Södra is using controlled pollination to breed trees for tomorrow’s forests – a new innovation, where nearly 2 million seedlings are being propagated to produce trees that are healthier and more resilient, with 30% faster growth than trees in today’s forests.
During the spring of 2019, Södra initiated a controlled pollination project in partnership with the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden. Female flowers of spruce with known traits were isolated to avoid pollination with male flowers with unknown traits. Pollen from the male flowers of selected trees with known traits was then hand sprayed onto the female flowers. The results were successful and in October, almost 70,000 spruce seeds were harvested.
Seedling production using the controlled pollination method will commence in spring 2020. About 10-20 stem cuttings will be taken from every seedling – all with the same positive genetic structure as the original seed. If all of the spruce seeds produce healthy and resilient seedlings, Södra will be able to sell 1-2 million cuttings with the most desirable traits available in a few years.
The controlled pollination project is a collaboration between Södra and the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden.
