Should Tree Nurseries be considered part of main stream Arboriculture? 

 It always make me smile when I read comments such as that made by Jeremy Barrel in a recent article entitled ‘Climate Change’ published in the Summer 2008 issue of the Arboricultural Association Newsletter.

Jeremy said: “There is an urgent need for co-ordination between nurserymen and arboriculturalists to identify, promote and supply species and forms that are most likely to be most suited to sustainable development.”

It is not the sentiment which causes the smile, or the contents of the article, with which I largely agree. In fact we have discussed the subject matter of the article on several occasions and I am sharing a platform with him and others at the Treeworks Environmental Practice Seminar ‘Trees the key to climate proofing our cities’ to be held in London on 10th July.

What does make me smile is the implicit acceptance that the tree nursery is not part of arboriculture. There is an implied separateness of the two, which is no only limited to Jeremy, but to many others in the profession. Somehow there seems to be a perception that arboriculture is predominantly about the maintenance of mature trees whether that be hazard assessment, maintenance pruning, felling, fungal identification, structural stability or any of the many other topics ’arboricultural professionals’ discuss. In some ways of course this is true but it is equally true that arboriculture is about the future, not only the future of tree populations existing now, but the future of an equivalent if not improved canopy cover once the current population has inevitably passed on. Trees cannot be preserved, they have a lifespan, at the end of which they die. The arboricultural profession can conserve, ameliorate where the tree is incompatible with its immediate environment, prolong the life of veterans, identify and rectify hazard but it cannot extend life indefinitely.

 It is here that the tree nursery becomes important and by tree nursery I mean a nursery whose sole business is the production of trees. Forest and hedgerow trees are likely to be self sown, some will be planted in woodlands, trunk road embankments or environmental schemes as transplants and or whips but most standard trees, particularly those being planted into the urban environment will come from a tree nursery. So in a strange way the future of arboriculture as described above will be a direct result of what is being done on the tree nursery today. Tomorrows canopy cover is being produced now.

Given that this is true it seems incomprehensible to me that tree nurseries and the tree production methods used are considered outside of mainstream arboriculture. What we are doing today on the nursery in so many ways shapes the future, both potentially creating and potentially resolving many of the management issues topical today and many of those which have yet to emerge. The structural pruning we do, the focus on stem taper, height to stem girth ratios, co-dominance and root system development are all arboricultural terms, and in nursery terms it is just that the trees we manage are smaller and younger but they are still trees.

At Barcham we have attempted to strengthen the links between arboriculture and the tree nursery, and are in the process demonstrating that the two are in fact one, just different aspects of the same discipline with trees as the commonality. At this moment in time we have members of our sales staff studying for or being examined at RFS Professional Diploma, AA Technicians Certificate and Foundation Degree level in, yes wait for it Arboriculture. Another begins the Mysercough BsC course in September and again in arboriculture.

We have set up a series of seminars which some of you may have attended to discuss arboricultural issues and have attracted speakers such as David Lonsdale, Colin Bashford, Jeremy Barrell, Glynn Percival, Marcus Bellett Travers and Mark Johnson. We have run these free of charge we feel that information dissemination is of critical importance within our industry which is of course arboriculture.

Treelife also use Barcham as a training centre conducting courses leading to RFS Professional Diploma and AA Technicians Certificate. Such activity has very little to do with the selling of trees but, I would suggest, all to do with arboriculture. It is my view that if, as an industry, we are to achieve the tree cover we all desire for the future and to which Jeremy so correctly and succinctly demonstrates in his article, then the tree nursery must be a part of the main stream arboricultural debate and not an appendage which is consulted only when all other decisions have been made.

We must together decide on the specification for trees necessary to meet the challenges of the future, there is a need to stimulate a demand for research and breeding programmes producing new and improved tree selections, reconsider what is meant by establishment when considering young trees post planting, whether structural pruning at the nursery can be improved to avoid future structural weaknesses developing, what species and cultivars will be best adapted to meat the perceived challenges of climate change.. … …

I would be delighted to discuss any of the above in detail and would welcome any views you might care to offer.

Email: keith@barchamtrees.co.uk

Keith Sacre, Sales Director (2008) Barcham Trees