Business Central February 2021

62 | Murrays Nurseries Murrays Nurseries is dedicated to producing high quality Pinus Radiata seedlings for the forestry sector. Principal tree seed supplier to the New Zealand Forest Industry and to Murray’s Nurseries. Contact us for a copy of our new catalogue! Ph. 03 314 8978 Fax. 03 314 8985 Email: seed@proseed.co.nz • Tailored GF Plus™ radiata seedlots • Improved macrocarpa and lusitanica • Douglas-fir from proven sources • New Zealand native species • Wide range of other species A t Woodville, 30km east of Palmer - ston North, lies Murrays Nurseries, a business dedicated to producing high quality Pinus Radiata seedlings for the forestry sector. Started in 1961 by Patrick Murray’s father Maurice the nursery soon grew into a very successful business. Sadly Maurice passed away unexpectedly the day before his 50th crop would be sown The connection to the land the nursery sits on goes back much further though, in fact to Patrick’s Great Great Grandfather who pio- neered the land in 1876. “I’m proudly a fifth generation on this land,” Patrick says. The nursery extended over 19ha of owned land and a further 10ha’s leased where today over 38ha and upward of 12,500,000 seedling are raised, in an intensive operation that has been transformed through the use of mechan- ical automation. Having gained a forestry management di- ploma Patrick returned to the nursery in 2005 and focused on pine seedling propagation. Designing and constructing its own equip - ment, including seed sowing, root pruning, topping and spraying machinery has led to huge efficiency gains, as Patrick explains. “When the planting of trees and demand for seedlings from the forestry industry declined in the 2000’s we looked at how we could make gain and saw the benefits of creating an engineered automation system, unique to our situation and needs.” Concentrating on high-value genetic seeds with very few cross-overs led to growing seed- lings with very strong characteristics. “The production system of the day at that time wasn’t getting the best out of the radiata pine so we decided to go from an 8 row bed to a 10 row bed and we were seeing an improve- ment in uniformity in the diameter of the seedlings produced,” Patrick says. This led to three direct benefits. There was a reduction in cost, and an improvement in yield and specification. A key next step will be using the GPS platform technology to design an automatic harvester. Once removed from the ground, the seedlings pass through two processing lines also specifically engineered and built for the nursery. Come October and November each year, last year’s crop is removed, the ground cleaned and cultivated. “Our new machine does three processes. It forms the bed, sows the seed and applies a small fertiliser application, all at the same time,” says Patrick. Business thriving in volatile market Sue Russell The efficiency gains given the use of this new technology cannot be over-stated. In 1977 a 1.5ha block would take 72 hours to process. Today, that same area is managed in six hours. Even with the propagation of 12,500,000 trees annually Patrick says they are turning away about 30-40% of demand. “We are becoming a preferred provider within the industry and we just can’t keep up with that demand at this time.” Plants are grown to 65cm height at which point they are topped down to 32cm. Following this a process called lateral root pruning occurs, again using a machine, where the roots between rows are cut. That machine travels at a speed of 7km/hour. By mid-May the trees are ready to be dis- patched and harvesting takes place through to August. One of the key focuses driving the automation of the nursery is the volatility of the forestry sector, as Patrick explains. “The spikes in demand and the drops are really hard. “We can see demand grow 100% and then drop dramatically, so to future-proof the business we have sought customers who will plant a consistent number of trees each year, no matter what.” Patrick is also proud of the fact that his nursery is the only one to produce pinus radiata without the use of fungicide. “We shifted from a preventative produc- tion system and were able to take a few risks around chemical control and nutrition. “We are now on a responsive chemical re- gime and have discovered that the term ‘less is more’ is certainly true.” PRODUCTION Patrick Murray: “The spikes in demand and the drops are really hard.”