Update on Hometree's Organic Tree Nursery
It’s been a long journey from seed collection, building a polytunnel to creating beds and the right environment for each tree species to give them the best opportunity possible to grow into trees. Last Spring in May 2022, we sowed our first big batch of native tree seeds in our tree nursery. We grew Hawthorn, Alder, Scots Pine and Birch from seed in the polytunnel using an organic, no dig approach.
The growing process is sped up significantly when saplings are grown in a tunnel. In the case of alder and willow the saplings will be ready to be planted after one season of growing in a tunnel versus two years if growing in an outside bed.
Hometree’s first polytunnel produced 30,000 trees from seed in its first year. Not all of these trees have been transplanted into their forever home yet. For example, Scots pines are being lined out to grow further. This is the practice of spacing them out to allow for a stronger root system to establish before being planted. The Scots pine will usually grow one year in the tunnel and one to two years in a nursery bed before being ready for permanent planting.
Earlier this Spring with the amazing help of Tang financing and helping put in the foundations of our second polytunnel we now have two tunnels for our organic tree nursery on our HQ site in Ennistymon.
We are currently finishing making the tree beds. The beds are 10 m long, 75 cm wide. We start by raking the ground to make it level, then rolling to make it flat. Cardboard is then layed down which acts as a weed suppressant. Reusable wooden frames are placed on the bed and act as a template. These are temporary and are removed when beds are complete. A 50/50 mix of compost and sand is laid on top of the cardboard, this mix allows for drainage while providing the needed nutrients for the saplings. The final step is woodchip, it is spread around the beds to make paths, and the wooden frames then are removed.
The irrigation system of overhead misters in the second polytunnel is being fitted by our team. We have chosen this system as seeds that are being grown in the broadcasting system are very delicate and big droplets of water could harm them.
Every sapling is grown to transplantable maturity in the first year apart from Scots pines, as mentioned, they require at least one year in an outside bed before reaching transplantable stage.
Currently in our organic native Irish tree nursery we have 8,000 hawthorn seeds that have been germinated. They will grow to maturity in the cells they are currently growing in to then be directly transplanted to their forever home. The seeds have been collected by Hometree from our sites, promoting genetic diversity in the hawthorn genetic pool.
At the moment, we are experimenting with broadcasting seed vs growing in cells to see what has a greater yield in our system. Later this year we will start selling some of our tree saplings.
Learn more about our organic tree nursery, and if your business would like to become a partner and support our work within a nursery and beyond please get in touch with Matt, matt@hometree.ie
Photos Tang team installing the second polytunnel as part of the ESG day.