Maelor Forest Nurseries, a leading producer of commercial forestry and native broadleaf species, has partnered with CMW Horticulture, a Bosman Van Zaal company, to build a turnkey miniplug facility in Wrexham, UK. The facility is designed to significantly reduce the manual handling of the 25 million Sitka Spruce seedlings grown by Maelor Forest Nurseries each year.
The mini plug facility comprises a seed sowing line, a covered growing area, and an outdoor hardening-off space, all connected by a roller bench system to minimize manual tray handling. This innovative approach ensures a consistent and steady supply of tree stocks and enhances their quality and resilience against climate change.
In June 2022, the seed-sowing process began with one million seeds sown in the first two days, followed by more than 12 million seeds by the end of the month. The resulting seedlings were nurtured over the summer and planted in the field last autumn. They will continue to grow for another year before being distributed to customers in winter 2023/24.
The project features a 25,446 square meter film-covered Venlo-type multi-span greenhouse, a working area, irrigation, electrical installations, over 2,000 containers with transport systems, a Viscon seeding line, and plug fixers a BCC mixing and filling line, and Urbinati and BCC spraying booms. BCC also supplied a tray washer.
Maelor Forest Nurseries, located at Fields Farm, Bronington, on the Welsh Borders, is part of the BSW Group and Binderholz. They market approximately 35 million trees annually to customers throughout the UK and Europe, with another nursery site based at Darnaway, Forres, in the Scottish Highlands.
CMW Horticulture, founded in 1989, is the brand name of Bosman Van Zaal within the UK region and a leading supplier of horticultural equipment in the country.
Image provided by Bosman Van Zaal / CMW Horticulture
