Vitaly Khatkevich conducted a practical lesson for young foresters on preparing pine seeds for planting

On February 3, Vitaly Khatkevich, reforestation and land reclamation engineer at the Postavy Forestry Enterprise, conducted a practical lesson for young foresters on preparing Scots pine seeds for planting. During the research activity, Vitaly told the children about the methods and secrets of pre-sowing seed preparation.

The young foresters, shaking dried cones over a white sheet of paper, extracted pine seeds from the opened scales. To select viable seeds, they cleaned them of wings and placed them in room temperature water. The floating seeds were removed as they were empty, and the seeds that sank to the bottom were taken out for further germination. This is because heavy, sunken planting material is considered high-quality.

Next, the seeds were evenly spread between gauze layers, thoroughly moistened, and placed in a warm spot for germination. Vitaly explained to the children that the main thing in this process is to prevent the gauze from drying out and to regularly spray it with a sprayer until the roots sprout.

Now we wait, care for, and monitor the changes.