In these unparalleled times, technical area sales manager Andy Hodges provides some helpful strategies, practical tips and guidance to help growers hold back and maintain stock quality, ready for when lockdown restrictions are relaxed. 

We are in the midst of an unprecedented event and everyone is looking at their current situation and how best to manage through this crisis.

While the immediate future might look bleak, when lockdown restrictions are relaxed - and that day will come - garden centres and retailers will re-open and growers need to be in the best position possible to take advantage of the huge, pent-up demand for plants.

Some nurseries are managing to continue to trade via the web, or telephone orders, supplying via parcel services or local deliveries. Others aren’t as fortunate and find themselves with stock which should be despatched or potted, ready to grow on. The harsh reality is that some plants may be salvageable and others not.

So, how best to try to keep plants, and maintain their quality, is a key question for many.  Here are some strategies, tips and guidance that could help with this dilemma.

Temperature

We are fortunate that air temperatures, particularly overnight, are still relatively low. Where at all possible, if the crop can be safely kept at below optimum temperature this in itself will help hold plants back.

Water

Keeping crops drier will also assist in holding them back by not promoting new growth.  Of course, this is a delicate balance as crops still need some water to remain turgid and healthy and not be subjected to undue stress.

Reducing moisture levels can also serve to reduce relative humidity in the crop, which is likely to be beneficial from a disease reduction standpoint.

Any water applied needs to be utilised by the crop and, similarly, when the time comes to get the plants moving the water needs to be able to penetrate the whole volume of the pot. So, although it might seem counter intuitive at this stage, application of a wetting agent, like H2Gro, can help ensure growing media is able to absorb any water applied in the future.

Air Circulation and Spacing

Plants which may have been ‘blocked-up’, brought inside to overwinter or liners ready to be potted on need adequate spacing.  Failure to do so and any growth maybe ‘drawn’ solely at the top of the plant, with potential loss of lateral shoots leading to a lower quality finished plant.

Close confinement can also generate microclimates within and below the canopy. So, space is most definitely required, although this does mean additional water will have to be applied over the total crop area, along with the usual crop husbandry tasks undertaken on the nursery.

Fertiliser and Feeding

In a normal year, any over-wintered longer-term crops might well have already left the nursery or been potted on for sales later in the season. As these scenarios probably may not be applicable this season, additional feeding may be necessary to maintain crop health while not encouraging too much new growth.

Usually at this time of year higher nitrogen levels would be applied to promote growth. However, in these uncertain times it may be prudent to review the N:K balance of any fertilisers being used so as not to promote growth.

So, with water soluble fertiliser balanced products with a ratio of 3:2:3, such as Universol Blue, would be preferable or even higher potassium levels like Universol Violet 2:2:6 to keep growth compact. If applying a topdress fertiliser then Osmocote Bloom 12:7:18 could be used to achieve a similar result.

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Trimming and Pruning

Realistically any trimming and pruning measures taken will slow the crop, which naturally has the drive to grow, flower and ultimately proliferate its species. However, it is important that the frequency and harshness of pruning needs to be looked at in conjunction with watering and feeding regimes. Normally the objective would be to get the crop saleable as quickly as possible, but here any trimming might also be looked at as an opportunity to reduce the required fertiliser and water inputs for the crop

To re-pot or not to re-pot

With finished crop that’s ready to ‘go’, there might be the possibility to ultimately re-pot and achieve sales with a larger, higher value plant… or maybe not.  Decisions made about holding the crop should be based on that potential and hopefully some of the earlier pointers might prove advantageous.

With young plants and liners, the question is slightly different, holding these plants in smaller pots just might not be possible. So, a potential ‘half-way house’ would be to pot on into a larger pot, but not the usual final pot size. These plants can then keep developing root systems, while significantly reducing the space and other inputs required on the nursery.

When restrictions are lifted the plants will be a ‘super liner’, so significantly reducing time between potting and reaching marketable size. While this puts an additional potting operation into the production, it could significantly reduce the cropping areas to be managed and maintained on holdings which might have heavily reduced staff levels.

Restrictions will end

We are all in the midst of incredibly unnerving times, but - and it’s a very important but - these current restrictions will end. We will come out the other side and customers will demand a lot of the products they always have. Therefore, we need to do everything we can to support each other and this industry to ensure we are in the best shape to take advantage of that ‘return to normal’ when it happens.