INBO, ANB and forest tree nursery industry join forces for quality planting material
By 2030, the Flemish government wants to plant 10,000 hectares of additional forest. In addition, the Flemish Land Company (VLM) drew up a woodland edge plan, and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) also pays attention to woody small landscape elements. Implementing these projects requires a large amount of high-quality planting material. For many species, however, there is a shortage of seeds of native, Flemish origin. The Agency for Nature and Forests (ANB) and INBO are therefore setting up a cooperation agreement.
Seeds of autochthonous origin now mainly come from seed orchards established on ANB land. The aim is to establish new seed orchards on private land, including at forest tree nurseries. This will eventually bring more high-quality plant material onto the market.
INBO will be responsible for supplying plants for the new seed orchards. We are currently propagating material from existing seed orchards. This is done through winter and summer cuttings and grafts. In this way, we make a duplicate of the plants, and are sure of the quality of the material. These include winter and summer linden, European bird cherry, wild spindle, blackthorn, common aspen, alder buckthorn and field maple. A year after the start of the project, INBO delivers the first load of plants to ANB and interested forest tree growers.
>>Basic material action plan for autochthonous and forestry planting stock
Image above: Forest tree nursery sector visit to INBO's greenhouses (photo: Jan Vancayzeele - AVBS)