The Nursery Department is divided into three sections as follows:

Propagation of stone fruit, citrus, olive, fig trees and grapevines. At the moment we produce fruit trees to supply TADCO projects and sales to local customers.

Propagation of ornamental indoor and outdoor plants to serve internal requirements and for sales to customers through our “garden center” in Tabuk city.

Landscaping extension services where we plan individual gardens according to needs and provide the necessary plants and do the initial landscaping. We also do landscaping project maintenance.

Food safety is our utmost concern, and to this end we adopt “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM) system when agri-chemicals are applied. Environment friendly and species-specific chemicals are used and only sprayed after extensive monitoring of the pests. When biological control is possible and natural populations of pest predators are present within orchards, chemicals are avoided entirely.

Chemical residue analysis is done by independent laboratories to ensure that fruits sold to the customers are free of harmful chemicals.

In addition to using only environment friendly pesticides, we also limit the use of herbicides through the extensive use of “mulching.” Organic materials are used to control weeds and to create an optimum growing environment for the trees. Occasionally some weeds do sprouts and these are removed by hand. This is especially important in the young fruit tree and vineyard blocks. Another benefit in using mulch is that a micro climate is produced that is more suitable for plant growth. Soil moisture management is easier and together with a cooler soil temperature excellent growing conditions is produced. Such conditions results in a stronger plant that is less prone to insect infestations and diseases.

Fruits are harvested according to international standards of quality. Pickers are meticulously trained in the proper handling of the fruit. Harvested fruit is quickly transported to cold rooms where it is immediately cooled to preserve the inherent quality of the fruit. With close monitoring we ensure that the cold chain is maintained until the final product is delivered to the market.

Extensive testing of new fruit tree varieties from all over the world is conducted at Tadco in order to find the most suitable cultivars to Tadco’s growing conditions. A new variety of fruit is commercially planted only if we are convinced of the quality of the fruit produced. Fruit quality is tested for shelf life and taste to suit customers’ preferences.

Systematic, modern pruning techniques are followed while pruning fruit trees to ensure that the tree shape is optimal for producing good sized- and well- colored fruits. Each fruit type is pruned to its specific needs and enough light penetration is needed to maintain the fertility of the trees. Summer pruning is done to remove all unnecessary water shoots. The result is that more nutrients are channeled towards the developing fruits and fertile new shoots.

During the winter month’s old undesired wood and weak shoots are removed. This stimulates the trees to produce new growth which is essential to the production of quality fruit for the future.

Fruit is pre-cooled directly from the field and then rapidly packed with an eight lane Mafroda weight sizer. This means that the fruit is spending only a short time outside of the cold storage facilities and the result is that the optimal quality of the fruit is preserved. The cold chain is strictly maintained from packaging right through till the fruit is delivered with refrigerated truck to the market. Data logging technology is used to monitor the temperature from the moment the trucks are loaded till it reaches the market.

Ongoing research ensures that Tadco is always changing the packing material used according to the preferences of the customers.