What’s happening in the field? Cone Harvesting at ArborGen Ravenel Seed Orchard! It’s that time of year when we’re busy harvesting pine cones for next season’s crop of the best Loblolly Pine available. Watch this video to see our dedicated team at the Ravenel, South Carolina seed orchard.
Top clipping seedlings is a practice that makes a significant difference in seedling performance. This practice controls the shoot-to-root ratio, which is the leading reason for good survival. Seedlings with a shoot-to-root ratio of less than 2:1 tend to survive better. We want those roots to be rock stars. So, we clip the tops to keep them in check.
The ArborGen seedling process, from start to finish, features nurseries and orchards across our numerous locations.
Aerial footage of ArborGen hardwood seedlings in August.
You’re watching pine seedling wrenching operations at one of our ArborGen nurseries. Wrenching loosens the soil and aerates the roots which helps produce a seedling with a more fibrous root system and usually a greater root-to-shoot ratio.
Seeds have been sown at all the nurseries and are off to a great start. The germinates are already coming along nicely and will yield the highest quality seedlings available late this year.
At ArborGen, we are committed to helping landowners, consulting foresters, and tree planters around the world achieve maximum return, productivity, and profitability from reforestation efforts. We provide seedlings with healthy lateral root systems, strong survival rates, and landowners, advisors, and planting crews with best practices for every step of the process for reforestation and hardwood timber farms to ensure a financial return.
Bareroot planting begins at ArborGen nurseries in the spring months of March and April. Mechanical planters with computer controlled systems allow the driver to adjust the system as needed to increase the uniformity of seedlings and the yield per acre. After glue is applied to the soil and allowed to dry, the beds are then watered.
We’re busy prepping the seeds to plant this season’s seedlings. Learn how we prepared this year’s seed crop to grow the best seedlings available anywhere.
ArborGen’s breeding of MCP seedlings is a process that delivers significant value to the landowner. The carefully selected elite parents, chosen for their gains in growth rate and quality traits, such as log straightness, reduced forking, and resistance to fusiform rust disease, are a testament to the benefits of our breeding process.