A farm-based tree nursery which produces all its plants from seed and operates without peat has doubled its production capacity as gears up for growth.

Rymer Trees and Hedging is based on Toby Rush's farm at Barnham, near Thetford, and began production when it planted the first seeds for its cell-grown native trees in 2022.

As well as running his own farm, Toby is a tenant on the Euston Estate and runs Rymer Farm Eggs, producing RSPCA-assured free range eggs.

The tree business was founded in 2021 after Toby's old friend Tom Hoblyn, an award-winning landscape gardener, suggested he set up his own tree nursery after finding it difficult to source trees locally.

(Image: Lucy Taylor)

The pair decided to join forces and were joined in the business by Tom's horticulturalist son Harry Hoblyn and agriculturalist Rory Hobbs, who is a tenant on the farm. All four became directors of the business.

Harry is nursery manager and he is supported by his assistant Hector Loft and marketing manager Lizzie Smith.

Toby runs a 600-acre farm operation which includes around 55 acres of grass meadows which support his flocks of free range hens.

Rymer Farm Eggs now makes up a significant part of the business - although the tree nursery is growing fast.

The Rushes have been tenant farmers on the Euston Estate for 99 years and Toby took over the reins more than 25 years ago. 

The farmer sees the farming business as "a springboard from which to operate the kind of business you want to operate and the kind of business you are interested in".

Harry, who has a degree in horticulture from Writtle university, has spent 15 years in the industry including in landscape gardening.

(Image: Lucy Taylor)

Oaks are in high demand and they grow three different species - English Oak, Cecile Oak and Holm Oak. Other natives such as guelder rose, wild cherry, common alder and wild service trees are also very popular. The latter has sold out everywhere.

"It's tough and it's great for pollinators but it also has nice fruits for birds and it has been under-planted for quite some time.  It used to used in cutlery - it was a very, very hard-wearing wood," explains Harry.

"These are our prime hedging species and that's the market we are really trying to tap into now."

Although a very young business, demand is already high for this year. It is only the start of the season and the business has already sold as many trees this time around as in the whole of last year.

(Image: Lucy Taylor)

Currently it is producing around a third of a million trees which are Plant Healthy and ISG accredited. The seedlings are transplanted at different stages to enable growth and enable them to have the best of starts.

In December it sowed more than 30 tree and hedging species for sale in the 2024-2025 planting season.

"We are quite pleased - we have started to work with some quite prestigious customers now," says Toby. "I'm very encouraged. We are looking to expand. We are looking to target 1m trees."

At the same time, the company has managed to double its production without increasing staff numbers or footprint. The purchase of a transplanting machine in June last year has helped turn a highly labour-intensive four-person operation into a task managed by a single worker.

It's been a "huge" learning curve for the start-up over the last two years but they are now becoming a profitable business, says Toby.

"We have very much turned the corner this year. The first two years were very much focusing establishing techniques to produce trees in 100% peat-free medium," he says.

This has been at the core of the business. "No one else does it," says Harry. "We are the only establishment in the country."

He has worked with suppliers to come up with the perfect non-peat base for his plants. "We are now producing trees to the same or better standard than people using peat."

"We came at it as a start-up - whereas other nurseries have been on peat," explains Tory. "Because we have not got the option of a fallback we have been forced to make it work."

Labour has been the biggest cost as the process is quite labour-intensive. The despatch season start in September for October and runs through until March. However, they sell right the way through to June and the state of the young trees grown in cells makes that possible.

"The cell-grown product with carrying its own root ball and soil media extends the season," explains Toby.

"I knew cell-grown was the way to go," adds Harry. "They are really healthy. I can't see any nutritional deficits and that's all with minimal chemicals. I don't think we have sprayed at all this year."

The planting area is surrounded by strips of wildflowers containing beneficial insects which help keep pests at bay, he adds.

Harry Hoblyn with Maple the dog (Image: Lucy Taylor) "It's a lot of work but it's fun work," says Harry. "This season has gone better than ever."

Customers include the Woodland Trust and some prestigious East Anglian estates. They also sell to other nurseries.

The timing could hardly be better for the new business. There has been talk of a peat ban for decades, says Harry. "It looks like it's going to happen any day now," he says. Added to that, there are more restrictions on importing trees from Europe.

"Staying ahead of the curve with the peat-free that's such a massive thing for councils and prestigious landscapers," says Harry.

Toby Rush (Image: Lucy Taylor)