Huge success of new tree planting technology in Elgin may have global impact
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Revolutionary tree planting technology trialled near Elgin has been hailed a huge success which could have an impact for forests around the world.
Using the new TreeTape system Forestry and Land Scotland has recorded productivity gains of almost 2000 per cent during the trials at Newton Nursery.
The old method of working allowed the nursery's staff to plant up to 60,000 seedlings in one day.
By contrast, the TreeTape system has demonstrated it can plant a million in the same time
Josh Roberts, FLS's innovation manager, said: "The majority of trees that foresters plant are actually first grown in dedicated forest nurseries.
"One of the most labour intensive jobs involves carefully uprooting the tiny seedlings after their first year and then replanting them at the right spacing for another year's growth.
"With TreeTape, seeds of known origin are germinated and grown to a suitable size before being taken to be planted at a future forest site.
"What would have taken us weeks, with several teams on the go, was achieved in just four days."
According to FLS, these efficiency gains are not the only major advantage.
The TreeTape system works by sowing seeds into a continuous, biodegradable, paper ribbon of compost filled pockets.
Once sown, this ribbon of pockets is then placed in a glasshouse, providing the young trees with optimum growing conditions.
Moving the germination inside means there is significant scope to increase the proportion of seeds that germinate, meaning more trees can be grown from the same quantity of seed.
Mr Roberts said: "Scattering seeds in the field results in about half of them germinating.
"With this trial we’ve already got that figure up to 79 per cent. Over the next few years we think that careful experimentation and care can get us up past 90 per cent.
"We’ll obviously be keeping a very close eye on these recently planted seedlings to see how they develop over the next 12 months, but we are confident that we are in the process of revolutionising the way that forestry trees are produced.
"This technology will certainly help FLS to make a big contribution to Scotland’s future climate emergency effort, but it’s also a technology that could deliver benefits to forestry around the world."
The TreeTape system has been modified from a leading vegetable growing technology by Michael Ashby, who's a director of Cumbria Tree Growers, and Brian Fraser, a director of Oakover Nurseries Ltd.
It is a direct response to a challenge which FLS sponsored last year, with part-funding from the Can Do Innovation Challenge Fund.
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