Procurement is underway all day. Mass collection of cones has begun in the forestry enterprises of the Vitebsk region

Mass collection of cones has begun in the Vitebsk region, with forestry workers planning to collect about 50 tons of harvest in all forestries of the northern region, as reported by the Vitebsk State Production Forestry Association (GPPLHO).

"The cone collection has just begun, and it is difficult to make precise tonnage forecasts for this natural material, but we plan to procure about 50 tons of spruce and pine cones. From these, we expect to obtain about 10 tons of cones from seed stands, which will yield seeds with improved hereditary traits. The yield this year is slightly below average due to unfavorable weather conditions that occurred this spring and summer," noted Alexey Kitaşev, leading engineer for forest restoration and melioration at the Vitebsk GPPLHO.

BELTA correspondents visited the Beshenkovichi Forestry to one of the plantations where elite pine seeds are being collected. "Five people are involved in cone collection. Harvesting is carried out throughout daylight hours. Forestry workers collect each cone by hand. We plan to collect about 2 tons of selected cones from this plantation, which will then be sent to the Glubokoye Experimental Forestry. They have the necessary equipment for drying cones, de-winging seeds, and subsequently storing the seed material in cold rooms," said Irina Bogach, engineer for forest restoration and melioration at the Beshenkovichi Forestry.

Irina Bogach, engineer for forest restoration and melioration at the Beshenkovichi Forestry, and Elena Shestova, forester

She added that cone collection is also underway in economic seed stands in forestries, and a similar harvest is planned to be collected from wild stands.

As for spruce cones, 1.5 tons are planned to be collected in the Beshenkovichi Forestry.

The "conifer harvest" in the forestries of the northern region will continue until March.

Source: vitebsk-region.gov.by