We’ve been working to bust the concept of a “slow winter” by unveiling all the work our team does during the winter months. February is no exception. Although most orders for plant material are placed in December and January, February is when the Nursery really starts picking up.
Our Annual Tradition: February Cuttings
Unrooted annual cuttings tend to arrive this month, so the glasshouse has been rearranged accordingly. The shade cloth and mist system controls will be set, and the exact number of flats will be lined up on a bench to be filled with potting soil. We also have to ensure each plug flat is properly labeled so plant material doesn’t get mixed up. Frigid temperatures may affect delivery, but once we have the cuttings in the glasshouse, it is all hands-on deck with every member of the Horticulture Department ready to make this a seamless process.
Here’s how it works. We take a single unrooted cutting, dip the lower portion of the stem into a powdery rooting-hormone to stimulate root development, and stick them into the center of a single cell. After 2-3 weeks, we should start seeing some initial rooting. Once they have thoroughly filled out their individual cells within another month or so, we should be able to gently grab the base of the stem and pull out a beautiful, well-developed root system on these annuals and subsequently transplant these plugs into larger containers to grow even more. The goal is to have healthy, vigorously growing annuals ready for the Garden Team to plant outside by early May.
With a Side of Peppers
In the same week of all this annual cutting preparation, we will also be sowing all of our new pepper varieties from seed. Hold off on those tomatoes though- Peppers are a very different plant. Whereas tomatoes grow exceedingly fast, especially when well-watered, peppers take a lot longer to get going. Peppers also are far more reliant on warm soil temperatures to get established; so after sowing these seeds, we will place them on the geothermally heated floor of the glasshouse on the opposite side from the cuttings to get maximum light exposure.
But That’s Not All
As if this weren’t enough to make February a super busy month in the Nursery, we also have plenty of other seeds to start. Some for the Kitchen Garden, some for the Cut Flower Garden, and various perennial seeds to start for sale in the Nursery. The difficult part of the whole process isn’t the propagation itself but keeping up with all of the different needs of this diverse set of plant material. Caring for plugs, cuttings, seeds, and divisions requires the grower to be constantly observant of plant growth under changing environmental conditions.
February really is the true start of the growing season in the Nursery and sets the stage for ongoing success into Spring.
Jeff Margreiter
Nursery & Greenhouse Manager
