Propagation and Nursery Techniques

These are practical notes from decades of native plant propagation. They cover the season, from collecting seed in the field to watering plugs in the greenhouse. Adapt them to your own site.

Seed Collection

Let someone know where you are going, and tell them when you leave.
Wear gloves, especially when using clippers and sickles, and wear long sleeves and pants to protect your skin.
Do not run with these tools. Travel carefully and keep good footing. Sickles are particularly sharp.
Put tools away at the end of your task.
When collecting into a grain bag at your waist, only fill it to an amount you can safely walk with.
Wear a safety vest or bright clothing when collecting during hunting season.
When collecting by canoe, bring life jackets for everyone.
Carry a first aid kit, food and water when collecting off-farm.
Collection often happens where biting insects are thick. Long sleeves, long pants, and a bug shirt help.
Be cautious around self-protecting plants: thorny ones like roses, raspberries, locust, hawthorn, and buckthorn; stinging nettle; and poison ivy along roadsides. Crushed jewelweed rubbed on the skin helps counter nettle and poison ivy.
Know the poisonous plants and wash your hands after collecting, especially before eating. Examples: water hemlock (all parts), pokeweed (all parts except young shoots), mayapple (all parts except the ripe yellow fruit), red and white baneberry (all parts, especially berries), and arum species (skunk cabbage, water arum) whose oxalic acid crystals can burn the hands.
Label every seed container with species, collection date, and location. Record flowering time, seed set, and locations (GPS if possible).
Dry seed: in the field, open bags to release moisture and keep them out of the sun, which cooks the seed. Lay seed out to dry as soon as you return; seed heats up in bags from microbial action and dies. Use a seed drier for most species and turn frequently; spread large amounts on a tarp and turn with a shovel or pitchfork.
Spring ephemerals, willows, poplar, maples, ash: process and sow within a few days or immediately; drying kills the seed.
Berries: store in the cooler so they don't rot, and process quickly.
Fluffy seeds (asters, goldenrods): collect by shaking into a feedbag; if not ready, shear and lay out on a tarp, and clean before the leaves get brittle.
Aquatic species (arrowhead, water celery, rice, pickerelweed): do not dry; wash the seed and store in fresh water in the cooler.

Seed Cleaning

Wear a mask when cleaning seed, and goggles for fluffy seed. Many species have herbal properties and the dust can be harmful; composite species carry allelochemicals, Joe Pye being the worst.
Keep seed drying well and turn it often; moist seed heats up and dies.
Clean fluffy seed under a vent (asters, goldenrods) or outside (milkweeds).
Wear gloves when rubbing dry seed heads across screens.
Repair sharp edges on wire screens.
Unplug or disengage blenders and food processors before handling blades. Keep cords away from water.
Keep the scale out of walkways; its hook is sharp.
Sweep the work area at the end of the task. Spread all chaff in the field.
Weigh and label all seed (species, date, location) and record it for spring. Organize the cooler and inventory previous years' seed. Super-clean a small bag for seed-packet species.
Berries: store in the cooler until you can process them. Some need soaking a few days to soften the coat. Don't let them rot. If blending, tape the blades, fill the blender a quarter with seed and half with water, blend on high a minute, then rinse through a screen. Repeat until clean. Store wetland seed in water, upland seed in damp sand or vermiculite.
Nuts: hull and float; non-viable seed floats, good seed sinks. Sow in beds or store in the cooler in damp sand over winter.
Fluffy seeds: collect fully ripe and shake into a bag; if the weather won't cooperate, dry in the barn until seed falls but leaves stay moist. Milkweeds go over a screen outside in a mild wind.
Dry seeds: run across a screen to break up heads and release seed. Break tough heads with a rolling pin or food processor first. Use a series of 3 to 4 screens, one larger than the seed to catch chaff, two at seed size, one smaller to let fine chaff through. Winnow to remove dead seed and chaff.

Seeding

Seeding information for each species lives in the nursery manual (the Seedstrat file).
Use industrial markers on tags and write on the rough side.
Generally cover seed with vermiculite to 2 to 3 times its width. Wetland and some upland species need light and are left uncovered. Fine seed gets fine vermiculite, coarse seed gets coarse.
Seed trays out of the wind, in a sheltered spot like the workroom or greenhouse.
Don't leave dry seed in a greenhouse or bring it in inside a plastic bag; heat and moisture build up and kill it. Take out a small amount to seed and leave the rest in the workroom.
Return leftover wetland seed to its stratification containers and the cooler. Dry-stratified terrestrial seed can go back to the cooler in sealed bags. Use up extra stratified terrestrial seed in plug, seedling, or soil trays.
Water all trays well before seeding.
Spring ephemerals: deep trays lined with newspaper, filled with #5 Sunshine Mix; seed and cover with vermiculite. Fall-seeded trays get two layers of newspaper before stacking in the shade house for winter.
Prairie and savanna species: deep plugs or 128 plugs and deep trays, 50% #5 Sunshine Mix and 50% sand. Pack the plugs to remove air pockets.
Wetland species: 128 plugs and seedling trays with #2 Sunshine Mix. Seed dry or moist, then wet in a pond. Push seed in for good soil contact. Don't top-water or fertilize until germinated. Pre-germinated seed goes into small peat pots at pond edges.
Woody species: deep soil trays of #5 Sunshine Mix; cover seed with vermiculite. Fall-seeded trays get two layers of newspaper before the shade house.

Pots and Plugs

Wetland pots: topsoil with a thin layer of Osmocote in the bottom of the pond.
Prairie, woodland, woody: #5 Sunshine Mix with Osmocote mixed in.
Woody gallon pots: two-thirds topsoil, transplanted into, then topped with #5 mix and Osmocote.
Tray edges are sharp; lift from underneath and handle with care or gloves.
Stand shovels upright between uses and return them after.
Dig soil from the side of the hill, not into the ground, to avoid potholes.
Don't overfill or run with the wheelbarrow. Stack trailers tightly and evenly. Don't stack 6-inch pots; stack trays no more than two high, squared and alternating like bricks.
Move potting-mix bales with a cart, lift with your legs, hold them close, and ask for help with heavy bales.
No extra riders on the trailer or tractor. Stand clear of moving equipment, especially when it backs up.
Keep the area tidy: flatten cardboard for recycling, store mix bags and string properly.
Moisten dry potting mix before use; the dust is irritating to inhale.

Transplanting

Use industrial markers and write on the rough side of the tag.
Soak all pots and plants well before transplanting and check they're wet all the way through.
Priority for potting: older soil trays, newer soil trays, older plugs, newer plugs.
Cut plants over 15 cm back to 15 cm so they don't flop; this also balances shoot to root after root loss. Leave two sets of true leaves on herbaceous plants. Grasses can be cut freely.
Weed plants before potting or the weeds outgrow the transplant.
Keep grasses as small clumps, not single stems.
Dig a deep hole with fingers or a dibble, set roots in as deeply as possible, and pack soil around the plant with fingers pointed down to avoid air pockets.
Fill trays completely, or pull pots from an unfilled tray.
Water in well after transplanting to close air pockets and ease transplant shock.
Keep new pots moist for the first few weeks. Expect about two weeks of transplant shock, and two to three months to fill a pot.
Bareroot: separate roots carefully, working from below, keeping as much soil and fine root as possible. Refill trays with #5 mix and a thick vermiculite cap to suppress weeds.
Plugs: pull roots off the bottom, squeeze the sides, and pop out with a dowel. Loosen root-bound plugs at the bottom before planting.

Watering

Water more on hot dry days. Large plants may shade pots or drink faster.
Fully extend hoses, keep them out of pathways, and roll them up when done.
Click nozzles securely into quick-release fittings before turning on the water so they don't become projectiles.
Close the hydrant and drain the hose before disconnecting to avoid a sudden spray.
A hose sitting in a hot greenhouse holds scalding water; run it cool (into a bucket for reuse) before watering.
Shut hydrants off to prevent burst hoses and floods. Below freezing, turn off all hydrants and unhook hoses to drain.
Wetland greenhouse: water beds to the edge of the trays without flooding over; go over side beds twice.
Woodland greenhouse: centre is auto-watered 20 minutes; side beds by species.
Prairie and retail: auto-watered each side 30 minutes.
Savanna greenhouse: hand-water with the fogit nozzle, spraying above the trays so the force doesn't blow away vermiculite and seed; water each direction and back; water 3 to 4 times a day as needed.
Wooden ponds: walk them daily to prioritize watering and scout for ready seed, weeds, and insects. Move octopus hoses as needed with valves half open. Trickle water at the wall of soil ponds. Flood certain species to suppress weeds and add duckweed against algae. Disconnect hoses from the hydrant and pull them from the water when done so they don't siphon the ponds dry.
Prairie plugs: each sprinkler row runs a half hour in the evening; check for dry spots.
Orders: a central sprinkler run a half hour each morning; check for dry pots.
Shadehouse: two lines at a time for an hour; water more before the shade goes on, less after; clear clogged holes with the puncture tool.
Potted trees: sprinkler on a timer for 1.5 hours, 1 to 2 times a week; adjust to cover all areas.
Field trees: sprinkler or soaker hose up and down the lines for 1.5 hours, 1 to 2 times a week.

Weeding

One hour each morning, as laid out on the board or as problem areas arise.
While weeding, watch for dry or over-wet areas and report them.
Watch for disease or insect problems and report them.
Prioritize weeds that are flowering or setting seed, and aggressive species in pots and plugs (clovers, grasses, mustards, goldenrods, thyme-leaf spurge).