Nursery Grows Millions Of Pine Tree Seedlings

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30190, 23 July 1963, Page 6

Nursery Grows Millions Of Pine Tree Seedlings

When the New Zealand Forest Service decided recently to pack pine tree seedlings in cardboard containers for dispatch from the Rangiora nursery'they were completing a cycle, says “Unibox.” the magazine of the packaging divisions of the united Empire Box Group.

The cardboard used to make the containers to protect the pine seedlings was manufactured from the pulp of other pine trees. The Rangiora nursery is one of the biggest of almost 30 owned by the forest service. At present there are 10.5 million .young trees growing on 24 of the 29 acres that comprise the nursery. Last year the nursery sent 2.5 million seedlings to Canterbury forest areas for new plantations (1000 acres) and restocking (1400 acres). Private nurseries also bought some of these seedlings. More than 3 million young pines will be distributed this year. Some will And their way to the West Coast and parts of the North Isand. Within a year or two it is expected that output from the Rangiora nursery will reach 4 million trees annually. Mechanisation has made these huge numbers possible. Only about 5 per cent of the cultivation is done by hand. Manual work is. however/ also required on lifting, sorting and necking During dry weather the seedlings are kept moist with a sprinkler system devised by the forester in charge, Mr N. Curnow. The system can

deliver 6000 gallons of water an hour and often is kept operating 15 hours a day. It was Mr Curnow who introduced the new packing system. , Previously the roots of the trees were dipped in a mixture of day and mud to keep them from drying out during shipment and so they could be stored. With the new method the trees can be packed straight into the cardboard containers which are lined with polythene to hold in the moisture. Packing has become quicker and shipments are lighter and less bulky. The containers are made in Christchurch.