The steps in the Production Cycle are:  

1. Establishment of field trials on forest growers’ land to compare performance of different varieties of radiata pine. Field trials take 4-6 years before providing useful data for ranking.

2. Placement of tissue samples from varieties under test in long-term storage using cryo-preservation (liquid nitrogen), to maintain juvenility. 

3. Extraction of tissue of the few best selected Production Varieties from long-term storage. 

4. Growth of these Production Varieties into motherplants in the laboratory, using somatic embryogenesis, tissue culture and greenhouse technology.

5. Planting of selected motherplants of Production Varieties in field/nursery conditions for the subsequent production of cuttings.

6. Setting of cuttings from motherplants in the nursery, either as bare root or individually containerised, as specified by the customer  

7. Planting of cuttings, the end-products, on forest land.