Tree nursery in Lurë-Dejës Mt. National Park

Valuable experience from the 2022 season allowed us to rethink the approach for the tree nursery and address all major issues we identified in the previous season. We built our first greenhouse, acquired growing trays, planting substrate and expanded the capacity to 15,000 saplings.

Greenhouse

In May 2023, we built our first greenhouse to address the main issue we suffered in 2022: excessive watering as the seedlings were exposed to the rain. The greenhouse allows us to control the amount of water the seedlings receive and regulates the temperature to achieve a more extended vegetation period, which would otherwise be very short.

The greenhouse is 5m x 13m or 65m2, made from a wooden frame and UV-resistant plastic cover. The structure is anchored to the ground with wooden beams, and the plastic cover is attached to the roof and the sides leaving the front and back open for ventilation.

The total capacity of the greenhouse is 20,000—25,000 seedlings depending on the layout of the trays. Next year we will build a second greenhouse to expand the capacity to 50,000 saplings.

Growing trays

In 2022 we used plastic bags to grow our seedlings. Unfortunately, the used bags didn't have enough drainage and were oversized. It is also difficult to lift the bags above the ground to help with drainage and prevent roots from growing into the ground.

To address these issues, we decided to grow our seedlings in special growing trays designed for growing conifers' saplings. We are using two sizes of growing trays from the Swedish company BCC which specializes in nursery technologies.

For the 1st year seedlings, we use BCC HIKO V120SS growing trays to achieve 15,000 capacity. Seedlings are replanted after the 1st year into BCC HIKO V256 trays and grow for another 1—2 years.

Planting substrate

In 2022 we used a mixture of the soil from the planting area with nutrient-rich soil from the local field. This mixture could have been better as it was too dense, had the wrong pH values, and contained weeds and fungi, which affected the seedlings.

We changed our planting medium from the locally sourced soil to a special peat moss planting substrate for conifers with a correct pH value of 3.8—4.5 and mixed it with Perlite. This mixture is light, allows good drainage, and is free from weeds and fungi. It also does not contain any fertilizers as other substrates, which enables us to control the amount of nutrients the seedlings receive.

In 2022 we established a simple tree nursery to test the viability of producing our saplings in the Fushë Lurë with the target of 5,000 saplings of Pinus nigra.

Experimental nursery

When we started the tree nursery in the 2022 project, we had very little knowledge within the team about running the nursery or growing seedlings and saplings. After all, it looks effortless when visiting other nurseries with vast numbers of healthy seedlings and saplings.

Well... when something looks simple, it's usually because someone dedicated a lot of time to make it run smoothly.

We started with the idea that we would grow our saplings in the most natural way possible, without greenhouse, fungicides or artificial fertilizers. While this sounds like a good idea, the reality of harsh high-altitude weather and the resulting short vegetation period makes this approach quite tricky.

We planted 5000 bags, four seeds per bag, to compensate for the natural loss as some seeds will not germinate. The soil we used to plant the seeds was a mix of the soil from the planting area and nutrient-rich soil from the field near the nursery. We placed our bags on the ground without any cover and did not use any fungicides or fertilizers.

The first two months were quite successful, the seeds germinated, and the seedlings grew. However, after two months, we started to see the first signs of root rot. We tried to save the seedlings by applying fungicide, but it was too late. The root rot spread quickly, and we lost most of the seedlings.

The 1,700 surviving seedlings kept growing throughout 2022, and almost all survived the harsh winter. In Spring 2023, they started 2nd vegetation period ending in Autumn when they will be planted.

Lessons learned

Oh boy..., it's learning by doing!

The main issue with the 2022 tree nursery was the lack of a greenhouse, which left seedlings exposed to the rain without any means to regulate the amount of water. These conditions caused root rot and fungi infestation, resulting in the loss of 70% of the seedlings.

The other issue was the growing bags we used to plant the seeds. The bags were too big and lacked drainage, which, combined with the lack of a greenhouse, caused the root rot. The bags were also placed on the ground, contributing to poor drainage.

The soil we used to plant the seeds could have been better as we used what was available locally. The resulting mixture was too dense and had the wrong pH value. It also contained weeds, fungi and other parasites, which, when left untreated, caused the loss of 70% of the seedlings.