NatureBoost Episode 62: Missouri State Forest Nursery
March 2025
SMA
[Intro music ♪]
>> Hey there, and welcome back to NatureBoost! I'm Jill Pritchard with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Our green spaces would look drastically different if we didn't have trees, right? They'd be a lot less green. From the tallest oak to the smallest serviceberry, trees provide a variety of benefits. They give us shade on hot afternoons, they make cozy dens for all sorts of woodland creatures, they yield wood for baseball bats and golf clubs and provide the pulp for our paper. They also raise the value of your property, bring more shoppers to your community, and even help boost creativity and improve children's ability to learn.
Trees are amazing! But where do they come from before they stand tall? Today I'm taking you behind the scenes of Missouri's State Forest Nursery, where the journey from tiny sapling to mighty oak begins.
[Music ♪]
This crew out here . . .?
>> They’re finishing up. I guess they lift just down here, I see it now. He's lifting over here, a bed of flowering dogwood.
>> This is flowering dogwood.
>> This is a serviceberry.
>> Beautiful!
For over 90 years, MDC's George O. White State Forest Nursery has offered Missouri residents a variety of tree and shrub seedlings. The nursery began in the 1930s, soon after Missouri's national forests had been designated. At that time, thousands of forest acres needed reforestation, and it would take millions of seedlings to do it. The U.S. Forest Service sent a young forester, George O. White, to Texas County to inspect a possible location for the nursery. White found the property well-suited for growing shortleaf pine seedlings, and it was centrally located within Missouri's National Forest. With help from the Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Project Administration and local labor, the forest service nursery grew.
[2:05]
But in World War II, the nursery closed when funds for reforestation disappeared, and the CCC program dissolved. In 1947, MDC acquired special use of the nursery from the Forest Service, agreeing to produce two million shortleaf pine seedlings annually for national forests in Missouri. Later in the mid-70s, the Forest Service would transfer full ownership of the nursery to the department. And George O. White? He would go on to organize and direct MDC's first forestry program. And, he became Missouri's longest-tenured state forester, serving for 21 years. The department renamed the nursery and dedicated it in honor of White's commitment to Missouri's forests and forestry efforts.
[Music ♪]
At what point did they start selling tree seedlings to the public?
>> When the Conservation Department took over. That's when they switched over to where it was . . . what they grew here to begin with only went to the Forest Service property, when the Forest Service owned it. When the Conservation Department took over, they opened it to Missouri landowners. Even at that time, the majority of what we grew here was still shortleaf pine. Part of the contract with the Forest Service was that we had to grow shortleaf pine for them. Even when I started in 1981, now we only grow one unit . . . we'd have blocks that were shortleaf pine. So, over the years it has gradually changed. When I first started, pine was the big . . . the largest one that we grew. Then it changed over to hardwoods during the CRP days, with the large orders. Now, it's switched over to shrubs, because the market has changed.
[4:04.]
We've been really fortunate here that we've been able to adapt to that.
[Unclear sounds in background.]
>> That’s Forest Nursery Manager Dena Biram. I caught up with her during a recent visit to the nursery, to walk through its daily operations. As you heard, she has been a staple of the nursery for over 40 years. She explained how the facility has evolved over time to fulfill the needs of Missourians.
>> The property that landowners in Missouri own now is much smaller parcels of land. So, they don't need the thousands and thousands of trees that in the beginning, these large landowners needed. So, we just listen to our customers. The gals in the office that answer the phone, you could not find better customer service. They hear that from other state customers that call, or our own customers that call. We listen to everything that they ask, and we just move with the market. We were able to do that. We don't compete with the private nurseries. A lot of those larger nurseries want the bigger customer. They don't necessarily want to deal with a customer that wants 10 trees. So, we've backfilled that niche for those customers. It's worked out well. It's worked out well, and other state nurseries generally follow our lead whenever there's a growing trend . . . I hate to brag.
>> Please do!
>> We’ve always been a trendsetter in the state nursery industry, particularly with technology. Our computer program, there's not another one out there in any state nursery that allows the inventory control and the amount of orders that we have, and the number of customers that we have . . . it's not out there in the state, and the state nursery industry. It's simply because we've worked with our customers to give them what they need.
[Music ♪]
>> I learned from Dena just how lucky Missouri is to have a nursery with such dedicated staff who play a critical role in conservation.
[6:07.]
By providing healthy, well-developed seedlings, the nursery assists in growing the forests of tomorrow. But how does it all begin? Well, by planting a seed! Nursery Supervisor Mike Fiaoni explained just how many pounds of seed is needed to grow seedlings.
>> When we buy stuff, we buy it in the fruit . . . walnut, we buy with the holes on, same with the burr oak, it has the cap . . . the cap consumes the deal. [unclear.] Paw paw, that's the actual fruit of the paw paw. In 2018, 8,600 pounds. Through the years too, we've kept track of the ratio of the fruit to seed ratio. So, we know to get about 200 pounds of seed, we need approximately 6,000 pounds of fruit. That's the ratio.
>> I need you to say that again.
>> Mumm.
>> [Laughing.]
>> So, we buy stuff in the fruit.
>> In the fruit? So, for paw paw . . . that's like the "one fruit."
>> That’s the big pod.
>> Right. Is that the one fruit that we can grow in Missouri? Isn't it?
>> Oh, no. You got wild plum . . .
>> Yeah . . .
>> [Unclear crosstalk.]
>> The Ozark banana.
>> Paw paw is called "the Ozark banana." So, you're growing paw paw here. You want the actual fruit of it?
>> That’s how we buy it. Then we process it . . .
>> To get to the seed. Okay. So, you need more than 8,000 pounds of that seed of paw paw, to grow the seedlings . . .?
>> For one year. Yeah. [unclear.] To plant that . . . that seedling takes two years to grow to maturity. So . . . each year, we plant approximately 2 to 400 pounds of seed. Because it's such a high demand product, the seedling. So, we need approximately 6 to 10,000 pounds of paw paw fruit every year . . . that we have to process.
[8:03.]
>> [Laughing.] I can't even wrap my head around that! But look at black walnut! More than 48,000 pounds of seed!
>> Yeah. And that's with the whole on . . . that's how we plant it. Then, we know about how many pounds, or bushels is how we plant it, per square feet that has to be planted. You know. . . . [unclear.] We do this, and here's wild plum. In 2018, we bought a little over 5,000 pounds. I don't know what the ratio is on the plum, that one I don't have in my head. But what I'll do . . .
>> Because you have so much other stuff to keep track of, Mike! [Laughing.]
>> [Laughing.] Each year we create a seed buying list, so we know we can look at what we have in store, to try and maintain a 5-year supply. Wild plum is one we can do that. We can't do that with paw paw. Plum, we can. So, if we're trying to maintain that we know we need this many pounds of fruit to get what we need. If I get that many pounds of fruit, then we'll get the seed that we need to actually plant. So, that's how we judge when folks call in and say, "are you still buying plum, are you still buying persimmon?" That's what Dena and I can look and say, "okay, have we met our goal to buy this much fruit?" Same with persimmon and plum . . . we buy with the fruit, and then we will actually process it here. The reason we don't buy just the seed itself, we don't know how the customer treated that seed. We don't know how they processed or how they stored that seed. We know here how it's been taken care of, and we know that we've done it correctly.
Before we store it, too . . . some of it gets put in the freezer, and some of it gets stored in the cooler. Either way, it has to be dried down to a certain window, again. If there's too much moisture in it, and we put it in the cooler, it'll mold and potentially kill the seed. If there's too much moisture and it goes in the freezer . . . like how you put a soda bottle in the freezer, how it expands and busts? Same thing happens to that seed. So, we've killed the seed. If we dry it out too much, now you've got a dead seed, no matter where you store it at.
So, there are certain areas . . . they have charts where they keep track of, per species, how much it has to be dried down to.
[10:02.]
>> Okay, so . . . you do get seed from the public?
>> Mhmm.
>> Where do you get it, if you can't get enough seed from the public?
>> So, we have two ways of getting seed. One is from the public. We can probably get ¾ of our seed from the general public. The other portion comes from contractors. So, each year, we'll send out a list of the contractors that can bid on it, and then we go from there. Then, we also rely on the customers from across the state. Historically, we've had . . . this is our seed buying station, and then we had one at Kirksville, St. Joe, and Chillicothe. A couple of years ago, the rest of the regions got on board with it. Now, we have all the regions across the state helping with seed production, or seed buying. Which is important, because it may be . . . up in the north of Missouri, we might have a late freeze or something, or a bad seed production year for a species that we're needing. Hopefully the southern part of Missouri didn't get that, so now we're pulling from a general area across the state.
>> So, will you be soliciting the public for seed this year then?
>> Yes. We will.
>> And when does that usually start happening?
>> Usually, the list comes out about July or August. There is one species that we need that is an early producer, that's serviceberry. Contractors never bid on it, so for that reason, we actually have our own orchard that we planted serviceberry on. It's one for the public, too. You're not thinking . . . usually it ripens throughout the first part of June. So, we try to collect their own. If we get them from the public, great. But you have a small window, about a 3-week window, to get it all before the birds find it. And, they love that one.
>> Are you getting enough sleep?
>> [Laughing.] Actually . . . I sleep great!
>> [Laughing.] I'm so glad!
>> I’m one of these types of people . . . I can go home and put it all behind me. I can!
>> You can turn it off?
>> I can. Rarely does it bother me, to where I stay up all night, but yeah . . .
>> That’s so good! I know if it were me, I would. So, I'm glad that you don't! Okay . . . that's good! I'm comforted by that fact. [Laughing.]
[Music ♪]
>> Seeds are planted in specially prepared soil, and young tree seedlings are pulled in late winter.
[12:02.]
The nursery requests additional help from MDC staff and volunteers to help in the pulling, grading and shipping of the seedlings.
[Machine noise.]
>> So, this is our lifter. It has a blade on the front of the lifting pin, it actually goes underneath the bed. So, that starts lifting the entire soil up out of the ground. As it does that, it's bouncing those seedlings to get the majority of the dirt off. So, we want to keep the dirt in the beds. We don't want it in the cooler, on the roots and so forth. That process is bouncing those seedlings with those little "fingers" in there, vibrating back and forth. The bouncing is getting a majority of the dirt off. Because it's wet right now, there's a bit more sticking to the roots. That's why it's harder for the lifting crew to get those out of the ground . . . once it lifts it up.
>> I see.
>> Depending on the species of trees . . . they determine how deep that blade goes. Like the oaks and the pecan, they go a bit deeper. With the pines and the flowering dogwood, they go a bit shallower.
>> And so, you've already got a crew coming out over here to help manually pull up the seedlings and put them in their containers so you can bring them into the cooler?
>> [unclear.] [Away from mic.]
>> Is this still dogwood, or is this a different type of tree?
>> This is flowering dogwood here. The last one they just did was serviceberry.
>> Now, flowering dogwood . . . that's our state tree.
>> It is, yeah.
>> So, is this a popular tree seedling that people order?
>> Oh, yeah. Years ago, when I first started, I think we did about 50 pounds of seed that we planted. Now, we're up to 80. We're hoping to kind of increase that a little bit more if we can. Yeah. We sell a lot of that every year. So . . .
>> It is a beautiful tree.
>> It is!
>> Especially in the spring whenever it flowers, yeah.
>> One thing though, they just lifted that serviceberry, that's the first white flower that you see in the woods. Most people think that the first white flower they see is dogwood, but it's actually serviceberry. Serviceberry comes out a week, maybe two, before the flowering dogwood.
>> Is that a big indicator to tell them apart?
[14:00.]
>> It is . . . the flower too on the serviceberry is more of a fringe petal. This has your 4 big white petals. It's an easy way to tell them. If you look off in the distance and see the first white flowers, more than likely it's serviceberry.
>> Good tip! I'm glad that you mentioned that.
[Machine noise.]
>> Once pulled, seedlings are stored in the nursery's massive cooler to keep them dormant until they're ready to be graded and shipped to customers.
[Humming cooler machine noise.]
So, what's the temperature in here? It must be cold; I can see my breath.
>> We try to keep it at 35 degrees.
>> 35 degrees in here for the seedlings?
>> For two reasons. One, it keeps the mold at bay. There are two molds that we're watching for. One is a white mold. If it's on the seedlings, it's not hurting them, but customers don't like to see mold on their trees. So, what that is, is a dead root or dead top. Something on them, maybe a leaf petiole, that's what it's going to be growing off of. It's feeding off the dead material of that seedling. We don't mind that as much, but we do treat it . . . just to keep it from being unsightly for the customers.
The other one is a grey/green mold. If that's on there, it's actually attacking the living tissue of that tree. That's the one that we don't want to see. Every other day, they're pulling these racks apart, especially down here and in the other bays . . . looking for that mold. If they find that, then it gets treated. Luckily, we don't get that very much anymore. The coolest . . . [unclear] being cold keeps it at bay. The other thing though, is it keeps the trees dormant. The trees right now think they're still outside, it's cool, so they don't need to wake up. However, we have two species that once spring gets here, they know it's spring and no matter how cold you keep it . . . that's the elderberry and the blackberry.
>> So, are those the ones you're trying ship out as quick . . .?
>> Not really. Because, when they're producing the leaves it's okay. They're actually trying to grow. At that moisture, they're fine. It's when we bring them in that they know they're going dormant, if it has a dead leap. . .. that's what causes a problem. But now, it's actually trying to produce the leaves.
[16:01.]
The elderberry is primarily sprouting from the roots. That's where it's going to be growing from.
>> How many tree species do you grow here?
>> Around 70, is what we average.
>> We’re looking at 70 different babies . . . that all have different needs, and different feeding times, and . . .?
>> Yeah.
>> That you're trying to keep track of.
>> And, the seeds have to be treated differently too, on most of them. They get planted differently a lot of the time, so yeah.
>> Man, they don't know how good they have it.
>> And . . .
>> We have some good parents here!
>> People like Dena, who have been here 40 plus years . . . and her husband Bob, who has been here longer than that . . . [unclear.] We're the only nursery where the incoming supervisor gets to train for a year, a year and a half, under the outgoing supervisor. Which, I can't imagine coming in here and trying to figure this out for myself. It's a great staff. They know their jobs, but there are certain things I do that no one else does.
>> That’s invaluable! Absolutely. Well, let's go! We can talk to Dena more about the nursery.
[Machine noise.]
Through the season, the nursery will ship around 30 to 40 thousand packages of seedlings . . . all of which include different amounts of seedling bundles, depending on what the customer orders. But each seedling is carefully graded before shipped, ensuring the customer gets a quality tree. Each tree species has different requirements. But graders make sure each seedling meets specifications in 4 areas. They have to be a specific height. The stem has to meet a certain diameter, and the roots and bud have to be healthy. If a seedling doesn't make the cut, it goes into the compost pile.
Grading ensures a better chance of survival once the customer plants their seedling. Another shift in the market Mike noted, was that edible trees are becoming more popular.
[Running water sounds.]
>> We’re also getting more customers that are less into the soil conservation . . . they want to grow stuff for wildlife, or that they can eat themselves. That's where paw paw is a huge seller for us right now. People like to eat that themselves. Persimmon is another big one . . . black chokeberry is another big one.
[18:01.]
Anything that people can eat, and that wildlife can eat, that's going to be a big seller for us.
>> As you heard, it takes a tremendous amount of time, effort, planning and helping hands to grow and supply Missourians and businesses' trees. If you find yourself still asking "why are tree nurseries important", here's Mike and Dena again.
[Music ♪.]
>> People want to get involved with conservation. There's a desire in each person, I think, to do something to help, to be part of it. Simply planting a tree, does so much. That small seed that we plant today is going to be there 5, 10, 15, maybe 100 years from now. Over the lifetime of that tree, the benefits it's producing, both in clean air, oxygen, soil stabilization, food for the wildlife, food for the person, possibly . . . just the overall ecosystem that it's providing for, like we just saw with the witch hazel and the bees this time of year. The different birds that are going to feed off of that, the different wildlife that's going to feed off of that tree. I love working with the customers and landowners and helping them accomplish their goals.
>> I think it's installed in human nature to want to grow something. It's a sense of accomplishment when you see something that you've planted, and you've watched it grow. My daughter lived in St. Louis. It amazed me . . . she lived close to the botanical garden. They had bald cyprus trees as a street tree. They're absolutely beautiful. You take one of our seedlings and then you see what it's going to look like in your yard, and I think everybody likes that sense of accomplishment, no matter how big you are, no matter how old you are . . . trees are just necessary. I mean, there's nothing better in your yard than to have in your yard . . . a large shade tree. You know? That's why I think people like trees. Because it's something they can watch, and they can take care of it. And it doesn't talk back. [Laughing.]
[Music ♪]
[20:00.]
One of the programs we do, especially Arbor Day. . .. I think that's extremely important. At 4th grade, that's the age where kids learn, they absorb things. And they absorb the fact . . . "oh, I get to plant a tree and watch that tree grow." I don't know how many calls we get every year from some parent that says, "I ran over my kid's Arbor Day tree, can I get another one?" So, the kids are noticing it too, and they're not . . . they're upset because "dad ran over my tree and killed it." I think that shows that kids are learning that trees are necessary, a necessary part of our life. That's I think one of our most important programs, is to get that out to kids.
[Music ♪]
>> Tree nurseries may not always be in the spotlight, but their impact is undeniable. Every great forest or favorite backyard tree starts with a single seedling . . . and I hope this episode gave you some insight and appreciation to the work and the people behind the scenes helping create green spaces. And the good news is there's still time to buy seedlings from our state nursery! There may be just a limited supply of tree species, but orders are being accepted through April 15th. Learn more by calling nursery staff at 573-674-3229 . . . or order online. We'll have the link to the online order form in this episode description. Thank you again to Forest Nursery Manager Dena Biram, Forest Nursery Supervisor Mike Fiaoni, NatureBoost producer Peg Craft, and to you, for listening to another episode of NatureBoost! And be sure to keep tuning in as we talk more about Arbor Day and forest products in next month's episode. If you liked this episode, be sure to like and subscribe. You can always send us a message at missouriconservation.org/natureboost. I'm Jill Pritchard with the Missouri Department of Conservation, encouraging you to get your daily dose of the outdoors!
[22:06.]
[Music ♪]
That was beautiful! There are so many times I've worked on this podcast, and people I interview just say the most moving things, and it almost . . . [unclear.] It really does!
>> [Laughing.] Hey . . . don't ruin my reputation!
>> [Laughing.] Too late!
[End of podcast.]