The innerworkings of a nursery... III

III Planting:

This is our standard procedure for planting.


A) Determine the pot size desired.


B) Adjust potting machine conveyer to fit said pot size and adjust the speed of the soil conveyer.


C) Pre-load tractor with container trays for chosen pot size.


D) Load machine with soil and run.

E) Set pots out on tables in greenhouse.


F) Water in soil until moist throughout. Wet soil allows new roots to grow through out the pot easier.

G) Make appropriate sized holes in containers.

H) Drop plant in pre-made hole. If plant is root bound (has an excessive amount of roots) you may first rough up the bottom edges with your thumb to stimulate new growth.

I) Water container again to allow loose soil to settle in to any remaining air pockets

The innerworkings of a nursery... II

II Soil Type :

We use a broad based soil for most of our plants. ‘Metro Mix 360’ which contains trace nutrients and is excellent for both starter plants and container gardens. We do sell several other varieties (of course!) but we have had exellent success with this brand of soil.

The innerworkings of a nursery.. Part I

I. Propagation (how we help plants have babies)
There are 4 main ways to create new plants:
A) Seed: We here at The Plant Place grow very few things from seed. Seed propagation has a very low success rate (on average 75%) and can be very time consuming. For example, our asparagus ferns were planted as seeds last August and are just now mature enough to sell. That’s eight months of growing! The other plant we currently have growing from seed is a Sable Minor Palm that was planted at the same time as the asparagus ferns and still have another year to grow before they will be ready to sell!



B) Bulbs: Bulbs are a quicker and more productive way of growing some varieties of plants. On average (with proper weather and temperature) it takes a bulb about 2 months to reach maturity. You can see the remaining shamrocks that we planted in early January and the caladiums we planted in the middle of January are just now reaching maturity. Our other bulb plant, elephant ears, is just now starting to poke through the dirt.

C) Un-rooted cuttings: Un-rooted cuttings have a higher success ratio (85-90%) but we grow very few of these due to licensing, patent and propagation laws. The two most popular plants from this type of cutting that we grow are Wandering Jew and Coleus.

D) Rooted Cuttings: Rooted cuttings are cuttings that we purchase from other companies in other states/countries that have a ball of roots already started. These plants are usually protected from further propagation by strict legislation and often include a royalty fee for the right to grow them. However, while slightly more expensive, they are worth it. Rooted cuttings have about a 99% success rate and generally reach maturity (are ready to sell) in 6-8 weeks. Almost all of our plants are grown as rooted cuttings.

Dog days of summer!

Okay everybody, the dog days of summer are here. It's hot as blazes and we (in the nursery) are in between seasons. So I thought it might be fun to publish a tour we gave to some up and coming growers this spring. Hope you enjoy!