Sustainable production

Sustainable production

Trees are a living product and a healthy, sustainable production can only be maintained whenever they are cultivated in good harmony with nature. For a long time, the company has valued the sustainable and environmental production of trees.
The company has minimized the use of crop protection products per hectare and now has one of the lowest consumption figures per hectare. This gives more room to both flora and fauna. The plots are characterized by a rich insect life and offer nesting and feeding opportunities for many types of birds and other animals. Below you can read how we interprets these durable production goals within the company by implementing environmental measures.

Tom Owen

Tom

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“I am proud that we are one of the few companies that produce oxygen instead of CO2.”

(Pieter van den Berk)

Soil:

  • In between harvests, we sow a green manure, such as oilseed radish, for one growing season to enhance the soil structure.
  • The plots are almost exclusively fertilized using organic deep litter manure from cows and goats or compost.
  • All prunings are shredded and partly worked into the soil to create a good organic substance content. The decomposition of the shredded wood binds the nitrogen in the soil, which then does not get washed away. The nitrogen is released later and more slowly and is gradually absorbed by the trees.


Cultivation:

  • All trees are planted with sufficient space in between. This gives them the best opportunity to develop and makes it possible to sow grass in between the trees, which creates a good living environment for different types of insects and other animals.
  • The presence of insects means that there are many natural enemies in between the trees; this creates a natural balance which minimizes the chance of pests, which again means less pesticides are necessary.
  • Any pests that do occur, are controlled extremely selectively, which means that less pesticides are used than before.
  • In places where grass is sown, there are few weeds; no weed killers are necessary, which reduces the environmental impact.
  • The strip of land alongside ditches is not sprayed.

Materials:

  • The digging and packing of the trees happens with natural materials like jute and coconut. These are biodegradable and therefore not polluting the environment.
  • FSC approved paper is used for all correspondence, our tree guide and other publications.
  • All waste is separated and all paper is collected for recycling.


Environment:

  • To ensure the nursery fits in with the environment we have created a number of special areas, with e.g. windbreaks, pollard willows, toad pools, and wild flowers.
  • The plots are all diversified, with varied plantings.