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Air Pruned Raised Beds for Tree Seedling Production

• Thursday, May 7, 2026, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County in conjunction with the Cornell Small Farms Program will be offering a hands-on workshop on Air Pruned Raised Beds (APRBs).

APRBs offer an innovative, scalable approach to tree seedling propagation. By naturally pruning roots through air exposure, this system produces seedlings with stronger root architecture, higher transplant success, and the ability to grow large volumes of bare-root stock in a small footprint—no land ownership required. APRBs are adaptable to both urban and rural contexts and support high-density seedling production for a wide range of species.

Participants will learn how to construct an APRB and explore key topics including bed management, growing media, pest management, species selection, seed collection, preservation, germination, and potential markets. Requirements for selling nursery stock in NYS will also be addressed. This workshop is ideal for producers seeking to diversify into a new, efficient tree seedling production system.

Instructor's bio:The session will be led by Connor Youngerman, Agroforestry lead with the Cornell Small Farms Program. As the Agroforestry and Mushroom Specialist with the Cornell Small Farms Program, Connor applies his skills and experience toward climate resiliency outreach for new, established, and historically excluded farmers. His particular interests lie in advancing research and education for agroforestry tree nursery management, medicinal agroforestry crops, and novel mushroom substrates. He believe these areas hold huge potential to diversify the ecological and economic portfolio of small-scale farmers.

There is no charge for the workshop, however pre-registration is required, as participation is capped at 25 people

Fee

This event is free, however, donations help us keep future programming costs low for our community. Thank you for your continued support!

Register

https://ccetompkins.wufoo.com/forms/m1v4b07m04r3gel/

Location

CCE-Tompkins Education Center
615 Willow Avenue
Ithaca, NY 14850-3555

Last updated March 31, 2026