Year of beechnut harvest
Photo: Fotolia
Foresters in West Pomeranian Beech Forest near Szczecin intend to collect about 5 tons of beechnut, fruit of beech. In the forest, special nets have been placed on plant litter, which will be used to collected nuts of the tree, which bears fruit once every 6-8 years.
Gryfino forester Robert Wójcik told PAP that beech forest visitors are surprised about its unusual appearance. Approximately 20 hectares are covered with "carpets", special dark green nets used to collect beech seeds.
This is unusual because these trees rarely bear fruit, so people are calling the foresters and ask why the forest looks like this. The procedure is somewhat similar to the olive harvest in southern Europe.
Plant litter will be covered with nets for a few weeks, in some places the nets will remain until the end of November - added the forester. Some nets are suspended on the trunks.
Beechnut will fall into the nets, and after harvest they will be transported to the Forestry Gryfino seed storage. There it will undergo selection, purification and drying. Thus prepared, the seeds will go then to cold storage, so that in the next, so-called "deaf years" when no seeds can be harvested, they can be used for the production of nursery plants, next generations of beech.
Many forestry districts need these seeds, because they plant beeches in areas dominated by coniferous forests. Mixed forest is in fact more resistant - emphasized the forester.
The beechnuts collected in the Beech Forest will be used to produce about 8 million seedlings of beech.
We were expecting a much larger harvest than 5 tons, but very hot July and sharp sun contributed to damaging the embryos of seeds - explained Wójcik.
The forester emphasised that the Beech Forest near Szczecin is one of the most beautiful beech stands in Poland. Beech is characteristic for north and west of Poland. It is also found in great numbers in the Bieszczady Mountains, but there it does not grow as tall as in the north of the country.
Foresters remind that entry to the area of the so-called seed stands is prohibited. (PAP)
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