At least it’s warm in the greenhouses!

What a spring this hasn’t been.  March 27 and it’s snowing (again)!  Still, plant life continues, as hundreds of thousands of new seedlings are appearing.  For many species we sowed flats of seeds in the fall and winter so they could get the requisite chilling they needed prior to germination in the spring.  One of these sown flats may have 1000-2000 seedlings or more.  A gray, snowy day such as today is a good time to find some warmth in the greenhouse and transplant these little plants into containers.  Almost all will go into the 10 cubic inch “conetainers” (SC10 from Stuewe and Sons, Corvallis, OR) in which we grow so many first year plants.  These tubes are in trays that allow us to get almost 50 plants per square foot and their 8″ depth allows for good root development.  Many of the resulting plants will be planted out in restoration projects this fall or next spring, and the relatively narrow and deep root plugs from these containers help the new plants survive in the often non- irrigated sites they find themselves in.  As the plants grow we can space them in the trays to allow for good top growth, and air movement to reduce disease risk.  There are many container types and growing systems available; this one suits us well and with my investment in all of these tubes and trays I’m committed!