News

Hello Garry oak growers and welcome to new volunteers!

The next two Garry Oak Nursery work parties will be

• Sunday, February 3rd, 10am to 1pm
• Saturday, February 9th, 1pm to 4pm

Our covered work area is still sadly departed, blown apart during the December windstorm, so these work parties will be weather dependent. This means that Judith, Judy or myself will be present on site on these dates and if it starts to pour we’ll call it a day and go home. Fortunately, we’ve nearly decided on a new, more durable shelter so we can have our regular work parties again, rain or shine.

As a reminder, there is a proper toilet (porta-potty type) on the premises.  Gloves, tools & refreshments are provided. Weather appropriate clothing & good work boots are recommended!

Hello Garry oak growers,

Judith will be hosting a work party tomorrow, Sunday, January 20th, 10am to 1pm, weather permitting! These work parties will continue every other Sunday going forward, unless there’s rain, as we still do not have a covered shelter.

These dates are:

• February 3
• February 17
• March 3
• March 17

Saturday work parties will start back up again once we have a shelter installed.

At this work party two contributed 6 hours of volunteer work.

What we accomplished:

• 90 4″ seedlings were re-potted into 1 gallon pots.

At this work party two volunteers contributed 6 hours between them.

What was accomplished:

• They fixed wind damage to the work area and located the work shelter in the neighbouring yard.
• 60 4″ seedlings were potted up into 1-gallon pots.

At this work party two volunteers attended, contributing 5.5 volunteer hours.

What he accomplished:

• 45 4″ seedlings were potted up to 1 gallon pots.
• The remaining oaks on the second strip of landscaping cloth were moved into their winter position. Some were weeded during this process. 

At this work party, 5 volunteers contributed 12.5 volunteer hours.

What we accomplished:

• 106 4″ seedlings were potted up into 1 gallon pots
• 14 1 gallon pots were root pruned and weeded
• 2 bales of potting medium were mixed

The survival rate of acorns collected in the fall of 2017 and planted either that fall or in spring of 2018 has been calculated.

Of the 2,242 acorns planted, 1,933 seedlings survived, giving us a survival rate of 86%! This is well within our goal of growing 1000-2000 seedlings this past year!

Average survival rate of 2017 acorns

• 2,242 planted
• 1,933 seedlings
• 86% survival rate

At this work party 7 volunteers contributed 13 hours of work.

What we accomplished:

• We reorganized the work/materials storage area:
• We potted up 30 4″ oaks.
• 30 2″ and 4″ oaks had their weeds trimmed back.

A this work party five volunteers contributed a total of 14 volunteer hours.

We focused on a variety of tasks:

• We potted up about 69 4″ seedlings into 1-gallon pots
• We cut back the weeds in about a dozen 2″ and 4″ styros to prevent them from developing seeds
• We weeded a dozen or more 1-gallon seedlings
• We organized, tied up and weighted down the empty styroblocks. We’re storing them on the wooden deck.