ZLV Online

Abstract

Based on extensive damage that had been caused to all individuals of Paulownia Clon in vitro 112® by frost during the winter season of 2016–2017 at our plantations Střelice and Vlčatín (Czech Republic), we decided to research what would protect the stem against frost. We chose plants of similar heights and root-collar diameters in the autumns before the winter seasons of 2017–2018 and 2018–2019. We applied three types of mechanical protection (non-woven fabric, paper bag and Tubex®), four types of chemical protection (foliar sprays Borax, Cukrovital® K400 and Borosan, and white paint on the stem) and left some of the plants as the reference. After these two winter seasons, we measured the height of the live part of each stem. Our results showed that Tubex® is unsuitable for frost protection. Here, the height of the live part of the stem was only approx. 9 cm, which was 10% of the mean total height. On the other hand, the best protection seemed to be the wrapping of the stem with a paper bag or non-woven fabric or painting the stem with white paint. After these types of protection, the heights of the live parts of the stems were the tallest but made up only 50–60% of the total heights measured before the winter seasons. In conclusion we can state that in terms of profitability of the plantations the frost protection of Paulownia Clon in vitro 112® was not successful.