NURSERY CULTURAL PRACTICES
AND MANAGEMENT
FOREST NURSERY
An area where plants are raised for eventual planting out
TYPES OF NURSERY
1. Permanent nursery.
2. Temporary nursery.
3. Community forest nursery.
4. Stock nursery.
SELECTION OF NURSERY SITE
Factors to be considered:
Water supply:
Size and ownership of the area:
o Some consideration:
Annual plant production goal
Proper spacing
Path, road, irrigation ditch, labor quarter, future expansion
Time to keep seedling in the nursery
Location:
Accessibility:
Topography:
Ground cover:
Soil condition:
LAYOUT OF A NURSERY
Main features:
External fencing
Inspection path
Buildings
Seed germination area and nursery bed.
Irrigation system
Drainage system
Infrastructures should have
Fully equipped with necessary facilities.
Installation of water system i.e. pumping, wells, manual pump, water pump etc.
Germination shed.
Fenced perimeter.
NURSERY SIZE
Depends upon
Species
Age of seedling
Number of seedling
Area required for setup
Can be measured by a formula
A= (18*1.2*x*y)/z
Where, A=area of required nursery
X= area of plantation
Y= number of plants required of 1 ha of planation.
Z=number of plant in a bed.
PREPARATION OF NURSERY BED
Seed bed
points to be considered
Shape and size of seed bed
Types of seed bed
Surface of seed bed
Rectangular shaped bed are preferred.
(10m*1m) with 40-45cm gap.
Three types of bed
Raised bed: seeds which doesn’t require more moisture. i.e.
Teak
Sunken bed: dry areas. To avoid flow of water outside the bed.
(10-30)cm deeper than normal ground.
level bed:
Surface of bed:
perfectly flat or with slight camber.
Surface dressing
PREPARATION OF NURSERY BED
PREPARATION OF NURSERY BED
Soil is worked with hoe at a depth of 20-30 cm.
All roots, stump, stones are removed.
Soil is pulverized, raked and leveled.
Seed bed prepared one month before the sowing time.
Seed bed:
Seed bed for large seeds, small seeds are sowed in seed boxes.
Bamboo is used to make the side of seed bed firm and hold the
soil.
East-west direction
PREPARATION OF NURSERY BED
Seed bed
Soil working – to provide optimum condition for plant
growth
Dug to a depth of 40-50 cm
Taking out the soil : leave for 15-50 days for
weathering.
Picking of unwanted materials.
Treatment of soil.
Nutrients.
Polythene pots:
Three sized polythene pots
10*20cm = for germinating the seed
15*20cm = seedling for 4-6 month. i.e. Acacia nilotica
20*30 cm= for 8-12 month. i.e. Syzygium cumini
METHOD OF SOWING
Usually three methods
Broadcasting:
Dibbling:
Drill sowing:
Time of sowing
Period: 5 species
Use of container
Container planting gives better
result because
Protects root from disturbance
Less damage during transport
Can be kept for longer period
Polythene pots area mostly used.
ROOT COILING
Common nursery problem
Spotting out the coiled root plant.
Caused due to several reasons
Delay in transplanting
Watering with sprinkles.
Kept for longer period.
Heavy textured soil.
How to over come?
Holes in the pot.
Soil-sandy to sandy loam
Seedling should be pricked after
germination.
Watering.
TOO much watering.
Time frame.
CULTURAL AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
Success of nursery operation depends on:
i. Selection of suitable site.
ii. Efficient supervision, administration , planning,
forecasting, control procedure, timing of operation.
iii. Use of appropriate cultural method.
iv. Protection from damages.
Main operations of a nursery:
1. Planning, controlling, recording all stages.
2. Seed storage and pre-treatment.
3. Soil preparation of seed bed or container.
4. Sowing seed.
5. Pricking out, lifting, transplanting, hardening.
6. Nutrition of nursery stock.
7. Control of weeds.
8. Protection against pest and diseases.
9. Morphological grading.
10. Packaging and dispatching.
TYPES OF NURSERY STOCKS
Containerized: In a container.
Bare-rooted: Raised in seedbed, later lifted with or
without soil.
Vegetatively propagated: From mother tree with
budding, tissue culture , rooted cutting etc. technique.
Containerized are widely used.
For both types, seed needs to be in best condition
for sowing.
PRE-SOWING TREATMENT
Floating:
Soaking in tap water:
Soaking in hot water:
Acid soaking:
Burring the seed into ground:
RAISING CONTAINERIZED SEEDLING:
Operations involved:
Seed treatment:
Preparation of germination medium:
Medium- seed bed, tray, or boxes.
Box size – 1m*1m.
Sowing of seed:
Directly in polybag or in seed box.
Method of sowing:
Mulching in seed bed:
Time of sowing:
Choice in filling container:
THREE CONTAINER
Three kinds of container:
Impervious
Semi-pervious
Pre-filled container
Filling the container with appropriate soil:
Top soil, mycorrhizal infection.
Compost: Fertility and texture.
Compost preparation.
Pricking out:
Hardening bed:
RAISING BARE ROOTED SEEDLING
Seed bed preparation:
Seed sowing:
Lifting:
To take to the plant site.
Loosen the soil.
Lifting and planting should be done at the same day.
TENDING OPERATION:
Watering:
Shading:
Seedling nutrition:
Weed control:
Diseases and pest control:
Most common Damping off and
Mould
Damping off- rotting of tissue near
the root collar.
Causal fungi: Species of Pythium,
Fusarium, Penicilium etc
Mould: Foliage diseases.
Controlling:
HARDENING AND CONDITIONING
Hard condition in the field different from
nursery.
Bare rooted plants susceptible to
desiccation.
Thus needs a balanced root:shoot ration
and adequate collar diameter.
Can be done by root pruning,
innoculation of mycorrhizae and
HARDENING.
Root pruning:
Wire undercutting, unrootable pot,
air prune
HARDENING OFF
Amount of water is reduced??
Slow down growth
Reduce lush foliage
Encourage woodiness
Makes seedling better balanced and sturdier.
Gradually shaded trees are exposed to full sun-
light.
At a particular time of the day.
MORPHOLOGICAL GRADING
DISCARDED or CULLED.
Some characteristics are considered:
Healthiness
Height:
Stem diameter or root:collar dia:
Crown of seedling:
Shoot:root ratio:
Size and age:
PREPARATION FOR TRANSPORTATION
Critical stage.
Mud-pudding for bare rooted seedlings:
Process
May not for coniferous species.
