Aspens in Air-Pot®
Aspen is one of the UK’s most valuable native trees for biodiversity, carbon capture and climate resilience. It can thrive from sea level to mountain environments, supports exceptional biodiversity and has an important role to play in both climate adaptation and conservation.
So we’re delighted that Denbighshire County Council’s Tree Nursery is successfully propagating Aspen using Air-Pot containers. They’re producing strong, healthy trees with exceptional root systems ready to thrive in challenging conditions.
Aspen can be challenging to propagate because male and female trees often exist in fragmented populations and successful seed production can be limited. As a result, specialist propagation from root cuttings and shoots is often required to increase tree numbers for conservation and restoration projects. Once rooted, young plants were transferred into three-litre Air-Pot containers, where they achieved remarkable growth rates of approximately one metre a month.
Strong root establishment is particularly important for Aspen, which naturally develops extensive underground rhizome networks. Air-Pot containers enable roots to fully colonise the growing medium, helping plants to continue growing until the available soil volume is fully utilised.