Treesearch

Working with plants is a process of discovery. Being curious and aware, paying close attention, and staying open and adaptive are important practices. Books and people can help us learn about plants in the nursery, but the very best teachers are the plants themselves. "Research" is simply paying close attention, tracking what is happening and what is causing it to happen, asking questions, and seeking answers. In other words, research is something many growers already do. Scientific research is simply "the testing (systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical investigation) of ideas...

Water is the single most important biological factor affecting plant growth and health. Water is essential for almost every plant process: photosynthesis, nutrient transport, and cell expansion and development. In fact, 80 to 90 percent of a seedling's weight is made up of water. Therefore, irrigation management is the most critical aspect of nursery operations.

In 2001, the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Virtual Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetics Resources (RNGR), invited Native Americans from across the United States to attend the Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association annual meeting. About 25 tribal members, representing 20 tribes, attended the meeting at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. The following year, a similar meeting was held in Olympia,Washington, and tribal members initiated a Tribal Nursery Council and requested that RNGR facilitate the organization. During 2003,...

The first native plant nurseries in North America were gardens of plants transplanted from the wild by indigenous people. Specific plants were irrigated and otherwise cultured in these gardens to produce seeds, leaves, roots, or other desirable products. As native people collected seeds from the largest or most productive plants, they were making the first genetic selections that resulted in new cultivated varieties. Plants that could not be easily domesticated were cultured at their natural sites by pruning to increase seed or fruit production.

Every nursery is unique. The environmental, social, and economic context is different for each nursery. A wide variety of species and outplanting environments contributes to nursery diversity. In addition, each nursery has a distinct vision and purpose.The methods a nursery will use to bring people together, produce high-quality plants for the community, and share knowledge about those plants will also be unique.With so many diverse factors to consider, no standard blueprint for how to design a particular nursery exists. On the contrary, the very best nursery design will be matched to a...

Crop planning is an important but often neglected aspect of successful nursery management. Crop planning enables proper scheduling of the necessary time, materials, labor, and space to produce crops. Many painstaking details, such as the careful design of nursery facilities; working with clients; collecting and propagating seeds and cuttings; and making improvements in media, irrigation, fertilization, handling, and storage, go into good nursery operations. All the benefits associated with improvements in these areas, however, will not be realized without excellent crop planning. It is...

An understanding of all factors influencing plant growth in a nursery environment is needed for the successful growth and production of high-quality container plants. Propagation structures modify the atmospheric conditions of temperature, light, and relative humidity. Native plant nurseries are different from typical horticultural nurseries because plants must be conditioned for outplanting on stressful sites where little or no aftercare is provided. This set of circumstances makes conditioning and hardening (see Chapter 12, Hardening) especially important, and these horticultural...

Selecting the proper growing medium is one of the most important considerations in nursery plant production. A growing medium can be defined as a substance through which roots grow and extract water and nutrients. In native plant nurseries, a growing medium can consist of native soil but is more commonly an "artificial soil" composed of materials such as peat moss or compost.

The choice of container is one of the most important considerations in developing a new nursery or growing a new species. Not only does the container control the amount of water and mineral nutrients that are available for plant growth, a container's type and dimensions also affect many operational aspects of the nursery such as bench size and type of filling and harvesting equipment. After a container is selected, it can be very expensive and time consuming to change to another type.

Nurseries that work to strengthen and expand the presence of native species are concerned about fostering diverse populations that are strong and well adapted. For many native plants, however, the natural diversity of wild populations has been depleted. Habitat loss has reduced the range and sheer number of plants. For plants with commercial value, unsustainable harvesting practices may have reduced the number of plants with desirable characteristics while leaving behind inferior plants. This process of depleting a population of the best genetic properties so that future populations are...