Agriculture and Agribusiness

Tree Nursery Management and Seedling Production

A nursery decides the performance of a plantation before a single tree reaches the field, because a poorly rooted seedling planted well still fails. This course covers producing plantable stock. Delegates work through nursery siting, layout and water supply. Growing media and container systems are covered, including the root form each produces and the root deformation that condemns a tree years later. Seed handling, pre treatment and germination follow. Vegetative propagation is addressed for clonal material, covering hedge management, cutting collection, setting and rooting conditions. Irrigation and fertigation regimes are covered by growth stage. Hardening off is addressed as the step most often shortened under pressure to deliver. Pest and disease control in the nursery follows, since a nursery concentrates hosts. Grading, culling and dispatch are covered, including the standards a plantable seedling must meet. The course closes on production planning against a planting programme, and on nursery records.