Potting up plants – think it through and follow some good nursery procedures.

One of your first decisions when starting a backyard plant nursery is what type of pot or what size pot you will use for the plants you are potting . Let’s use the example of planting up or potting bare root plants/liners for this article. Bare root plant liners by the hundreds each spring and each fall. Have in mind before we purchase plants how large we hope to grow them. We decide before we pot them or sell them.

As an example we will pot up Norway Spruce Trees in as many as three different size pots. The idea is to be growing them to 2 or 3 different sizes. Customers prefer to have some choices! For Norway Spruce Trees we plant them in  3, 5 and 7 gallon pots with the intent to grow them to about 3‘, 3 to 4‘ and 5 to 6′ feet tall.

Order your pots before you need them!

You should of course always have your pots ready to go before you receive your rooted bare root plants. There are off season prices on some pots and we like to spread the expense out a little on all the pots we buy. We have some great sources for pots and grow bags on our Backyard Nursery Resources Guide page. We have found the ones listed to be the best sources and update the page often.

Best Potting procedures for Bare Root Plants/Liners

We have found this to be a good check list for actions and procedures when potting up dozens or hundreds of plants.

• Pre-order all your pots and have them ready to go. Remove any packaging so pots are ready.
• Have your potting soil mix on site, mixed and ready to go.
• Make or get yourself a good table to work on. Make sure it isn’t too low or your back will not be happy.
• Have a hose ready to water each plant once potted.
• Use good tools like a good soil scoop, scissors and pruners.
• Have a plan as to where all the plants will go once potted.

Use the right tools for Potting up plants.

We use larger and sometimes smaller flat bottom plastic scoops to scoop up our potting mix. We generally scoop some dirt or potting mix into the bottom of each pot first. It is almost always best to give the plant roots a little pruning before potting. The roots will then branch and develop better by doing this. Then hold the bare root plant up at the right height and then overfill the pot. Tapping the pot down on your table will help work all the soil around the roots. Your potting soil will mix into the roots of the plant. Then a good firm compaction of the soil and watering will leave you with a plant at the right height with soil level about an inch lower than the top of the container.

Try not to over fill or under fill your pots.

You do not want to fill the containers right to the rim as you want them to catch and hold some water. Under filling is a waste of good container space and might limit root growth. Once all finished potting up a large number of plants it is time for finishing touches. At this point each pot receives a small amount of slow release fertilizer,  a sprinkle of per-emergent weed killer such as Preen, and a plant tag. Always tag your plants, write one out or see our Nursery Resources page for some sources for printed tags. Before placing out in our nursery area, each plant is also thoroughly watered to again settle the soil around the roots of the plant.

Make potting up plants easier.

Since we have a tractor with a bucket loader, we are able to bring a fair amount of potting mix to a large potting station, dump the dirt,  and work at that station. The size of the station is simply a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood on two very heavy duty sawhorses. Using a wheelbarrow, a shovel and a table will work well also. We hope to build a better station that is not only larger but has a back on it. Having a back gives something to scoop up to and allows you to keep all the soil towards the back of you work area. You can then keep all your potted plants up front and close to you.

Moving Potted up plants.

We place all the potted plants in the back bed of our ATV even stacking them two layers high to make the most use of the bed. Then off to the field where the plants will grow for up to three years.

 

 

 

 

Some Plant Potting Up Tips

When we have had people helping potting up plants we have often had trouble training them to place the plant in the pot at the right height. Planting bare root plants isn’t difficult but you need to follow some best practices. It is best to hold the plants with your fingers right at the correct level. You want the soil to come to the correct level. This should be right above the top of the root system but not much higher. Holding that spot on the plant about an inch below the rim of the pipe allows you to just pour soil in around the plant , overfill and then settle the soil mix down by tapping. After you compact the soil a little and water, your plant will be sitting at the exact right spot.

It really is a good idea to fertilize and add some pre-emergent weed killer just as you are planting your bare root plants. Many skip this step and will then forget. Plants will then receive some nourishment almost immediately, and of course weeds are our enemy.

Once your plants are all potted

Time to go to the growing area! When placing pots out to grow you of course want to use weed mat below all your plants. Otherwise weeds will take over and you will quickly become discouraged.

Spacing, when we first plant bare root plants, we tend to keep the pots very close together. Space is important and also when watering , you don’t want to water the space in between plants. Later as your plants begin to fill out, you can always spread your plants out a little further, making sure to not spread them out too much as to always conserve space and water.

For some more backyard nursery tips see Backyard Plant Nursery Tips for Success