Kauri Trees for Christmas
I uploaded a video to the Kauri Trees YouTube channel about the rainstorm event we had in October 2024. The video resulted in me being contacted by Jasmine Holman from Dunedin. She offered me some kauri tree seedlings that were excess to her requirements and needed a good home. I was delighted and made arrangements to pick them up immediately.
The seedlings had been propagated by her father Ken, who owns the now closed Signal Hill Nursery. Ken has planted indigenous trees and other flora around his property, creating a dense (in places) garden that provides for fauna including birds, and shelter for his house.
The oldest kauri trees were planted around 2010 and were looking very healthy. They had been well cared for and had entered the ricker stage of their growth. One had female cones on it, but Ken said the cones offered no seeds. I guess there were no male cones to pollinate the females. They may come by year 25.
When I first talked to my neighbours, Dave and Elaine about the kauri forest, Elaine suggested planting some trees on their property (on the north side of Taieri Beach Road) so the tree canopy could extend across the road from both sides. This will give road users the sense of passing through a forest, rather than having a hard stop at my property boundary. I thought it was a great idea, and I pencilled in trees for them.
I know the provenance of all the Kauri trees that will be planted on my property, but I don’t know exactly where Ken’s seeds have come from. I thought the seedlings from Ken and Jasmine would be perfect for Dave and Elaine’s property. When I talked to them about it, they were fully on-board. Dave went out to collect some empty pots (around 1 litre), and bought three bags of potting mix in preparation.
There were nine trays of kauri seedlings, all growing in small pots. Some pots were also growing kanuka and weeds, so a bit of tender loving care was required.
When I was looking at the trays of seedlings with Ken, he unexpectedly said that I should also have some beech trees. He gave me about 15 silver and red beech, around 1.5 m tall! This is a real bonus. A couple showed signs of distress, but the rest were in great condition.
We loaded up my little car with all the beech, but couldn’t fit in the two remaining trays of Kauri. I returned the next day to pick them up.
The beech trees went into the ground as soon as I returned, in an enclosed area close to the garage. It’s going to be a wonderful stand if they all take.
We spent the following day cleaning and re-potting the Kauri trees. In all, we’ve got 150 kauri trees thanks to the generosity of Jasmine and Ken. It’s humbling to have such support in and around my community from interested people.
The trees will be cared for in their pots until they’re planted next spring. There’re no dedicated nurse trees in the paddock at the western end of Dave and Elaine’s property, but the land falls away from the road to the north east, so there should be sufficient shelter.
These trees will be a year ahead of my planting, so it’ll be great to get them in the ground and start the kauri forest.
07 December 2024
