History
Stromlo Forest and the area now known as Glenloch Cork Oak Plantation
was used for cattle grazing in the early 1800's. It became Government
land in 1931 and is now listed on both the ACT Heritage register
and the National Estate register.
Part
of Walter Burley Griffin's concept was to make Canberra self sufficient
commercially. The first acorns came from a tree at Duntroon. Larger
consignments came from Spain, which was lost during a WWI torpedo
strike, and then from France. By 1920 in excess of 9500 cork oaks
had been planted.
Cork
Oak (Quercus suber)
Cork oaks can grow to 20 metres high and reach a diameter of 1
metre. They are drought tolerant and can live up to 400 years.
Cork
comes from the outer bark of the tree. The poorer the soil, the
slower the growth, the better the cork quality. Properly harvested
cork can be removed without damaging the tree and new layers regrow
every year. Trees my be stipped every 9-10 years.
Cork
harvesting in Stromlo Forest first commenced in the late 1940's
and manufactoring took place in Melbourne by GP Embleton &
Co. In 2001 professional cork strippers from Portugal were employed
to remove the cork, primarily 'virgin cork', used for plant nursery
applications.
The
photos depicted on the left show the lastest cork harvest which
took place in November 2005.
CORK
CENTRAL
Easy Orchids, along with
Tinonee Orchids, have purchased from
ACT Forests, the entire 2005 harvest of virgin cork bark from
the Glenloch Plantation. This bark comes in the form of flat to
slightly curved sheets which range in size from 150mm - 800mm
long. Some huge slabs are also available for those wishing to
create large specimens.
Virgin
Cork Bark is an ideal mount for epiphytic orchids and other plants
such as tillandsias. It also has many other craft and building
applications.
Easy Orchids have good stocks of cork available.
Please contact us to arrange freight.
$15.00/kg
per piece + 10% GST
$9.00/kg per bale (approx 18-20kg) +
10%
GST.
Bale dimensions approx. 800mm long x 500mm wide x 350mm deep.
500kg or more Price on Application
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