Planting Trees isn’t as simple as you might think

When you’re growing thousands of trees it’s not quite as simple as throwing seeds into the ground and hoping for the best.

The agroforestry system Plant Your Future has developed means we need to ensure that the trees flourish early on. The process is a community affair — and the nursery in Ucayali is run by lead farmer, Carlos (pictured below with a watering can). It starts with creating a fertile sub-soil mix that a seed can thrive in, which is then used to fill individual grow bags. This involves mixing in various inputs such as sand and charcoal, and then aerating it. Timber seeds such as Shihuahuaco have to be germinated first, and are then washed and disinfected to prevent any fungus growth before being placed individually into the soil mix in the grow bags. It’s this process that ensures strong and healthy saplings — with constant care (watering, pruning, light management, weeding) for 2-6 months, depending on the species, whilst they grow. Once they are big and healthy they are ready to be transferred to the farms and planted out in the degraded pastures. The success of the tree nursery in Ucayali is thanks to the hard-work and dedication of Carlos who says, “I am pleased to be able to learn from Plant Your Future’s technical team.”