How Do Nurseries Grow Plants So Big? | Expert Advice (2024)

Growing lush and healthy plants isn't easy. Even the most gifted and skilled horticulturist knows all too well the pain of watching a beloved piece of vegetation wilt away. So why is it that the plants at commercial nurseries always look picture perfect?

Here at All Green, we're proud of our impressive nurseries. They feature many different kinds of plants, and we love nothing more than tending to their needs. To help you get the same great results at home, here are some of the ways we look after our nursery plants.

At All Green, our team has decades of experience taking care of plants. Our nurseries are our pride and joy, and we pull out all the stops to get our plants looking their best. Find out more about our nurseries, and how we can help with your horticultural needs.

1) Don't forget to regularly water your plants

How Do Nurseries Grow Plants So Big? | Expert Advice (1)

If they are to thrive, plants need to be watered regularly. Moreover, they need to be watered a specific amount: plants won't live up to their full potential if they're thirsty, or if they sustain damage due to overwatering. Knowing what watering schedule will work best for a specific variety of plant is imperative to getting great results.

Of course, one of the main advantages that a commercial nursery has is that there's a large staff of employees who are able to water the plants at regular intervals. While there can potentially be occasional oversights at a nursery, there's still a large team devoted to taking care of the plants. With a home garden, responsibility for watering the plants can come down to a single, fallible person.

There are ways around this issue, though. For example, if you consistently forget to water your plants, it might be time to invest in a timed sprinkler system.

2) Let your plants have some fun in the sun

We don't have room in this article to explain all the nuances of photosynthesis — but suffice it to say that plants need light to grow! Different plants need different levels of light, so make sure you take that into account when choosing a location for your plants.

3) Use fertilisers for your plants

Gardeners who are just getting started spend so much time focusing on solar and aquatic considerations for plants that they can forget about the importance of nutrients. But fertilisers are absolutely necessary if you want to grow your plants as big as they can be.

How Do Nurseries Grow Plants So Big? | Expert Advice (2)

Effective fertilisers can include:

  • Diluted water-based fertilisers that spray onto the garden during watering
  • Long-term fertilisers that slowly release nutrients over time for long-lasting results
  • Compost that you make yourself — which, as well as being good for the things you're growing, is an effective and environmentally conscious way to process waste

4) Climate control can get the most out of your plants

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Plants need more than just sun, nutrients, and water to succeed. The climate has an enormous impact on how well plants grow as well. Our nurseries are relatively temperature controlled, so we can steer clear of the scorching heat and frosty winters that can impair a plant's growth.

If you're absolutely committed to getting the biggest and best plants possible, you might like to think about investing in a greenhouse. It sounds like a big investment, but it's actually very achievable.

5) Nip any problems in the bud

How Do Nurseries Grow Plants So Big? | Expert Advice (4)

At a nursery, our team has been trained to look out for pests and disease. Those miscreants can wreak havoc on a garden and must be dealt with.

The first step is noticing that you have a problem. Everybody knows what slugs look like, and has seen the devastation that they can inflict on an innocent cabbage patch. But have you ever heard of aphids? Well, they're a dreadful annoyance for gardeners, and you're going to need to know how to deal with them. Do you know how to spot one, and what to do next?

Contact a member of the horticultural team down at one of our nurseries, and they'll help you deal with pests before they become a problem.

How Do Nurseries Grow Plants So Big? | Expert Advice (2024)

FAQs

How do nurseries grow plants so fast? ›

Plants need more than just sun, nutrients, and water to succeed. The climate has an enormous impact on how well plants grow as well. Our nurseries are relatively temperature controlled, so we can steer clear of the scorching heat and frosty winters that can impair a plant's growth.

What do nurseries use to grow plants? ›

If you are going to be raising a lot of your plants in pots, then you should take a close look at the mixture that many other nurseries use. Most of them use shredded/ground bark and fertilizer. My favorite ingredient is compost.

How do plants grow so big? ›

Like other multicellular organisms, plants grow through a combination of cell growth and cell division. Cell growth increases cell size, while cell division (mitosis) increases the number of cells. As plant cells grow, they also become specialized into different cell types through cellular differentiation.

How do nurseries fertilize plants? ›

Many container nurseries that grow native plants use artificial growing media such as peat moss and vermiculite. Because media are essentially infertile, nurseries either incorporate a starter dose of fertilizer or start liquid fertigation (irrigation water containing liquid fertilizer) soon after germination.

How do you make plants grow extremely fast? ›

In this guide, we'll explore ten actionable ways to make your plants grow faster and bigger, all while nurturing them naturally.
  1. Choose the Right Plants. ...
  2. Quality Soil Matters. ...
  3. Provide Adequate Water. ...
  4. Sunlight Is Essential. ...
  5. Use Organic Fertilizers. ...
  6. Pruning and Trimming. ...
  7. Mulching. ...
  8. Companion Planting.
Sep 25, 2023

How do nurseries harden off plants? ›

Begin hardening transplants 1-2 weeks prior to setting out plants in your garden. The easiest way to harden transplants is to place them outside in a shaded, protected spot on warm days, bringing them in at night. Each day, increase the amount of sunlight the transplants receive.

Do nurseries make money? ›

Running a nursery can be profitable but it needs to be managed well. Startup and running costs can be very high which means you need to find ways to keep costs down and boost your profit margin.

Why do nursery plants look so good? ›

Nurseries use top grade soil media when potting their plants. These plants tend to live longer and look more appealing because skilled gardeners have cared for them. The nutrients the plants at the nursery absorb early on make them healthier resulting in more resistance to disease.

What is the best soil for a nursery? ›

A loam soil is generally preferred as it possesses 50% sand, 20% clay, and 70–80% silt. Table 2 describes the preferred soil texture for different types of nursery stock production.

What fertilizer makes plants grow faster? ›

High-nitrogen fertilizers are known for causing huge growth in plants, which is why many types are rich in nitrogen or include it as the main component. Fertilizers high in nitrogen will also restore bright green hues to your foliage.

What liquids help plants grow best? ›

After weeks of giving each plant different liquids(water, carbonated water, mango juice and pineapple soda), the conclusion is carbonated water grows plants the fastest and the healthiest.

What makes plants grow so tall? ›

In low light situations, the plants are stretching for sunlight to produce important plant sugars. This results in overly tall, spindly plants. Also, plants that receive high nitrogen fertilizers early in spring will get a jump on growth.

How do nurseries grow their plants? ›

Methods. Propagation nurseries produce new plants from seeds, cuttings, tissue culture, grafting, or division. The plants are then grown out to a salable size and either sold to other nurseries that may continue to grow the plants out in larger containers or field grow them to desired size.

What makes plants bloom more? ›

Traditional fertilizers promote overall plant growth, and a nourished plant flowers well. Bloom booster fertilizers are marketed as encouraging plants to form more flower buds. These fertilizers are high in phosphorus (the middle number on the fertilizer package) and may have a formula like 15-30-15.

What perennials not to fertilize? ›

Perennials that require no fertilizer: Included are ornamental grasses, false indigo, ground covers, butterfly weed, bee balm, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, sea holly, dianthus, asters and veronica.

How do some plants grow so fast? ›

Answer and Explanation: Some plants grow faster than others due to the different adaptations they have. Plants have evolved to be well adapted to their environments. This means they have had to make trade offs on certain characteristics to boost their chances of survival in their particular environments.

How do nurseries propagate plants? ›

Propagation nurseries produce pre-finished plant material (liners), such as ornamental trees, shrubs, and grasses, fruit trees, and annual and perennial flowers. Plants are propagated either by seed or by vegetative means, such as by cuttings, grafting or tissue culture.

How do greenhouses and nurseries grow their plants usually? ›

Introduction. There are several common methods for producing woody plants in a nursery, including ball-and-burlap , bare root , traditional containerized production , pot-in-pot , and in-ground fabric container systems.

Why do fast plants grow so fast? ›

Fast Plants were bred to have a uniform, short flowering time (14 days), grow well in a small indoor space, require only a small substrate volume, and thrive under continuous (24 hours per day) exposure to light from a cool white fluorescent or full spectrum LED source.

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