Tree seedlings planted at an indoor vertical farm have grown six times faster than they would if they had been planted outside.

These astonishing results follow a trial at a crop research center near the city of Dundee in Scotland and could be a great weapon in fighting climate change.

Each tree species, which includes Scots pine, oak, alder, hazel and birch, was grown under its own "recipe" of temperature, light, soil and water.

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The seedlings grown at the farm have then been planted into the ground at a nearby nursery and have hardened off successfully to ensure new growth is sturdy. 

The farming system is also expected to produce a more consistent product growing for up to two years outdoors in fields, before being planted in forests.

Some of the trees grew 40 to 50 centimeters tall in 90 days, when a similar amount of growth would take up to 18 months in an outdoor field.

Kenny Hay, a forester at Forestry and Land Scotland, said: "Initial results were astonishing. We obviously had to find a prescription for individual species and differences between conifers and broad leaves. Once they got that sorted, we were really into fine-tuning stuff."

Hay thinks the system's secret is its efficiency.

"It's been remarkable really. In terms of tree production, it certainly has tremendous potential. It's just the basics. It doesn't use as much water – it recycles the water. It uses no herbicide whatsoever. The footprint that we've got here is about 300 square meters."

With water expected to become a scarce commodity, the system could have huge ramifications, says Hay.

"We reckon we can grow somewhere in the region of between three and five million trees per crop. If we have a crop of 90 days, you can do the maths. We can grow a huge amount of trees in a very very small area, which is obviously going some way to help climate mitigation."