Folowing on from their research into aspen flowering behaviours in 2018, we funded Coille Alba‘s project which sought to establish two new aspen seed stands in partnership with two tree nurseries: Trees for Life’s Dundreggan and the National Trust Scotland at Inverewe Gaardens.

Due to the sporadic production of aspen seeds, obtaining local-origin planting material is challenging. In some years, no seeds are collected from the wild in Scotland. Consequently, many nurseries resort to vegetative propagation of aspen, which incurs high production costs and results in low genetic diversity. In contrast, seed-grown material is genetically diverse and can adapt to a variety of growing conditions and ongoing climate changes.

Establishing dedicated seed stands allows for the consistent production of genetically robust local-origin seedlings from selected parent material.

Outcomes

The project report provides a summary of historic attempts to establish seed stands and the methodologies chosen to identify polyclonal stands and suitable scion material for collection, along with a summary of outputs.