DAG WOOL WEED MAT AND SEEDLING PROTECTOR

Harriet Graydon

While planting seedlings, why are we putting more plastic into the environment we are trying to help? Using plastic seedling protectors to solve the problem of seedling establishment rates has led to the problem of plastic pollution in planting environments. We believe that strong dag wool we can solve both these problems.

The final concept is a plant mat and windbreak made from a compressed dag wool material. The plant mat will be 30x30cm squared, which will reduce the weed growth around the small tree. The reduction of weed growth ensures that the growing tree receives as much nutrition from the soil as possible without needing to share this with the unnecessary weeds. Due to the materials used both the mat and the break are expected to decompose within six months (International Wool Textile Organisation, 2019) with all of the nutrients from the wool and the manure going into the soil surrounding the growing tree.

When designing the product, an understanding of the market and demand had to be considered. The One Billion trees project currently taking place in New Zealand shows there is a clear demand for a product to provide nutrition and protection to the growing trees, making it a desirable product in our country at present.