Aotearoa leads the world in radiata pine forestry.
It also leads the world in radiata pine forestry nursery practices.
Consequently, it is surprising that indigenous nursery practices have failed to piggyback on the success of the exotic forestry industry.
As might be expected, large-scale forestry requires economically-priced plants of consistent high quality and in large numbers—radiata pine seedlings cost under 30 cents each.
Species indigenous to Aotearoa can cost 10 times more—
$3.30 each for a potted seedling. But not only is the seedling cost higher, the total cost of establishing an area of self-maintaining plants can be exorbitant—about $180 000 for the six hectares of established indigenous vegetation needed under Rodney District Council rules for creating a residential title.
This price difference is responsible for a perception that indigenous species are somehow ‘special’, and unsuited to being raised economically by forestry methods.
Forestry
nurserymen with experience in raising both, know there are no blanket physiological differences between exotic and indigenous species.
Remarkably, until this
Sustainable Farming Fund open-ground trial, which was initiated by
Friends of the Mahurangi in response to the
Mahurangi Action Plan, no scientifically designed comparisons of the two very different nursery methods had been conducted.
Forestry methods Predominant radiata pine nursery practice is to sow seed directly into open-ground beds. The roots are subsequently mechanically pruned, which results in a compact, rather than elongated, root mass. The plants are taken from the nursery bare-root (without soil), which is also the traditional manner of establishing vegetable seedlings, roses and fruit trees. An individual forestry nursery typically produces in excess of a million plants per year.
Container methods Standard indigenous nursery practice is to germinate seed in plug trays and to then grow on the seedlings in plastic planter bags or pots, or in root trainers. Individual indigenous plant nurseries typically produce tens or hundreds of thousands of plants per year—as opposed to millions by each forestry nursery.
Next section Left to Market Forces
Contents
View as one page
The Open-Ground and Container-Raised Indigenous Plants Comparison is a Sustainable Farming Fund project.
Carbon Consumer: While exotic forests are good, indigenous forests can sequester carbon dioxide even longer, including as quality timber that can last centuries. Photographer Jonathan Barran
Sibling Rivalry: Samples of plants propagated at the same time from the same seed source. On average, the forestry-style plants (left) developed canopies and stems twice the diameter of the container-raised plants. Photographer Jonathan Barran