Increased demand for seedlings

ALL seedlings grown by Forestry Tasmania for this year’s National Tree Day have been snapped up in the Derwent and Mersey districts and only limited numbers are still available in Bass and the Huon.

Schools and community groups were encouraged to put in their orders in advance for the 10,000 seedlings prepared by Forestry Tasmania’s Nursery and Seed Centre for Schools Tree Day on July 30 and National Tree Day on August 1.

Photo: Cressy High School's receiving seedlings for National Tree Day for use on their school farm. (Pictured left to right: Farm Manager Nick Goss, Grade 10 students Sarah Casey, Gary Musicka and Dylan Cavenagh and Agricultural Science teacher Andrew Dilger).

Derwent Community Liaison Officer Murray Kirkwood said this year there had been strong demand for the seedlings which are made available free of charge to schools and community groups through FT community liaison officers.

He said the increased demand was due to positive publicity and the fact that a much wider variety of seedlings had been made available this year.

“Since FT started participating in National Tree Day activities in 2006 we have grown more than 33,000 seedlings,” he said.

“The biggest demand this year has been for smaller shrubs which have been fully subscribed and in some cases oversubscribed, although a limited number of coastal tea tree seedlings are still available in the Bass and Huon districts.

“The most popular varieties have been blackwood, white kunzea, manuka tea tree, lemon bottlebrush and scented paperbark, many of which have been oversubscribed.”

Some taller species including the cider, silver, white and Morrisby gum tree seedlings are still available in Bass and the Huon.

The Forest Nursery at Perth will begin work in September on preparing seedlings for next year’s donations.

“We will analyse this year’s trends and will be contacting schools and community groups before that so we can better tailor production of species to meet their needs,” Mr Kirkwood said.

END
15th July, 2010
 

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