Effects of curtain-like pruning on distribution and seasonal patterns of carbohydrate reserves in plane (Platanus acerifolia Wild) trees.

The maintenance of plane trees (Platanus acerfolia Wild) by regular curtain-like pruning during the vegetative period induced modifications in the distribution and seasonal patterns of carbohydrate reserves in the perennial parts. The unpruned trees were characterized by high and fairly constant concentrations of starch in roots > 5 cm in diameter and a decreasing gradient of starch from the base to the top of the trunk. Starch also accumulated at the trunk-branch junction and at the base of large branches. Curtain-like pruning caused the starch gradient in the trunk to disappear and induced well marked seasonal variations in the starch concentration of roots > 5 cm in diameter. Pruning also eliminated the accumulation of starch at the trunk-branch junction during summer, but it had no effect on the accumulation of starch at the base of large branches. Concentrations and seasonal fluctuations of carbohydrates in roots < 0.5 cm in diameter were similar in both pruned and unpruned trees. Repeated cuts or "short head pruning" induced the formation of excrescences at the tips of branches that accumulated starch.