Majestic Trees embraces peat-free growing

Majestic Trees combines innovation, expertise, and passion to deliver superior trees and service for discerning clients. In 2025, as part of their commitment to sustainability and in response to a potential peat ban, 80% of trees arriving on the nursery will be potted on in Levington Advance Sustain peat-free growing media. Featuring FSC-certified bark and Fibagro Advance woodfibre, it is helping Majestic support a circular economy while maintaining high-quality standards.

Founded in 2002 by Steve McCurdy, Majestic Trees is a trusted name in premium, semi-mature, and mature trees. Located on a 27-acre site near St Albans, the multi-award-winning nursery offers over 600 tree varieties, nurtured in Air-Pots for exceptional root development. Seventy percent of the trees are sold directly to high-end customers, with the rest bought by designers, landscapers, and developers.

Majestic’s Eliot Barden (L), Carlos Guinard and ICL’s Sam Rivers (R)

Advanced Air-Pot system

“The Air-Pot system prevents root spiralling, which is common in conventional container-grown trees,” explains Carlos Guinard, nursery director. “The textured recycled HDPE sleeve directs roots towards holes, where tips dehydrate, stimulating lateral roots.”

In 2019, Majestic began working with ICL with all its trees potted into a bespoke Levington Advance 50% peat reduced mix, containing Fibagro Advance. The nutrition package featured Osmocote Exact Standard (12-14m) plus Osmoform High N (8-10 week) to help compensate for nitrogen drawdown commonly seen with wood-based raw materials.

Large root ball challenge

“In the past, our small-scale peat-free trials had led us to the general observation that these substrates did not work for us in the longer term,” says Carlos. “Unique to tree producers, it’s vital the large root balls hold together for safe handling.  After a year, we found these early peat-free substrates decomposed and fell apart. We considered adding raw materials such as loam or green waste, but this would make the root balls very difficult to lift due to high bulk weight density.”

In 2019, Carlos and his experienced team revisited peat-free in greater detail.  Investing considerably more time, the team started carrying out structured, in-depth trials experimenting with different peat-free products and their management.

This included a bespoke Levington Advance Sustain mix comprising coir, bark and  Fibagro Advance. “Due to our unique thermo-mechanical processing, Fibagro Advance delivers optimal air-filled porosity characteristics for tree production, which helps reduce slumping,” says Sam Rivers, an ICL Technical Manager. “Heated during manufacture, it is relatively sterile so has little bioactivity – which means the overall mix breaks down more slowly.”

“The performance has been good,” says Carlos. “It has given us the confidence to embrace peat-free. While the roots develop faster, this doesn’t necessarily mean trees are ready earlier, as the head needs to be a saleable size – but it’s good for overall establishment. While we are pleased with the progress we’re making, there are still some challenges to overcome regarding long-term peat-free root balls remaining intact, particularly the larger ones. To this end, our team is continuing its work to resolve these challenges – with input also from ICL.

“The Levington Advance Sustain mix is lighter than previous mixes we’ve trialled, making it easier to shovel and lift trees,” says Eliot Barden – aftercare, apprentice and training director and AIPH International Young Grower of the Year. “We also appear to use slightly less when potting trees, as it doesn’t compact as much as the peat reduced.”

Irrigation scheduling to maintain moisture

“The black Air-Pots can become warm in the sun, which increases evaporation,” explains Carlos. “Compared to peat, the alternatives have lower water holding capacities. To maintain the moisture in the pots, we have adapted our irrigation scheduling and water more frequently but apply less each time. This is even more so for the peat-free – where we also use drippers with small sprayers to spread the water over a larger surface area.”

“Overall, we’re using a similar amount of water to before, but rely more on wetting agents to pull the water out to the sides of the Air-Pots.  We plan for dry periods, getting water into the root balls in advance using wetting agents and applying mulch to the tops to minimise evaporation.”

Technical expertise important

Majestic puts its trust in Osmocote 5 (12-14m) for its peat-free nutrition.  “Specifically formulated for sustainable growing media, it has a higher N content and an S-shaped nutrient release curve – tailoring to the needs of the trees,” explains Sam.  “For supplementary feeding, the team relies on the Universol water soluble range and topdresses with Osmotop or Osmocote Topdress FT as required.”

“Overall, we’re very pleased with the service from ICL,” says Carlos. “The consistency and performance of the peat-reduced and peat-free mixes is proving to be very good and we are benefiting from the high level of technical expertise.”