Maelor Forest Nurseries grows their 25 million Sitka Spruce seedlings in the miniplug facility in Wrexham, UK, built as a turnkey project by CMW Horticulture – a Bosman Van Zaal company. “Our miniplug facility consists of three elements, a seed sowing line, covered growing area, and outdoor hardening off space. All three elements are connected by a roller bench system, which significantly reduces manual handling of trays”, says Maelor Forest Nurseries.
Continuous and steady supply and improved quality and resilience
“The miniplug facility will secure not only a continuous and steady supply of tree stocks but also improve their quality and resilience to the effects of climate change”, they continue. The seed sowing started in early June 2022, with a million seeds sown in the first two days. The second sowing campaign saw over 12 million seeds sown by the end of June – these have germinated well and grew on over the summer and were planted in the field last autumn. The seedlings will grow for another year before being distributed to customers in winter 2023/24.
Film covered greenhouse including installations
The project includes a film covered Venlo type multi span greenhouse of 25,446 m2; a working area; irrigation and electrical installations; over 2,000 containers with transport systems; a Viscon seeding line and plug fixers; a BCC mixing and filling line; and Urbinati and BCC spraying booms. BCC also supplied a tray-washer. Continue reading here.
Maelor Forest Nurseries
Maelor Forest Nurseries Limited is located at Fields Farm, Bronington on the Welsh Borders. They also have a nursery site based at Darnaway, Forres, in the Scottish Highlands. The nursery is part of the BSW Group and Binderholz and produces an extensive range of commercial forestry and native broadleaf species, marketing approximately 35 million trees a year to customers throughout the UK and Europe.
