Forestry Corporation’s Blowering Nursery is at full production in readiness for the 2023 planting season, with almost three million seedlings inspected to ensure they meet the required standard.

These seedlings will join a further 3.5-million from Forestry Corporation’s Grafton Nursery and will be dispatched to planting crews across the state’s softwood plantation estate from Bathurst, Bombala, Tumut and Walcha.

The planting program runs from now until September and by that time the nursery crew will have inspected 11 million cells and dispatched around nine million quality seedlings that will help supply the building industry and community down the track.

Phil Green, Plantation Improvement Manager, said given the nursery has endured one of its toughest growing seasons on record, inspection is a vital step to ensure seedlings dispatched from the nursery can grow to their full potential and supply timber needs in decades to come.

“These seedlings are going to become future generations’ homes and furniture, so we go to great lengths to ensure we produce high quality, robust seedlings that will produce the best timber when they are ready for harvest,” Mr Green said.

Since Forestry Corporation’s Blowering nursery commenced production in 1997, it has seen over 176 million seedlings pass through its gates to help build people’s homes and workplaces.

Mr Green said the current crop of seedlings started their journey in October last year when the team at the nursery sowed more than 400 kilograms of seed into individual cells.

“Like last year, with a large program on foot as we continue to replant areas harvested and those devastated in the 2019 bushfires, we have again engaged additional assistance to help with the grading and dispatch program,” he said.

“At the height of this year’s dispatch program, we anticipate that we will be sending almost one million seedlings out of the nursery gate each week.”

Forestry Corporation utilizes different seeds for trees destined to be planted in different parts of the estate so that they have the best chance of making the most of their planted environment and growing into the highest-quality timber possible at the individual site level.