Burlington Community Seedling Nursery

The Burlington Community Seedling Nursery was established in September 2004. The purpose of the Burlington Community Seedling Nursery is to:

1. Produce low-cost seedlings for the tree nursery that are adapted to this region.
2. Produce seedlings of trees species not readily available commercially.
3. Encourage volunteer involvement with the tree nursery and other tree related activities.

Norm Pellet, Professor Emeritus of Horticulture, Plant and Soil Science Department, University of Vermont is consulting with Branch Out Burlington on this project. This is a new initiative and established protocols and procedures have not been developed. Volunteers in this initiative will be instrumental in getting the systems going and developing protocols. This is an exciting opportunity for anyone interested in propagation of trees.

Volunteers have started to collect seeds locally from several tree species. Appropriate methods for treating or storing the seeds prior to planting were determined from several references. Volunteers have developed a table that has the appropriate methods for treating or storing the seeds depending on the type of seed. This table will be expanded as we receive seeds from more species.

Some of the seeds being started so far are: red oak, white oak, black locust, honey locust, redbud, magnolia, grey birch, black birch, big leaf linden, and hickory. Considering the concern about the exotic pest called the hemlock woolly adelgid, there may be real need for locally produced hemlock trees. Now is a fine time to collect the cones. Some of our volunteers have already begun to gather the cones and collect the seeds.

Interested in volunteering? Contact Margaret Skinner, 656-5440, or email: Margaret Skinner