What is Eco-Sourcing?

What is Eco-sourcing?

Eco-sourcing is the process of locating native plant seeds for the purpose of growing and reintroducing plants back to their natural habitat. Eco-sourcing maintains the genetic diversity of local plants and keeps the unique character of a district or region.

Benefits of Eco-sourcing.

If you are wanting to contract grow, Riverside can work with you to eco-source the required seeds from the land or area your project is in, keeping the unique characteristics of the existing native landscape, maintaining local biodiversity, and preserving ecological history.

These factors are important for long-term, naturally occurring generation and re-generation of species within their native habitats. Plants that are eco-sourced have a higher survival rate as they are suited to the local conditions.

The Process.

At Riverside, we source a lot of our own seed collection throughout Summer and Autumn, visiting various regions throughout Canterbury and further abroad to collect the highest quality seed. We also target areas that are included in our contracts so the same genetics can be to reintroduce back to their local natural environment, increasing survival rates and keeping the unique character of the region.

We use a variety of different methods when seed collecting. After researching where the best seed collection spots in an area are, often done by getting out there ourselves, we take note of the health and size of the source. Once the source plants are decided on, we gather as much seed as possible, sometimes from the ground below or cutting them directly off the mother plants.

Batch Tracking.

Once the seed is collected, we clean it onsite at our nursery. We then have the batch labelled with a unique number which is registered in our online system. This number will be used to track the origin of the seed for the rest of the plant’s life. Included in the online system is the ability to add a photo of the mother plant or source of the seed. Along with the photograph, we also add in the GPS data of the exact location of seed collection. By doing this we have constant traceability of every batch in the nursery.