Research and analysis

Tree supply report, data analysis and appendix

Published 29 April 2025

Considerations and limitations

Production data was collected between August 2024 and January 2025 from some of the largest 16 private forest nurseries in England, Scotland, and Wales, as well as the 2 public nurseries in England and Scotland. Because three of the nurseries have not supplied their most recent data, 2024/2025 figures have been used in these instances. An additional nursery which hadn’t been included in previous versions of the report, has also been added. We estimate that these 18 nurseries grow over 90% of the saplings used in forest and woodland planting in UK.

We have left the figures of Christmas trees and hedging species as stated by the producers. It should be noted however that the report targeted nurseries which produce forest and woodland trees, therefore this report does not aim to be representative of the production of Christmas trees and hedging species. Amenity and urban planting are likewise outside of the scope of this report, although we cannot exclude some overlap. 

Nurseries have been asked to provide the species and number of trees produced at their site expected to be ready for sale in the 2024/25 season. Because data was supplied during the growing season, it relied on sample extrapolation and/or predicted figures rather than actual counts or sales figures.

From conversations with the nurseries, imports and exports of forestry trees are considered marginal, and have been included in this report wherever declared by nurseries.

This report aims to illustrate the overall production of saplings for woodland and forestry planting in the 2024/25 season in the United Kingdom. Unless otherwise stated, “tree” and “sapling” are used interchangeably and refer to stock destined to woodland and forestry. 

The given figures represent overall saleable tree production in 2024/25, but do not intend to represent availability for sale, nor market demand.

The complete species dataset used for analysis can be found in the Appendix.

Number of trees produced

Figure 1: Bar chart showing the number of saplings produced in season 2024/25 (dark yellow), compared to previous years (lighter yellow).

The total number of trees produced by the nurseries surveyed in 2024/2025 is of 161 M – around 1M higher than the previous year (Figure 1). This figure does not include an estimation of saplings from nurseries which did not participate in the survey.

Number of species produced

Figure 2: Bar chart showing the number of tree and bush species grown at the 18 nurseries surveyed.

The nurseries surveyed have produced a total of 125 species, which is comparable to previous years’ figures (Figure 2), albeit slightly lower. A complete list of all the species can be found in the Appendix. Because the above number includes very minor species grown in small quantities, we can also look at a different metric to track species diversity in tree supply.

Figure 3: Column charts showing number of species with more than 1 million (green) and 500,000 (yellow) saplings produced, from 2023 to 2025. 2023 shows 2-3 fewer species compared to 2024 and 2025, however in that year only 13 nurseries participated in the survey as opposed to 17 and 18 respectively. The number has stayed roughly constant in the last three years.

Figure 3 shows the number of tree species grown in considerable volumes (over 500,000 and over 1,000,000 saplings), as these are more indicative of the stock available for larger forestry and woodland projects. The chart shows that species availability in nursery stock is roughly constant throughout the survey years.

Method of growing

This season has seen a substantial increase in the ratio of cell-grown saplings to field-grown (bareroot). Production of cell-grown saplings has increased from 24% of the total production in 2023/24 (data not shown) to 34% in 2024/25 (Figure 4). This growth can be attributed to both new entrants and the expansion of existing cell-growing businesses.

Figure 4: Bar chart showing bareroot vs.cell-produced saplings.

Broadleaved and conifers

Figure 5: Pie and ring chart representing broadleaves (light green) and conifers (dark green) as part of the total nursery production. The inner pie chart shows how many trees have been produced for each group, while the outer ring chart shows the number of species produced for each group. Broadleaves make up a third of the overall production, but around two thirds of the number of species produced.

The overall ratio of broadleaf to conifer remains broadly unchanged, with broadleaves gaining a single percentage point from last year (32% to 33% of the production). Conifers still represent two thirds of the overall production. An overview of the annual change within species is provided in Figure 11.

Nurseries and species

Figure 6: Dot plot of broadleaves as a percentage of the total production of each nursery. Each circle represents a nursery surveyed.

Figure 7: Dot plot showing number of species grown at each nursery. Each circle represents a nursery.

Figure 6 shows broadleaves as a percentage of the total production in each nursery. While the mean is not changed from the previous year (54% compared to 53%), the median has shifted downwards in favour of conifers (from 58% to 49%).

There is a great variety in the number of species grown at each nursery, ranging from only 4 tree species to 77, as shown in Figure 7. Larger nurseries usually tend to stock a greater number of species.

Top species produced

At over 72M, Sitka spruce still dominates sapling production in UK. It is followed by Scots pine at 14M. Downy birch is the third most-produced species in 2024-25, closely followed by Norway spruce, Hawthorn and Douglas fir (Figure 8). Refer to Figure 11 to see the change in production from 2023/24.

Figure 8: Bar chart of the top 10 species grown in UK. The measurement bar for Sitka spruce has been faded for ease of interpretation. Scots pine includes both native provenances as well as improved material. Dark green coloured bars denote coniferous trees, while lighter green represents broadleaves.

Figure 9: Top species grown in UK -continued (n11-30). Dark green coloured bars denote conifer species, and light green broadleaf species.

Figure 10: Top species grown in UK -continued (n31-50). Dark green coloured bars denote conifer species, and light green broadleaf species.

Species change from previous year

Figure 11: Bar chart showing change in production between 2022/23 and 2023/24 season for the top 18 species, shown as percentage.

Figure 11 shows a different picture from last year, when broadleaves and especially hedging species showed a marked increase in production. As a result of last year’s production increase for these species, the negative figures do not necessarily suggest a downward trend but rather an adjustment to pre-2024 levels. Scots pine, Hawthorn, Blackthorn, and Beech, despite showing a decrease in the graph above, have in fact higher production numbers than the 2023 survey. A decrease in saleable Hawthorn, which went from 3rd to 5th most produced species, is partly attributable to widespread issues with seed collection in 2023/24. Lodgepole pine and aspen are the only species showing an actual decrease compared to 2023 figures.

Dawn redwood (+74%), Wild service tree (+56%) Field maple and Small-leaved lime (+45%), Macedonian pine (+34%) and Atlas cedar (+23%) are some of the species showing the largest increases from 2024 to 2025. Production decreased for, amongst others, Dog rose (-87%), Lodgepole pine (-49%), Sycamore (-41%), and Oriental spruce (-33%).

It should be noted that these figures are based only on three years’ data and as such do not necessarily represent a trend. Various external factors such as seed availability, weather conditions and market assumptions underpin nurseries’ production. As mentioned earlier, the data shown throughout this report are production and not sales figures, and therefore do not directly reflect tree demand in UK.

Appendix

Table 1: All tree and shrub species grown for 2024-25 season, as reported by the nurseries surveyed, and rounded to the nearest hundred. In alphabetical order.

Group	Scientific name	Common name	N. of trees
CF	Abies alba	Silver fir	258,400
CF	Abies amabilis	Pacific silver fir	170,000
CF	Abies concolor	White fir	7,100
CF	Abies fraseri	Fraser fir	127,000
CF	Abies grandis	Grand fir	306,700
CF	Abies koreana	Korean fir	2,200
CF	Abies koreana x balsamea	1,300
CF	Abies nobilis	Noble fir	107,700
CF	Abies nordmanniana	Nordmann fir	675,500
CF	Abies procera	Noble (red) fir	101,200
BL	Acer campestre	Field maple	1,056,200
BL	Acer platanoides	Norway maple	62,100
BL	Acer pseudoplatanus	Sycamore	837,900
BL	Alnus cordata	Italian alder	82,900
BL	Alnus glutinosa	Common alder	4,483,000
BL	Alnus incana	Grey alder	50,200
BL	Alnus rubra	Red alder	58,300
BL	Alnus viridis	Green alder	36,700
BL	Betula nana	Dwarf birch	21,800
BL	Betula pendula	Silver birch	5,414,300
BL	Betula pubescens	Downy birch	8,837,300
BL	Carpinus betulus	Hornbeam	1,226,700
BL	Castanea sativa	Sweet chestnut	297,100
CF	Cedrus atlantica	Atlas cedar	97,000
CF	Cedrus deodara	Deodar cedar	100
CF	Cedrus libani	Lebanon cedar	25,000
CF	Chamaecyparis lawsoniana	Lawson’s cypress	70,500
BL	Cornus alba	Siberian dogwood	20,200
BL	Cornus sanguinea	Common dogwood	139,300
BL	Corylus avellana	Hazel	1,558,500
BL	Crataegus laevigata	Midland hawthorn	200
BL	Crataegus monogyna	Hawthorn	7,693,200
CF	Cryptomeria japonica	Japanese cedar	344,000
CF	Cupressocyparis leylandii	Leyland cypress	24,000
BL	Cytisus scoparius	Common broom	13,700
BL	Eucalyptus dalrympleana	Mountain gum	5,500
BL	Eucalyptus glaucescens	Tingiringi gum	10,000
BL	Eucalyptus gunnii	Snow gum	16,000
BL	Eucalyptus nitens	Shining gum	14,000
BL	Euonymus europaeus	European spindle	13,600
BL	Fagus sylvatica	Beech	1,662,100
BL	Fraxinus excelsior	Ash	3,000
BL	Hippophae rhamnoides	Seaberry	4,500
BL	Ilex aquifolium	Common holly	279,100
BL	Juglans nigra	Black walnut	42,100
BL	Juglans regia	English walnut	21,700
BL	Juniperus communis	Juniper	40,800
CF	Juniperus communis	Juniper	156,700
CF	Larix decidua	European larch	185,000
CF	Larix eurolepis	Hybrid larch	114,000
CF	Larix laricina	Tamarack	7,000
BL	Ligustrum vulgare	Wild privet	39,500
BL	Malus sylvestris	Crab apple	455,900
CF	Metasequoia glyptostroboides	Dawn redwood	87,000
CF	Picea abies	Norway spruce	8,326,300
CF	Picea lutzii	Lutz spruce	10,000
CF	Picea omorika	Serbian spruce	135,300
CF	Picea orientalis	Oriental spruce	73,000
CF	Picea pungens glauca	Colorado blue spruce	46,000
BL	Picea sitchensis	Sitka spruce	273,200
CF	Picea sitchensis	Sitka spruce	72,397,700
CF	Pinus contorta	Lodgepole pine	1,906,600
CF	Pinus nigra maritima/corsicana	Corsican pine	30,700
CF	Pinus nigra nigra/austriaca	Austrian pine	53,000
CF	Pinus peuce	Macedonian pine	288,500
CF	Pinus pinaster	Maritime pine	15,000
CF	Pinus pinea	Stone pine	23,000
CF	Pinus radiata	Monterey pine	69,000
CF	Pinus strobus	Eastern white pine	9,000
BL	Pinus sylvestris	Scots pine	465,200
CF	Pinus sylvestris	Scots pine	13,660,900
CF	Pinus taeda	Loblolly pine	15,000
BL	Populus Hybrid	Hybrid poplar	306,000
BL	Populus nigra	Black poplar	40,000
BL	Populus tremula	Aspen	1,371,500
BL	Prunus avium	Wild cherry	770,000
BL	Prunus cerasifera	Cherry plum	46,500
BL	Prunus insititia	Damson plum	1,400
BL	Prunus laurocerasus	Cherry laurel	73,000
BL	Prunus lusitanica	Portoguese laurel	15,000
BL	Prunus padus	Bird cherry	174,900
BL	Prunus spinosa	Blackthorn	2,481,200
CF	Pseudotsuga menziesii	Douglas fir	6,018,500
BL	Pyrus communis	Common pear	41,500
BL	Quercus ilex	Holm oak	32,900
BL	Quercus petraea	Sessile oak	3,358,800
BL	Quercus robur	Pedunculate oak	2,814,400
BL	Quercus rubra	Red oak	107,100
BL	Rhamnus cathartica	Purging buckthorn	47,000
BL	Rhamnus frangula	Alder buckthorn	46,400
BL	Robinia pseudoacacia	Black locust	35,300
BL	Rosa arvensis	Field rose	1,800
BL	Rosa canina	Dog rose	281,500
BL	Rosa eglateria	#N/A	2,000
BL	Rosa rubiginosa	Sweet briar rose	500
BL	Rosa rugosa	Red japanese rose	19,400
BL	Rosa spinosissima	Scotch rose	5,600
BL	Salix alba	White willow	5,400
BL	Salix aurita	Eared willow	548,100
BL	Salix caprea	Goat willow	1,255,500
BL	Salix cinerea	Grey willow	816,000
BL	Salix fragilis	Crack willow	117,500
BL	Salix lapponum	Downy willow	9,000
BL	Salix nigra	Black willow	12,800
BL	Salix pentandra	Bay willow	43,200
BL	Salix repens	Creeping willow	15,000
BL	Salix viminalis	Osier willow	16,400
BL	Sambucus nigra	Elder	19,300
BL	Scandosorbus intermedia	Swedish whitebeam	10,500
CF	Sequoia sempervirens	Coast redwood	108,800
CF	Sequoiadendron giganteum	Giant redwood	41,000
BL	Sorbus aria	Common whitebeam	58,500
BL	Sorbus aucuparia	Rowan	2,268,000
BL	Sorbus torminalis	Wild service tree	224,000
BL	Taxus baccata	Yew	2,100
CF	Taxus baccata	Yew	112,000
CF	Thuja plicata	Western red cedar	944,900
BL	Tilia cordata	Small-leaved lime	447,600
BL	Tilia platyphyllos	Large-leaved lime	207,100
CF	Tsuga heterophylla	Western hemlock	389,100
BL	Ulex europaeus	Gorse	46,900
BL	Ulmus glabra	Wych elm	22,400
BL	Viburnum lantana	Wayfaring tree	20,600
BL	Viburnum opulus	Guelder rose	48,200