More impressively, however, a total of 373 new shoots that stretch up to 70 inches away from the original plant been counted. Using a count of total number of new shoots, we compared these three treatments and found that, overall porous clay capsules were most effective, figure 2. We also examined two types of plant shelters at this site. We compared chicken wire enclosures to tree shelters and found that, again using a count of total number of new shoots, tree shelters were superior, figure 3. The tree shelters probably helped by reducing moisture stress while the vulnerable new plants were first becoming established.
Tree shelters reduce temperatures, wind exposure, and sun exposure to transplants.
The first small planting was done at Tecolote Canyon Park with three plants in the native garden and three in the open park. The plants in the garden have fared much better. They have continued to grow and spread. Our transplanting efforts have taught us that A. pumila is a vigorous and very low maintenance plant when it comes to vegetative reproduction. However, for a plant that has been reduced to such extremely small numbers, vegetative reproduction is not enough.