In the decade between 2010 and 2020, Metsä Group supplied forest owners with a total of 270 million seedlings and 9,000 kilograms of pine seeds.
“Nine thousand kilograms contains more than a billion seeds, which have grown into hundreds of millions of seedlings. After seedling stand management, around 60 million of these ultimately grow into pine trees in our forests,” says Teppo Oijala, Metsä Group’s Forest Manager.
This year, forest owners have acquired more than 35 million seedlings and one thousand kilograms of pine seeds through Metsä Group. Forest owners themselves plant around half the seedlings they acquire through Metsä Group, and the rest are planted by Metsä Group’s contract entrepreneurs.
“The use of bred seed materials increases the growth of trees by 10–30% compared to that of naturally generated trees. Breeding has also improved the quality of pine in particular, resulting in straighter and more slender branches. Sawn timber made of trees like this is also of higher quality. Moreover, the bred seeds originate in our natural forests, too.”
“Metsä Group offers mixed cultivation of pine and spruce as an option for regeneration. This means sowing or planting pine amid spruce seedlings. This is an especially good option in areas suffering from elk damage and in stands with varying fertility,” Oijala explains.
Depending on the tree species and the forest owner’s goals, the number of seedlings planted per hectare ranges from 1,600 to 2,200. In addition, tens of thousands of birch and other seedlings come up naturally in a new forest.
Metsä Group is leading the way in advancing the bioeconomy. The company focuses on the growth sectors of the forest industry: wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh fibre paperboards, as well as tissue and greaseproof papers.
