Air-Pot helps boost native plant growth and biodiversity in Wales

The British-made Air-Pot container has been chosen by the horticultural experts running a project in Wales to help enrich the country's native tree and plant populations and boost biodiversity.

The initiative in Denbighshire involves a team at a 70-acre tree nursery, a council-owned farm in St Asaph that became a nursery in 2022, harvesting seeds and growing plants.

Marketing & Sales Representative at Air-Pot in Edinburgh, Georgie Single (pictured right, holding an Air-Pot container) says: "We're© Air-Pot delighted that our Air-Pot containers have been instrumental in this innovative Welsh Government-funded project. The nursery at Green Gates Farm has already produced around 40,000 native trees and wildflowers with the help of a small volunteer team and has room to grow up to 300,000 more plants. They harvest seeds from ancient and veteran trees mostly from Denbighshire Council land and also from National Trust properties.

"Our Air-Pot systems were chosen for the program as they focus on root establishment and ensuring healthier, more fibrous rootstock. Optimum results were Denbighshire's motivating factor.

"They found survival rates were better with our Air-Pot-grown plants. Plus, the small team doesn't always have time for potting up which, when using standard containers leads to the risk of spiraling, but not in ours."

The Air-Pot container is specifically designed to prevent root circling when needed, so they therefore provide an effective solution.

© Air-PotGeorgie Single

Liam Blazey, Chief Biodiversity Officer for Denbighshire Council, explains: "Currently, sadly, there's very little biodiversity left in the UK. It ranks 189th out of 218 countries, so from a biodiversity perspective, we're poor.

"Our project aims to restock some lost species and boost populations that are currently here. The life supported by trees is amazing. While we've initially focused on broad-leaf trees with Welsh provenance, we've also found some rarer trees like Sorbus torminalis, commonly known as Wild Service, Black Poplar and Juniper.

"A single tree is an entire ecosystem and, once it's planted out, it will live for more than 100 years and the amount of life you can get from that is incredible.

"For us, using Air-Pot containers was all about the health of the plants and the sustainability they offer. They are reusable many times over with no noticeable wear and tear, and the resulting plants, when planted out, are better able to cope with challenging growing conditions due to the superior root systems they have developed.

"Plus, they allow us to operate an easy maintenance program depending on when we have volunteers to assist us and they help us grow healthier plants by ensuring healthy roots with no circling. They stack well on tables with spacing between them too. We're now inviting other councils in Wales to see what we're doing to encourage them to set-up their own projects and nurseries too."

© Air-PotWelsh government-funded Denbighshire Council nursery at Green Gates Farm with plants in Air-Pot containers.

The shape of the Air-Pot container's wall guides each root towards an air hole where increased air in the growing medium dehydrates the tip, pruning it and stimulating root branching. The process repeats until there is a mass of healthy fibrous roots.

Georgie adds: "Healthy roots mean faster growth and the better uptake of nutrients and water.

"We manufacture with the minimum possible environmental impact. Central to this is our use of recycled plastic. Made from recycled HDPE, our Air-Pot containers are sturdy and reusable many times over, even in intense sunshine, and some of our customers have the same pot they have been reusing for 10 to 15 years."