A two year old durable Eucalyptus tree in the Bay of Plenty

On a recent visit to the Bay of Plenty, NZ Dryland Forests Initiative (NZDFI) project manager, Paul Millen, observed excellent early Eucalyptus growth rates from the 2 year old durable Eucalypt trial.

This work is part of a larger trial funded in 2018 by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and Forest Growers Research (FGR) Speciality Wood Products (SWP) programme to test site suitability and potential productivity of a number of species.

One of these trials was established by Timberlands Ltd in Rotoehu Forest in central Bay of Plenty.

Timberlands are a large forest manager in the Central North Island and members of SWP.

Paul Millen visited the trial with Timberlands Technical Manager, Dr John Moore.

“We were both impressed with the excellent early growth rates of all species planted in the trial particularly E. globoidea,” says Paul.

Some of these trees were close to 6 metres in height at just two years of age.

“This early productivity is very promising as the trial is planted in pine forest cutover which normally slows initial growth,” says Paul.

“Under NZDFI’s new One Billion Trees project, plans are underway to establish new trial plantings in 2021 with our first improved seedlings,” Paul adds. This will be done in collaboration with forest growers and farm foresters across eight New Zealand regions.

For more information please take a look at the NZDFI website.