This document provides an introduction and overview of nurseries. It defines a nursery as a place where young seedlings or trees are raised for planting. Forest nurseries specifically raise seedlings for forest planting. Key reasons for forest nurseries include reforestation of abandoned farmland, areas damaged by fires, and making seedlings available for planting. The document describes different types of nurseries based on water availability and duration. It also lists several factors that determine the success of nursery stock production, such as site selection, cultural methods, and elimination of preventable losses. Finally, it provides details on nursery site layout and some pre-sowing and weeding techniques.

1. INTRODUCTION
TO
NURSERIES
ALI NAWAZ BETTANI
MSc Forestry
PAKISTAN FOREST INSTITUTE
PESHAWAR

2. DEFINITIONS AND NEED
• Nursery: An nursery upon which young seedlings trees are raised for planting.
( A place where plants are grown to a usable size).
Forest nursery: An area upon which young seedling trees are raised for
forest planting.
Need of forest nursery:
1: Direct seeding is seldom uniformly successful and artificial regeneration in most
parts of Pakistan and must be accomplished by planting.
2: To make the seedlings available for planting outside the forest areas.

3. KEY TASK
• Abandoned farmlands, priaries, and other denuded areas must, in most cases be
forested by planting.
• Forest fires, by completely destroying the large areas of forests, often make
regeneration by planting, the only practicable method.
• The required number strong plants at the right time of the desired
species
of the high grade at reasonable cost.

4. TYPES OF NURSERIES
1) On the basis of water availability:
• a) Dry nursery.
• b) Wet nursery.
• 2) Time for working operations:
• a) Permanent nursery.
• b) Temporary nursery.
• 3) Root covering:
• a) Bare root nursery.
• b) P-tube or potted nursery.

5. FACTORS DETERMINING SUCCESS IN
PRODUCTION OF NURSERY STOCK
• Degree of success in the production of nursery stock for planting is largely dependent
upon:
• 1) Efficient administration and supervision.
• 2) Orderly and timely execution of nursery operations.
• 3) Selection of suitable site.
• 4) Economic and successful development of the site.
• 5) Utilization of best cultural methods.
• 6) Utilization of best lifting, storage and packing methods.
• 7) Elimination of losses in stock from preventable causes.

6. NURSERY SITE AND LAYOUT
• Every large nursery should be permanently divided by roads and crossroads into blocks
or compartments, square or rectangular in shape.
• The number of roads should be kept to a minimum and in each case adapted to character
of output and to methods of transportation and cultivation employed.
• Seed beds, when not bordering on roads, should be surrounded by temporary paths at
least 2ft wide.
• Seeds beds are usually 3 to 4 feet wide and from 12 feet to entire length of the
compartment long.
• Transplants are most commonly set in rows in large blocks divided by paths.

7. CONTD…
• Long seeds and transplant beds are
particularly desirable in nurseries in which
implements are drawn by tractors in order to
avoid necessity for too frequent turning.
• Seed beds should not, as a rule, be continued
year after year in the same compartment. A
rotation permits more economical methods of
manuring and improving the soil by growing
soiling crops.

8. PRE SOWING TECHNIQUES
Some of the techniques for softening the seed coat so that it can easily beak its
dormancy are:
• Hot water treatment.
• Cold water treatment.
• Scarification.
• Acid treatment.
• By passing seeds through Gastrointestinal tract of the animals.

9. WEEDING (REMOVING UNPLANTED PLANTS
FROM THE GROUND)
• Sources of supply of weed seed that is brought to the
nursery by water, wind, in milch, manures should be
reduced as much as possible.
• Seed beds should be kept free from weeds. This
necessitates from 3 to 6 weeding or cultivation, the first
season.
• Young plants may need weeding about once every 10 days.
• One of the largest expense in nurseries is the weeding,
which is necessary several times a season.