Viveiros Aliança: from sowing to forests

More than a hundred and a half species, from small aromatic trees to large trees, share a common cradle: Viveiros Aliança. Given its diversity, size and innovation, this nursery originates plants we see in many of our gardens, parks and forests, in Portugal and beyond.

From almond, rosemary and holly to heather and westringia Viveiros Alança offers plants, shrubs and trees for all tastes and requirements. Altogether the company’s nurseries grow about 160 species, 30 of which are fairly common in our forests and in agroforestry, and 130 fairly frequent in large or small parks, gardens and yards.

Aromatic, medicinal, fruit producing, for forestry or simply ornamental purposes, all these trees are sown and developed in one of the company’s three properties – Penamacor, Tramagal and Pegões – thus making Viveiros Aliança one of the largest and most important plant producers in Europe.

These nurseries produce 12 million plants annually, six million of which are Eucalyptus globulus clones, and whose planting and early development is the company’s priority. This information was shared by Carmen Correia, the person in charge of the ornamental species department and who is very fond of these particular plants.

“Every day is important in the nursery”, explains Carmen, because there are always assorted tasks that need to be performed, from the preparation of the land to the availability of the substrates, and because each species has its specific traits and requirements.

For example, there are specific times and different methods to propagate them (through seeds or propagules, e.g. parts from a mother plant); there are species with various needs as regards cold, humidity and sun exposure; and there are even plants from the same species that grow more than others, requiring different care and even different periods of permanence in “shade houses”,  greenhouses or flower pots.

The fact that Viveiros Aliança owns land in regions with different characteristics in terms of relief, soil and climate helps offer each species the personalised care they need. In the particular case of lavender, for example, sowing and the first shoots occur in Pegões estate, after which they are transferred to Penamacor where they can enjoy higher humidity levels, an essential factor for them to grow and gain size. The arbutus tree is also submitted to the same procedure.

The different locations of these nurseries also help expand the plant variety: carob trees, for example, which fare well in warmer and drier areas grow well in the Pegões estate, but this species is not propagated in Penamacor, where the climate, either very hot or very cold, is not suitable.

The main priority is to ensure that each species has the best production conditions so that, upon leaving the nurseries, they adapt perfectly to the characteristics of the soil and climate of Portugal. This is a fundamental process and the result of investment made in research and development, through the partnership with RAIZ – Forest and Paper Research Institute. Only thus can nurseries offer the highest levels of productivity and achieve the highest certification category – “Tested”.

Did you know that…

• At Viveiros Aliança in Pegões, Carmen Correia is now focused on the first specimens of a virtually unknown eucalyptus species in Europe, Eucalyptus deglupta. This tree was baptised with the common name of rainbow eucalyptus for the exuberant colours of its trunk. “We already have several deglupta about two meters high, ready to be planted,” says the person in charge. This species originates from tropical countries (Philippines and Indonesia, for example) and, in addition to the intense colour palette of its trunk, stands out for its size: it can reach 60 to 70 metres.
• Viveiros Aliança sells plants born from propagules and seeds but does not sell seeds. Although they have their own seeds of some species, they use them to be sown in their nurseries. “For example, in The Navigator Company’s certified cork oak forests, cork oak seeds we propagate are collected there, but in most cases, these seeds are bought,” explains Carmen. Some are procured from CENAF – the state-owned National Forest Seed Center. “When this Center has little seed, it becomes very difficult to obtain elsewhere for planting or reforestation, particularly certified seed.”
• Forest species, such as maritime pine or oak trees, usually stay in the nurseries for about a year while ornamental species remain longer and are transferred to flower pots, where they gain the right size to be later transferred to the soil. But there may be exceptions to the rule: “Sometimes, in small forest areas, it may prove wiser to install larger trees”, already one meter to one meter and a half high, which means they have to be kept in the nursery for three years.
• Among the plants that have witnessed the largest increase in demand are several fruit tree species, such as the stone pine, almond, walnut and arbutus trees. Olive tree varieties planted and growing there are also in great demand, including one of the most valued for olive oil production – the Galician olive tree. Among the most recognised species is also the most common eucalyptus in Portugal and the Viveiros Aliança offer as regards this particular species does stand out.

From “maternity” to Navigator forests

The Navigator Company’s activity begins in these nurseries, e.g. the place where the small “sprouts” germinate and which are then sent to forest, re-forest, or densify forests.

Its approximately 105 hectares of forest areas from the north to the south of the country take advantage of this range of species and the innovation that is tested and implemented in Viveiros Aliança nurseries. “We are testing stone pine grafting”, Carmen Correia explains, further adding that they are currently engaged in sowing the very rare species native quercus, the Monchique oak, classified as “Critically Endangered” (EN), that is, running the risk of extinction in Portugal.

In the particular case of Eucalyptus globulus the clonal plants they produce come from the collection and propagation of shoots from selected mother plants, aimed at producing trees that combine greater productivity and resilience with less consumption of resources (water and other nutrients).