Newton Nursery cold starage of plants 1981
Photographs courtesy of Alan Duncan, Newton Nursery.
Struan Stewart, Chief Forester, Laigh of Moray which also included Newton Nursery examining bags of trees in the private cold store at Dalcross (Salvasens?).
The trees would have been lifted in the nursery and instead of bundling, placed directly (if foliage was dry) into plastic bags. Placing the bags in cold storage checked any inclination of the trees to start growing and held them in a dormant state until they were delivered to the planting site. This method enabled nurseries to lift away ahead of demand from the forests and to get over the peak supply period of March /April still able to meet the numerous requests.
Cold store also enabled forests to extend their planting season into late April and May and sometimes beyond but care was required to demand small amounts at one time as once delivered they all had to be planted with 3-4 days. At least that was the aim! Note the bags were clear unlike the present day white bags with black insides. Leaving clear bags in the sunshine was a bit like putting a bag into a micro wave oven – very hot, highly aromatic and very dead looking trees!
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Groups: Forest Nurseries