 18 percent but increased to 66 percent for seeds gathered during cone disintegration about September 23 During poor seed years, the yield and quality of seed decrease and insect damage increases 27, In a good year, seeds averaged 78 percent filled, with only 3 percent infested by insects. In a poor year, only 36 Percent were filled, and 29 percent of that were infested by a seed chalcid, Megastigmus specularis.
Fraser fir seeds germinate well on mineral soil, moss, peat, decaying stumps and logs, and even on litter that is sufficiently moist. When seeds germinate on surface litter, the seedlings usually die during dry weather. Moss and peat commonly remain damp, however, and the appearance of moss on the forest floor indicates sufficient moisture to make germination possible with survival throughout the growing season Stratification of Fraser fir seeds may not be wholly necessary.
Germination and initial establishment are best under a forest cover. The greatest obstacle to natural reforestation is the desiccation of the moss and peat layer after cutting or fire, followed by surface drying of the mineral soil. Once established, growth is best in full light.
Under a dense canopy, Fraser fir may be only 0. In old-growth, all-aged stands, it may take 40 years to attain sapling size. In the absence of shade, it grows much faster. Planted seedlings in cutover forest averaged 2. Under favorable conditions of weed control and fertilization, Christmas tree plantings grow to 1.
Vegetative Reproduction- Under natural conditions, layering may occur when lower branches come in contact with moist soil, but it is not an important reproductive mechanism. Fraser fir planting stock may be produced by rooting cuttings under controlled temperatures and moisture. A high percentage of stem cuttings from young trees can be induced to root. In one study, rooting was 92 percent in cuttings from 5-year-old trees, compared with 54 percent from year-olds and 29 percent from year-olds.
Rooting of cuttings from to year-old trees averaged 4 to 6 percent and varied with crown position He was again fertilized in the spring and will be each year from here on. The photo on the left, like all the above photos, was taken in April and shows the growth that occurred during the growing season.
The photo in the center was taken in July, and shows the new growth before its initial shearing. He is now standing a couple of inches over six feet!
While we love to see the growth, unfortunately we can't let him keep all of it or he'll just grow tall, thin, and spacey and never fill out. The photo on the right was taken in August, and shows the tree getting it's initial haircut. I cut the leader back to about 14 inches and trimmed several of the protruding branches. I'm using a clippers for photo purposes. The guys will use shearing knives on all the other similar sized trees see photos of shearing in our Primer on Christmas Tree Farming or wait until the photos.
Hopefully, Freddy will look this fit and healthy in April, Freddy had another great year! This year we were experimenting with a specially formulated slow release fertilizer.
It's quite a bit more expensive, but the trees seem to respond well. The problem with regular fertilizer is that it leaches through our sandy soil too fast and we don't get the residual benefit we would like to have. Both Freddy and Fanny now get "grown-up" haircuts. The center right picture shows Greg shearing Freddy with a shearing knife. This is the same treatment all the larger trees get each year and is one of our major summer work items.
Note that Freddy had a double leader Fanny had a triple one. Footnote: The ample rainfall of Spring and Summer came to an end in late-August. We had less then 1" of rain during the entire Fall season.
Also, they began to go dormant in late-August and their water needs lessen. The same cannot be said for the smaller Fraser Fir. We replacement planted Fraser Fir in early-September. They were scattered throughout the fields and not under drip irrigation.
Probably only a couple hundred survived to Spring This year we have again chosen to highlight Freddy Fir, although the corresponding photos for Fanny Fir would be almost identical.
They truly are twins. Note that in the Before left photo that Freddy is now about eight feet tall, having put on about a two foot leader in our wet spring and early summer.
Also note the wild branches pointing toward me. In the After right photo, Greg has just completed the shearing. Note that Freddy Fir and Fanny Fir is now a roughly seven foot tree. Greg had to take about a foot off the leader to maintain symmetry. Strong branches are turned slightly upward which gives the tree a compact appearance. Leaves needles are flattened, dark-green with a medial groove on the upper side and two broad silvery-white bands on the lower surface.
These bands consist of several rows of stomata pores. On lower branches, leaves are two-ranked occurring in two opposite rows. On upper twigs, leaves tend to curl upward forming a more "U-shaped" appearance. Bark is usually gray or gray-brown, thin, smooth with numerous resin blisters on young trees.
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