The Vancouver School board axed its decades-old tree growing operation earlier this year and hired a contractor to chip the remaining 250 trees in the Wales Street nursery.
School board spokesperson Kurt Heinrich said the majority of the trees were in very poor condition and many had roots that weren't cropped properly and had underdeveloped root balls.
"Some of the trees were healthy, but not particularly suitable for replanting," he said in an email to the Courier. "The decision to discontinue our tree growing operations at the nursery was made after it became clear to our staff that we didn't have the tools and time to grow the trees properly. To devote the proper resources to get the job done right would not have been cost effective."
The average cost to plant, nourish and prepare a tree at the nursery for transplant to a school is approximately $750 a tree and they take about 10 years to reach the five-to-10 centimetre caliper range, according to Heinrich.
"A certain amount of the trees do not survive the 10 years or have not survived once transferred to schools- in addition to this, a gardener has to tend the trees at the nursery to ensure their maintenance. While we initially hoped to do this in-house, it became increasingly evident that this wasn't particularly cost effective."
Heinrich noted the average cost to purchase a wholesale tree at a local tree farm is $250 and comes with a one-year warranty. The time the gardener tended the trees at the nursery is now freed up to work at schools.
Before the remaining trees were chipped, the school district asked B.C. Tree Service if the company was interested in taking them, but it declined because the trees weren't viable, Heinrich said. "In early September, we had a meeting with all gardening staff and asked them to take any trees they thought they could use on school sites. Approximately 30 trees were saved. Then a bulletin was sent out to the B.C. Landscape and Nursery Association's website looking for potential buyers for the stock. There was no interest. At that point we put a deadline to remove the trees for Sept. 22," he added.
The school board started growing trees at the nursery 20 to 30 years ago, according to Heinrich, who explained it made sense at the time to run an in-house operation due to the number of trees needed. Now there is far less demand and fewer resources to devote to tree maintenance at the nursery. [email protected] Twitter: @Naoibh
