Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) seeds are sensitive to damage during collection, processing, treatment, and storage. High-quality seeds are essential for successfully producing nursery crops that meet management goals and perform well in the field. Uniformity in the production of pine seedlings primarily depends on prompt and uniform seed germination, early seedling establishment, and a variety of cultural practices that are applied as the seedlings develop. The best collecting, handling, and processing methods maximize performance attributes and reduce the need for extensive nursery cultural practices to compensate for poor seed quality. Guidelines are presented that will help seed dealers, orchard managers, and nursery personnel produce high-quality longleaf pine seeds and improve the efficiency of nursery production.

Silviculture: Concepts and Applications reflects a belief that all the tools of silviculture have a useful role in modern forestry. Through careful analysis and creative planning, foresters can address a wide array of commodity and nonmarket interests and opportunities while maintaining dynamic and resilient forests. A landowner’s needs, circumstances, and site conditions guide a silviculturist’s judgment and decision making in finding the best ways to integrate the biologic-ecologic, economic-financial, and managerial-administrative requirements at hand. The Third Edition of this influential text provides a foundational basis for rigorous discussion of techniques. The inclusion of numerous real-world examples and balanced coverage of past and current practices broadens the concept of silviculture and the ways that managers can use it to address both traditional and emerging interests in forests. A thorough discussion of new and proven interpretations increasingly directs the attention of foresters toward the role silviculture plays in creating, maintaining, rehabilitating, and restoring forests that can sustain an expanding variety of ecosystem services.