An upgrade of £14.5 million will be made to Forestry England’s tree nursery to grow climate-resilient trees at its tree nursery in Cheshire, including building a new seed extractory. This will produce seeds for millions of high-quality, UK grown, resilient trees in the decades ahead. Source: Timberbiz
The new facility, which is due to open in the northern spring of 2025, will be the largest in the UK, testing and processing up to four tonnes of tree seeds each year. It will replace Forestry England’s current seed extractory at Alice Holt Forest in Surrey which was built in 1964.
Most of the funding for the upgrades is being made available from the Defra Nature for Climate Fund with Forestry England also contributing.
The project will boost Forestry England’s resilience in supplying suitable genetic material for woodland creation and regeneration for the rest of this century. In particular, the development will allow Forestry England to process more seed, and from a greater variety of tree species located in 13 specially planted orchards and 39 seed stands spread across the nation’s forests.
Douglas fir, western red cedar and Norway spruce will be amongst the focus species because they are expected to grow well and become more prominent as sources of high-quality timber in England’s future climate conditions.
As well as processing seeds and growing trees for the nation’s forests, Forestry England also supplies other forestry organisations. In 2025, depending on the seed crops, they expect to supply around 450 kg of conifer seeds to the private sector as well as around 7.5 million trees for planting in the nation’s forests.
Building a secure supply of high-quality tree seed from diverse species over the years ahead will significantly improve availability for UK nurseries and reduce the amount of seed imported from overseas. This will benefit the UK forestry sector as a whole and plays a major part in boosting diversity in timber producing tree species.
The new seed extractory building will be equipped with the best available processing machinery alongside expanded areas for cold and dry seed storage that will enable several tonnes of seeds to be stored in the best conditions before germination and planting.
As well as building the new seed extractory, Forestry England is creating a new miniplug growing facility at the nursery, which will more than double the capacity of the ‘standing out area’.
This is the protected area where tree seedlings continue to grow after they leave the glasshouse and become acclimatised to outdoor conditions. This will complement the glasshouse which Forestry England opened in 2018 as its first major project to build resilience against changing weather patterns.
This computer-controlled environment uses a combination of fans, shade screens and roof ventilation to regulate the temperature, humidity and light levels for the growing trees. Cell-grown trees can be planted all year round and so help in extending the planting season in the nation’s forests. Together, these tree nursery investments support Forestry England’s work growing, planting and caring for sustainable, wildlife-rich, productive forests across the country.
