Lynwood is the proud winner of three Ballance Farm Environment Awards, but we are always striving to get better.
Here are some of the day to day things we do in the nursery:
- Harvest as much heat as possible from sunlight and capture that in climate controlled insulated greenhouses.
- Use 100% coir as our potting media. Coir is coconut husk which is a waste product from the coconut industry. It is fully sustainable.
- Use water judiciously. One of our Ballance awards was specifically for this. We source water from our own bore. Its use is metred, and this is monitored by Northland Regional Council to ensure this is done sustainably.
- Use pesticides only when we need to in response to regular pest monitoring in the nursery and orchard. Where possible, we use biological control methods such as using Encarsia parasitic wasps to control whitefly in our greenhouses. Pest monitors are trained and registered under the AvoGreen® programme.
- Return any waste organic material back into our own orchard. This not only acts as mulch but improves our soil structure.
- Use biodegradable tape to adhere our trees to the fiberglass stake in their bag
- Agrichemical containers recycled through the Agrecovery programme where they are recycled into underground electrical cables.
- Our used fibreglass stakes are recycled through other horticultural industries.
- All paper, cardboard, bottles and cans are recycled through local authorities.
We have some new sustainability projects underway including exploring options for recycling soft plastics used in the nursery. We are also examining the possibility of installing solar panels on site to reduce our reliance on power from the grid and make the most of the sunny Northland weather.