PAGE 6 — NORTHWEST FOREST DIGEST — MARCH 25, 1998

Serving and supplying the
forestry and mining industry
with computers and programs

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+32 EDO Ram

° 4.0 Gb Hard Drive

+ ASI 17" SVGA Colour Monitor

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Modem

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FOUR DIMENSION
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SYSTEMS « PRINTERS = NETWORKS » Windows 95 installed with manual and
* SOFTWARE « CD ROM * REPAIRS cD

* 16x CD ROM Drive w/Sound Blaster
4188 KING STREET, SMITHERS 32 sound card & speakers
847-5126 © FAX: 847-3764

Strategy used when developing seed!

The next time you gaze up
in wonder at a lowering
giant of a tree, you can be
thankful that there are com-
panies like PRT Summit
Nursery around.

The Telkwa nursery is one
of the biggest in the north.
Along with Woodmere
Nursery, the two provide 20
million of the 29 million
trees grown in the north an-
nually,

It's a humble beginning
for the future giants at their
first home. They start off in
holes in styrofoam blocks,
two to five seeds per hole.
The hole is then packed
with peat moss, and covered
with a layer of granite to
preserve moisture and keep
weeds oul.

After three weeks, the

apap
a

A J
Fg

weak seedlings are
removed, leaving the
strongest one to live on.

What the folks at PRT are
looking for are seedlings
with a thick stem. Trees that
don’t make it are usually too
skinny. Rob Maxwell, Nurs-
ery Manager, realizes ‘it’s
the thick, strong trees that
his customers want.

“It’s easy to grow a tree,
but it’s hard to grow it to a
customer's specifications,”’
he said. About 20 per cent
of the trees turn out to be
nol usable.

Once the seedlings are big
enough, they're transferred
into a greenhouse. These are
high tech buildings, com-
plete with a temperature
sensor that monitors
humidity and soil tempera-

LING & BLASTING

ture. The temperature is
regulated by the use of
heaters and vents. If it gets
to warm, the vents open up
to let the cool outside air in.
The idea! temperature is be-

tween 24-18 degrees. CO2

is dispersed into the air as
well.

There’s a bit of strategy
involved with the tree grow-
ing business. In order for the
iree to properly mature,
sometimes a bit’ of trickery
is. necessary. As Maxwell
puts it, they have to “play
God’ a bit.

When the daylight hours
increase in the early summer
months, black curtains are
drawn around the grecn-
house to simulate night, a
full twelve hours of it, The
length of night has a lot to
do with a plant's growth.
Doing this fools the trees
into thinking it’s later in the
year than it actually is, and
ihe mature.

May and June are the typi-
cal spring planting time, and
the trees are usually shipped
out by July. They get their
start in the nursery, then it’s
off to the real world for
these young trees.

PRT Summit Nursery fea-
tures seven different species
of trees, and is one of the
top ten nurseries in B.C.

eM an enw Peed Pe

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FR Ceamated ‘Smithers + 847-4499
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taxes eatra, Limited time offer. Early cancellation fees apply.

— Contributing to
the economic growth
of our community

through:

Reforestation « Forestry * Logging * Marketing —

“« Shipping ¢ Transporting * Communication ©

"© Community involvement and education.
/ e Remanufacturing =

7 (/ Caeific Inland Resources}

ings

photo by Chad Pearson
TINY TREES: Rob Maxwell, Manager of PRT Summit Nursery in Telkwa,
_stands among a minature forest of seedings.

NORTHWEST FOREST DIGEST - MARCH 25, 1998 - PAGE 7

We provide
quality truck
parts from
UAP/NAPA

DESIGNED] TO DELIVER}

Brand
For The Job

3438 HWY. 16
ACCESS ROAD Formerly
847-2273 Auto Marine Electric

PRT Summit Nursery

in partnership with:

« Babine Forest Products * Northwood Pulp & Timber - Houston
* Fraser Lake Sawmills * Pacific Cascade Consultants

+ Houston Forest Products « Pacific Inland Resources

» Kispiox Forest Products + Skeena Cellulose Inc.

» Kitwanga Lumber Co. + Skeena Sawmills

Growing Quality Seedlings for
Our Future Forests

IPRE TA sy yt NURSERY

Altogether a better approach

Box 540, Skillhorn Road, Telkwa, B.C. + Tel. 846-5882 ' Fax 846-5796

Box 265, Smithers, B.C., VOJ 2NO « Phone 847-3981 e Fax 847-4799 a |

t