What is EcoSourcing?
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.
Why is Ecosourcing Important?
- Is important for long-term, natural re-generation of species within their native habitats.
- They have a higher survival rate when reintroduced as they are suited to local conditions
- It maintains the genetic diversity of local plants
- Keeps the unique character and biodiversity of a district or region
How does Riverside Ecosource?
Eco-sourcing usually occurs 1 to 2 years before the plants will be planted. This is so we have time to collect the seed, clean it, propagate it, and then finally plant it back in the area we collected it from. At Riverside, we source a lot of our own seed throughout Summer and Autumn. We visit different regions throughout Canterbury and further abroad to collect the highest quality seed. We also target areas that are included in our growing contracts so the same genetics can be reintroduced 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 or 'mother plants'. When the seed is ripe, we collect it, depending on the type of plant we may trim seed laden branches off the source plant but often we lay sheets below the tree during the season and return to collect the sheets a few weeks later once they are full of seed that has dropped from the source. Sometimes if the seed is plentiful, we can even just scoop it off the ground around the mother plant! We also take a photo of the mother plants, with GPS location so we can record and trace where our plants come from.
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.
We hope this gives you a basic understanding of what the term Eco-sourcing means because more, now than ever Eco-sourcing is needed to help regenerate our country in the most effective and fast way possible.