7. Market promotion

In the Russian market there is a lack of diversity of ornamental forms of native plant species. To date, landscaping in Russia has relied on trees imported from Germany, Poland, Holland and even Italy with its warm climate. Since these imported spruce are used to a mild climate, they die in the Russian frosts.

The authors suggest bringing Fastigiata Uralica to the market for landscaping and urban greening, as suggested in Figure 6.

Figure 6. Marketing route for Siberian spruce 'Fastigiata Uralica'

Potential buyers: home chain stores (OBI, Auchan, Leroy Merlin, etc), garden centres, tree nurseries, vegetation enterprises.

8. The cultivation process

For the reproduction of 'Fastigiata Uralica', members of the Ural State Forest Engineering University are planning to use their own reproductive technologies, including clonal micro-propagation. Main stages are:

1. Propagation by cuttings, which are selected from parent trees of Fastigiata Uralica.

2. Clonal micro-propagation is the use of in-vitro techniques to obtain seedlings quickly and asexually, completely identical to the parent. Cuttings and cloning in the laboratory allow all seedlings to keep the form of the parent tree.

3. Growing in a greenhouse with a closed root system over three years up to a height of 15-20 cm. Further grown up to a height of 1-1.5 m in an open plantation.

4. The young trees are then put into pots to be sold wholesale and retail all year round through retail chains and garden centres.

The main stages are presented in Figure 7.

Figure 7. The Cultivation Process for 'Fastigiata Uralica'

The non-recurring costs in the project are estimated at about 14 million roubles:

• reconstruction of the greenhouse area of 750 m²

• utilities

• equipment to transfer large trees

• preparation of the bedding soil

• automatic irrigation in the greenhouse and organization of ventilation

• office building and refurbishment of cloning laboratory.

Annual running costs in the project are estimated 12 million roubles including soil, fertilizers, planting pots and trays, personnel, and advertising. These costs cover cloning in the laboratory and cultivation of large-sized planting material on the plantation.

The planned annual production of three-year seedlings of spruce is of 130,000 units and of seven-year seedlings of 20,000 pieces. The payback period will be four years.

9. Conclusions

1. The ability to create aesthetically pleasing landscaping trees is expanding due to the high polymorphism of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L) H. Karst), but is limited by the climatic conditions.

2. The polymorphism of the Siberian spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.) is significantly lower than that of the Norway spruce, which makes the discovery of a new decorative shape of the former very promising.

3. It is proposed to create a new brand for the recently discovered form of Siberian spruce with pyramidal, narrow columnar and crown shape, and drooping spiral branches. It is to be called 'Fastigiata Uralic’ (P. obovata 'Fastigiata Uralica' Opletaev).

4. Analogues of this form of Siberian spruce are not to be found in any nursery in the world.

5. In the context of trees for landscaping Siberian spruce 'Fastigiata Uralica' is the most promising among versions of the genus Picea with these main advantages:

6. the Siberian spruce is hardier than European varieties and is undemanding to with regard to soil fertility. The compact, narrow-pyramidal crown shape 'Fastigiata Uralica' is ideal for the urban environment;

7. This new form of spruce can create the flavour of a Mediterranean landscape in the northern regions of Russia without using cypress.

8. The authors propose to start the processes for branding, industrial reproduction, cultivation and promotion of this new form of spruce.

Interest in the acquisition of domestic planting material from almost all consumer groups is increasing every year. The advantages are clear: hardiness, assurance of quality production, possibility of assortment planning and price stability (as domestic material does not depend on the exchange rate). We therefore, believe that 'Fastigiata Uralica’ has high promise compared with other forms of spruce, and is of considerable interest for the market landscape design in Russia and abroad.

REFERENCES

1. Alexandrov M. Coniferous plants in your garden. - M .: JSC "FITON +", 2000. - 224 p.

2. Bolotov N.A. Theory, practice and forecast in the introduction of tree species on the territory of the former Soviet Union Doctoral Dissertation, St. Petersburg, 1992. 42 p.

3. Gusev A.V., Zalesov S.V., Sarsekov D.N. Methods of determining the prospects of introduction of woody plants. Socio-economic and environmental problems of forest complex within the concept of 2020: Proceedings of the VII Intern. Scientific and Technical Conference. Ekaterinburg: Ural State. Forestry Engineering University Press, 2009. pp 272-275.

4. Gusev A.V. The prospect of the use of exotic species of wood in landscaping Khanty-Mansiysk (middle taiga subzone of West Siberia). Dissertation candidate agricultural Sciences. - Ekaterinburg 2011.

5. Kozhevnikov A.P. Botanical gardens and arboretums of the world: a tutorial, Ural State Forestry Engineering University, Ekaterinburg, 2013. - 342 p.

6. Krekova J.A., Dancheva A.V., Zalesov S.V. Evaluation of decorative signs genus Picea Dieter. Northern Kazakhstan.Modern problems of science and education. - 2015. - № 1-1; URL: http://www.science-education.ru/ru/article/view?id=17204 (reference date: 01.02.2016)..

7. Kupriyanov A.N. Plant introduction: a tutorial. Kemerovo, Kuzbas University Press, 2004. 96p

8. Krussmann G. Conifer Handbook. - Berlin: Paul Parey. 1972. - 366 p.

9. Zalesov S.V., Platonov E.P., Gusev A.V. Promising exotic species of tree for planting in a middle taiga subzone of Western Siberia. Agricultural Gazette Urals. 2011. №4 (83). - Pp. 56-58.

10. Zalesov S.V., Dancheva A.V., Krekova J.A. A study of the prospects of exotic species of wood.: Ural State Forestry Engineering University Press, Ekaterinburg 2014. 13 p.

Authors’ addresses:

Zalesov Sergey, Professor, PhD;

Faculty of forestry, the Institute of Forest and Natural Resource Management

Ural State Forest Engineering University (USFEU), Ekaterinburg, Russia

Corresponding author: Lotos_nk@inbox.ru

Opletaev Anton, PhD;

Faculty of forestry, the Institute of Forest and Natural Resource Management

Ural State Forest Engineering University (USFEU), Ekaterinburg, Russia

Corresponding author: Lotos_nk@inbox.ru

Natalia Pryadilina, PhD;

Faculty of economy of wood business, the Institute of Economics and Management,

Ural State Forest Engineering University (USFEU), Ekaterinburg, Russia

Corresponding author: Lotos_nk@inbox.ru

Damary Roy, Professor, PhD;

Graduate Institute of Business and Management INSAM, Switzerland, Geneva

Corresponding author: r.damary@insamgeneva.org

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