Nursery – Importance and Types
NURSERY:
A place where plants are grown commercially, either for sale direct to the public or to other retailers.
OR; an area where we grow and nurse young progeny (an offspring of a person, animal, or plant) of plants is called Nursery.
Purpose of Nursery:
- Nurseries are used for artificial plantation. We raise nurseries in those areas where natural regeneration is low or slow.
- Nurseries are raised to get plants of the right size at right time.
- Nurseries are raised to get such plants which are good in health.
- Nurseries are raised to get plants of the desired spp.
Importance of Nursery:
Establishment of a nursery is important for the following reasons.
- Production of proposed size and age of seedlings.
- Production of the desired number of seedlings.
- Production of healthy plants of the desired spp.
- Production of plants of superior quality.
- Production of desired plants at right time.
- Production of seedlings at a cheaper cost.
TYPES OF NURSERIES:
There are two types of nurseries:
- Temporary Nursery
- Permanent Nursery
Temporary Nursery:
Those nurseries which are made for the time being ie for one or two years are called temporary nurseries eg Shisham nurseries at Changa Manga.
- These nurseries are usually made in felling coups so that after felling, regeneration can be done easily or in those areas where afforestation work is needed.
- Soil for these nurseries should be fertile because we do not give fertilizers to these nurseries.
- These nurseries are raised along roadside and canal side plantations.
Advantages of Temporary Nursery:
- Temporary nurseries are at the time called flying nurseries ie these can be shifted to any site.
- Low capital cost
- Reduced transport cost
- Within climatic site conditions
- Skilled labor is not required
- Near planting site
Disadvantages of Temporary Nursery:
- Water supply may be poor
- Soil may be poor
- Shortage of trained labor
- All can result in poor quality trees
Permanent Nurseries:
Those nurseries which are not temporary but remain year after year are called permanent nurseries. E.g. nursery shown in the above figure
- Such nurseries should be centrally located so that distribution of plants may be easy.
- It should be near headquartered so that it should be protected and supervised during work.
- These nurseries should be manure and fertilized from time to time.
Advantages of Permanent Nursery:
- It is well designed
- It has a good water supply
- Provide required no of plants
- Provide required size of plants
- Provide good quality of plants
- Has good soil
- Well managed and protected
- Planting material is always available
Disadvantages of Permanent Nursery:
- It requires high capital cost
- It requires high transport cost
- Not always in climatic site conditions
- Not always near the planting site
- Permanent and skilled labor is required.
Image: A Permanent Forest Nursery at Dera Murad Jamali Naseerabad Balochistan. | April 3, 2015 | Captured by Author.
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