ISO, the tool we never knew we needed!

Having just completed our certification for ISO 45001 it made me think of the journey we have been on with ISO and the realization that actually our starting point for gaining the standard was actually further back then we realized.

Back in the summer of 2018 we decided as a business we wanted to strengthen our Environmental credentials and push the business further forward with its environmental responsibilities, this proved to be no mean feat and required us to produce a management system which would allow us to track all of the required environmental data and have policies and procedures in place which would help us to react to this information and continually improve our system and indeed the business.

We successfully completed our certification to ISO 14001 within a year of starting it, we were very happy with the results and Environmental success this brought to the business.  Then, however something unexpected happened, the tools and focus we applied to our management system began to cross into other areas of the business, communication and engagement within our team improved, people felt more and more part of the business and it seemed pretty simple with the team we had in place, we were hooked!

Fast forward to 2021 and we began to think could this system also be used to manage our teams Health, Safety & Wellbeing?  The business had grown considerably and as such become even busier and potentially hazardous to our teams and anyone visiting the site.

So, we discussed completing the ISO 45001 standard which covers all aspects of Occupational Health and Safety.  Looking through the standard this would be no mean feat as this standard is known for being particularly tough and would require some considerable resources to enable us to gain certification.

We launched a briefing road show with our teams completed by the Senior Leadership Team and mixed groups of 8 or so in order to explain to everyone what the business wanted to achieve and what this would mean to everyone, the response from the team was excellent and so we pushed forward with our plan.

A year later following many, many procedures, working groups and training it was time for our Certification Audits, three of them and four different auditors, this could certainly be classified as a full-on process.  However, we successfully completed our audits and received our certification with flying colors!

And whilst the overall OH&S context was important to us the hidden benefits were beyond expectations helping the business to become more agile, communicate with our teams more effectively and perhaps most importantly giving all off our team a voice for any concerns they may have.

So, we now have a great business management tool at the heart of both our ISO Certifications which is something we never realized would be so beneficial, who knows where ISO will take us next…

Paul Thurman-Carvey

Retail Director (Management Representative ISO)

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The importance of mulch!

An extract from Time for Trees – edition 04 written by our managing director, Mike Glover.

A good width of organic mulch around a newly planted tree is a great way of keeping competitive weed growth at bay and creating a buffer zone of retained moisture at soil level.

Ground based organisms travel up through the soil and into the mulch to feed before returning, keeping the top of the soil moist. A mulch also gives a wealth of fungal activity, re-creating an abundance of balanced activity associated with woodland floors.

Trees have evolved to thrive with this balance in place. But we have a tendency to spoil this party. So often I see trees surrounded with decorative rocks, coloured stone chips, an array of plastic liners, decking or even concrete, paving slabs, or tarmac. These non-organic coverings can entomb a tree to a life of slow failure. They can deprive the soil of water, killing off the balancing life in the soil that a tree needs to thrive. They are sterile, not organic, the opposite to a woodland floor. They can reflect both heat and light back into the canopy of the tree with scorching effects. Trees haven’t evolved with these inorganic decorations so it’s not surprising they do poorly under such circumstances. Trees don’t want hygiene, they want a balanced blend of organisms to support them.

Mulch is definitely the way to go but there can be too much of a good thing. Somewhere around four to six centimetres of mulch spread over a metre diameter and pulled out from around the trunk of the tree is enough to do the job. This will need topping up every season as it degrades. It is tempting to put a greater depth of mulch on but again, beware of deviating away from what nature intended.

The closer we can mimic nature the more your trees will thrive.

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New Despatch Yard

At Barcham we’re currently working towards the ISO 45001 standard – Health and Safety Management. In doing this, our despatch yard has seen the biggest number of improvements! 😀

It has been completely re-surfaced, with thanks to John Meredith (Meredith Farmers Ltd).

There is now a new barrier in use at the entrance to the yard to help control the traffic. A new one way traffic system and pedestrian walkway has been put in place. Something to please be aware of on your scheduled visits to Barcham. As always, a Hi Vis must be worn at all times out on the yard and nursery. 🦺

We’ve also put in a new raised platform for loading vehicles from www.davidharrisons.com 😊

 

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Another year passed!

Back in December we had our yearly external audit for ISO 14001. We are very pleased to have passed another year and remain ISO14001 certified. 😀

During this time our system is thoroughly checked, and key members of the team spoken to around what we do and how we manage our Environmental Management System.

ISO14001 is an Environmental Certification which asks you to consider, control or reduce your Environmental Impact by using an Environmental Management System.

For us, this environmental standard goes hand in hand with our product and what we are trying to achieve for the wider environment!

 

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What’s going on at Barcham?

Many of you may already be aware or maybe you have seen the work going on as you pass us on the A142 in Ely.

We’re developing a 16 acre showcase garden with a range of our stock and the photo below is a concept drawing of what we hope to achieve 🤞

Our aim is to not only help give you a better idea of what our stock can look like as it matures, but to also show you some of the different kind of purposes the trees can be used for. Right tree, right place! 🌳

The area will also consist of a new lake, a large play area and a retail shop with a café 😊

We’d love to bring you on this journey with us from the beginning and hopefully see you all there on our opening day! We will be posting regular updates and more information on how our new project develops.

So be sure to follow us on our social media platforms to keep up with the progress!

Twitter: @Barchamtrees
Facebook: Barcham Trees
Instagram: barchamtreesplc
LinkedIn: Barcham Trees PLC

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Queen’s Green Canopy is launched this week!

The aim of The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) is to thank Her Majesty The Queen for her exceptional service, celebrate her Platinum Jubilee and promote the importance of trees to the environment, through the encouragement of tree planting and tree conservation across the nation.

The potential legacy for the Queen’s Green Canopy tree planting within the UK is enormous and it is vital that trees are planted correctly and maintained with mulch and watered for up to 24 months after planting to give trees the best possible start.

If you want to take part in this scheme and plant trees for your local community, feel free to get in contact with us for advice and suggestions.

Right tree, Right place!

 

 

 

 

 

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Our unique range of organic products

With the clocks going forward it feels like the true start of Spring when all the trees at Barcham start coming into life after their winter hibernation. At this time within the production department, we start thinking about our Summer Spray Program and what we are spraying and when. Over the past few years, we have started to move away from chemical control of pest and disease to a more organic approach that works in harmony with the plants natural immunity. Think of it as similar to us taking vitamins to help prevent the onset of potential problems in the future. These products in simple terms enhance the plants natural processes to limit susceptibility to Pest and Disease.

Over the past 8 years, we have been working with a company called Engage who have developed a unique range of organic products mainly for Agriculture initially, and then being used by us in the horticultural industry. We have now been using this range of products for many years with great success to protect our trees against various Pests and Diseases and aid in the rooting of new crops. The fantastic news for Spring 2021 is that this unique range is now available from Barcham for you to use at home.

The products that are available on the accessories section of our web site are the ones which we regularly use in our spray programmes throughout the summer.

Fortify

Fortify is a foliarly applied organic blend of nutrients and plant extracts which limits the plants susceptibility to infection and strengthens its cells. We use this in the prevention of Scabs and Mildews.

Sentinel

Sentinel is a unique silicon nutrient spray which, when foliarly applied, supports growth and health of the plant. This product thickens the leaf cuticle and increases the hairs on the leaf surface, which in turn makes the plant less palatable to feeding insects. The other positive use of this product is that it works great against predation from slugs and snails. Great for your Hostas.

Initiate

Initiate is the most amazing product, which we use, to help rooting within both our field grown and container grown trees. It is a blend of concentrated pine sap modified using fungi to pass on all the natural benefits of the sap to stimulate root growth. This is why it is an excellent product to help with the establishment of your new Barcham Tree. We apply this product through our irrigation system early on in the season to help the rooting process. Using Initiate alongside our white pot system creates a fantastic root system which in turn aids establishment later on.

Invigorate

Invigorate is a super concentrated liquid feed an organic bio-pack which supplies all the nutritional requirements a plant will need. Although our compost contains a 16-18month controlled release fertiliser sometimes we need to give a crop a boost and this is where Invigorate comes in. It can be applied as a foliar spray or as a liquid and is particular good at boosting colour in evergreens when applied as a drench.

The use of all the products above within our own Spray programmes at Barcham have enabled us over the years to produce consistently healthy, quality tree crops and we hope this little bit of new technology can now do the same for you at home.

 

Written by Warren Holmes-Chatfield, Operations Director.

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What is the carbon consequence of not looking after trees?

Now that we have worked out how much carbon can be stored in our trees we can extrapolate further and have calculated that our tree supply every year has the ability to store at least 260,000 tonnes of dry weight carbon over their lifetimes.

Since Barcham Trees was founded about 30 years ago this figure is nearer 6 million tonnes of stored dry weight carbon.

With this in mind it becomes more important to maintain newly planted trees to secure their well-being (spring/summer watering and mulch is critical) and to protect established trees in the landscape. Once a tree is felled, all of its stored carbon will be released back into the atmosphere in fairly short order, unless the timber is preserved for building works or furniture etc.
We should try and develop a culture of protecting trees and the soil structures that support them. Felling trees should be considered as a matter of last resort and reparation should be made by planting others if this last resort comes into play.

It would be great if people view mature trees as 10 tonne carbon storage assets rather than dispose of them without a thought of the consequences. If a perfectly healthy tree is removed for self-interested reasons alone then the landowner will be directly responsible for releasing all that carbon back into our atmosphere which is already way out of balance.

10 tonne Carbon Storage Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by Mike Glover, Managing Director.

 

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How to offset your CO2 emissions

Offset your CO2 emissions using our carbon calculator in conjunction with our tree carbon storage data!

Now that we have rated our trees with their carbon scores, showing how much carbon they store in their lifetime, we have added a carbon calculator to our website. You can single out a car journey, holiday or even your day to day activities to work out your carbon footprint and see how trees can offset your carbon usage. You can find our carbon calculator tab in the middle of the main navigation bar towards the top of the page. When on the home page, a drop down menu will also appear to navigate you towards an explanation of ‘The Barcham Eco Tree Tag‘ and our ‘Top Trunks Guide‘.

We are the first nursery to commission and publish data to work out how many trees need to be planted to offset carbon dioxide emissions. We have included an easy ‘at a glance’ Top Trunks Guide so you can see how much carbon storage your chosen varieties contribute.

Every tree planted is a credit to the environment. During the process of photosynthesis, trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen and in the process store carbon to form the basis of their structures. The Animal Kingdom does the opposite with our species taking emissions to heightened levels on the back of our technologies. The balance between Plants and Animals is now skewed and planting trees is the only way we know of to help redress this imbalance.

 

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