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Mulching with plastic film, cinders, or juniper slash; deep furrowing; and fallowing increased penetration and retention of soil moisture, delayed soil surface crusting, and lowered seeding-zone temperatures in tests at five different pinyon-juniper range locations. Responses of seven forage species to these practices varied. The combination of plastic film mulching, deep furrowing, cinder mulching, and fallowing uniformly had resulted in greater soil moisture, more seedlings, and better early growth than other combinations. Plants under juniper slash had a longer growing season and were protected from excessive grazing by rabbits, with no evidence of toxic effects from the juniper. Cinder mulch increased seedling emergence and establishement, but in one year appeared to be toxic to the planted species. Deep furrowing generally had no advantage over surface drilling. Fallowing benefited pubescent wheatgrass and fourwing saltbush at a cold-moist pinyon-juniper site. The number of seedlings emerging gave little indication of the plant stand several years later. Attempts to revegetate depleted southwestern pinyon-juniper ranges often fail because the normally dry springs and falls make plant establishment difficult (Gomm and Lavin 1968). Widely used cultural practices such as mulching, furrowing, and fallowing affect plant establishment, growth, and survival by modifying soil properties such as moisture content and temperature (Geiger 1959; Jacks et al. 1955; Mathews and Cole 1938). However, little is known about the effectiveness of these practices in establishing and maintaining forage plantings on semiarid pinyon-juniper rangelands. Although these practices are expensive, the increasing cost of range rehabilitation has renewed interest in attempting to increase the changes of adequate establishment at first planting rather than relying upon repeated plantings. This paper reports the results of a long-term study of the effectiveness of mulching, furrowing, and fallowing on forage plantings in Arizona pinyonjuniper. Limited work done on juniper ranges in the 1940’s and 1950’s indicated that natural mulches seemed to improve establishment and maintenance of grass stands (Judd 1948; Judd 1966; Lavin unpublished data). However, the practice of range mulching was considered too expensive, and no followup studies were done at that time. Mulches modified soil temperature and conserved soil moisture in the seeding zone on New Mexico pinyon-juniper sites (Springfield 1972). Straw mulching also protected the soil surface from puddling and erosion, reduced runoff, and increased infiltration. Mulching onto moist soils consistently improved seedling emergence, but adequate plant establishment depended on additional rainfall. Hot, dry, windy weather reduced mulching effectiveness. Authors are range scientist (deceased), research agronomist, and research agronomist, respectively, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Science and Education Administration, Agricultural Research, 2000 East Allen Road, Tucson, Arizona 85719, and USDA-SEA-AR Crops Research Laboratory, Logan Utah 97720. Polyethylene mulches modify soil temperatures (Andrews et al. 1976; Hopen 1965) and moisture levels (Knave1 and Mohr 1967). Generally, when air temperature is high, soil temperatures and evaporation losses are lower with black plastic than with clear plastic (Knave1 and Mohr 1967), so black plastic might be more beneficial for establishment of range plantings. Gravel mulch conserved soil moisture and protected the soil surface from crusting (Corey and Kemper 1968). It was suggested that narrow bands of gravel might be effective on seeded areas. Readily available local materials might be suitable for this application. Furrows increase soil moisture content and decrease evaporation (Bertrand 1965). Seeding zone moisture was higher with furrowing than with surface drilling throughout the growing season in Arizona pinyon-juniper, but excessive sloughing of soil in deep, narrow furrows was detrimental to seedling emergence (Lavin et al. 1973). Furrow shape, size, and spacing; soil type, and precipitation intensity are all related to seeding success with furrowing (Wein and West 197 I). Establishment of crested wheatgrass [Agropyron desertorum (Fish. ex Link) Schult.] was improved with deep furrowing (McGinnies 1959; Young et al. 1969) but this species is reported to establish equally well with surface drilling (Hull 1970). Fourwing saltbush [Atriplex cunescens (Pursh) Nutt.] became established in deep furrows at one New Mexico site but failed due to soil sloughing at another (Springfield 1970). The degree to which fallowing increases soil moisture in subsequent years varies with the pattern and amount of precipitation (Mathews and Cole 1938). Precipitation is stored in the soil more effectively in cool, moist weather than in warm, dry weather. The prolonged spring and fall dry periods and limited rainfall in Arizona pinyon-juniper ranges do not seem conducive to increasing soil moisture by fallowing, but it might be useful on wetter sites and during wetter years.

Mulching, Furrowing, and Fallowing of Forage Plantings on Arizona Pinyon-Juniper Ranges