Potting Up. Whazzat?

Just what is this potting up that nurserymen keep talking about? It can mean many things dependent upon needs of the individual nurseryman. If he sells six packs of annuals or vegetable plants then he will be doing a much different potting up than if he sells trees and shrubs.

Where it comes from.
Plants to be potted up can come from many sources. Perhaps seeds were sown in shallow flat pans and now have root systems that call for moving up individual containers. Sowing seeds is almost a second 'hidden nursery' for they must be tended from sowing to maturity in a special section where daily attention can be given. Some seeds take 5 years to reach a size you would want to take home, while most others take from one to three years.
Most plants for potting up come from special wholesale growers specializing in selling starter size plants in volume. Sizes can ranged from fully mature root systems grown in field, harvested and cleaned, shipped while dormant to individual plants less than the size of your little finger. Most of what we pot up here is from wholesalers around the temperate world.

How it works.
Big boxes begin arriving in mid-February. The greenhouse has temperature set to stay above 40 degrees at night. Some boxes have bare root plants in bags of damp peat. Perhaps 20 to 40 per bag. Other plants will be in individual containers of several possible sizes and those will be in standard size trays holding from 72 to 15 pots per tray. Almost all plants are ordered during the months of November and December. Orders continue to arrive through end of March for the present year. Other orders will continue to arrive for Next year sales.
When the arrive the boxes are opened, trays placed on the greenhouse floor and they all get a good drink and a chance to "rest" for a week or so before being potted up.

The potting up
Bags of medium arrive by pallets. We use only medium that is sterile, use sterile containers. Potting medium is some blend of perlite, peat moss, composted bark. Bags of medium are emptied into tubs on a table with empty containers, a tray of plants and music on the radio. We remove plants from one tray and pot up to the desired size new container. The newly potted up get a microrhizae dusting, watering and moved to the proper spot in the greenhouse for growing on.

Then it is your turn
Then you order or come visit and take the plants home to your gardens. Now you know.