Positive production at the plant nursery

The C1 action of Project-LIFE Sustainable Laurel initiated in January 2009, and established that by the end of the 3rd year of the project, the Endemic Plant Nursery should be able to produce 25,000 plants per year. At the end of 2010, it was found that the annual production at the nursery, located in the municipality of Povoação, was of 33,000 plants; of these 8700 plants have been placed on the ground in specific areas of recovery of the natural forest. Thus, the production set initially, was hit in the 2nd year of the project. An excellent result for everyone involved in this action.

The main species produced are the ones of rapid growth such as Azorean heather, Fire-tree and Azorean plum; these are native plants that have higher germination rates. The challenge now is to produce the greatest diversity of native plants as possible, taking into account that some species take about 1 to 2 years to germinate, as is the case of the Azorean holly and Laurustinus. The nursery is full of plants (both inside and outside), so the outter space is being increased gradually by the field team, in order to respond to the optimal production. We hope that in 2011 we achieve even better results!