Growing Good Tropical Trees for Planting

This Manual is the third in a series of readable, well illustrated handbooks about propagating and planting tropical trees.

The five Manuals have been designed to provide clear and concise information on how to select, grow, plant and care for tropical trees, in both moist and drier parts of the tropics. They are intended for anyone interested in growing trees, from the small-holder to the large-scale grower, from local communities to national governments and from school and further education teachers to research and extension staff of agricultural and forestry departments. They provide illustrated, step-by-step instructions, practical guide-lines and an outline of the thought processes behind them.

Manual 3 deals with the all-important stage of the tree nursery. Growing good planting stock that is likely to establish successfully in the field depends on: choosing a suitable site for the tree nursery; having some understanding of how tropical trees grow; selecting appropriate genetic origins of seeds and cuttings; producing young trees with favourable root systems; recognising the important relationships between trees and micro-organisms; building a well-trained nursery team; looking after the young trees carefully.

The procedures described in this series of Manuals may be used with the majority of woody species to provide diverse seedling or clonal mixtures. They include techniques for 'domestication', so that superior planting stock can increasingly be used. This can help to capture more rapidly the great potential for multiple usefulness offered by tropical trees, while also encouraging conservation of their genetic resources.