Production nurseries and nurseries in our gardens....

Normally when we buy plants to decorate our homes and we go to big centers, flower and plant stalls, our reference store or even when we see them around and we cannot resist the temptation to buy a flowery, green or leafy plant, we do not realize that there is a whole world behind each one of them.

In the ornamental plant production industry, we have different sectors, which link in a very complex and well-organized chain, ranging from geneticists and botanists who develop new varieties, also seed and cutting producers, seedling producers and finally, even gardens and shops that provide the general public with finished plants ready for our enjoyment.

In this process from the beginning we can clearly differentiate two aspects when starting the crop: on one hand, those varieties that start from seeds, and on the other, those that start from cuttings. Each way has its processes, its peculiarities and its challenges.

During the germination stage,depending on the species or type of plant, the seeds can be sown directly in the pot or be sown in a seed traywhich are trays made up of a certain number of cavities with a drainage hole below, which makes the times of minipot, each cavity is called an alveolus.

Once the seeds are sown, either in pots or in trays, they are kept in places with the best conditions for their germination, and thus those that were sown in their pot will continue to grow in their pot, and those that were sown in trays will germinate and spend a period of germination and growth in the tray itself; This is due to the fact that there are plants in these areas.

They are more sensitive in the first days of life and more care must be taken to provide them due to the special conditions for their correct development and also for reasons of space efficiency, having an enormous number of plants concentrated in a relatively small area.

In the propagation of plants from cuttings, depending on the species we have different types: woody or tender, with a more or less quantity of leaves and shoots. The sowing of cuttings can be done as in the case of seeds, directly in pots or sown in seed trays or propagation trays.Lavandula latifolia

Most nurseries that produce ornamental plants that work with cuttings do so by working with seeds trays.In this case, it is very important to have quality products, both for seeds and cuttings, which have a base of best raw materials and excellence in manufacturing the processes, given that the substrate in these early stages of life will be a fundamental part of the rooting process of future plants, while at the same time will keep the cutting hydrated while carrying out this process and will offer the means by which the plants will grow. The rooting time of the cuttings will depend on the type of plant; being from a week to a month in perennial plants such as carnations, petunias and geraniums and some aromatics; and in woody or shrubby plants, rooting can take more than a month, as is the case with the propagation of conifers or photinias, viburnum and other hedge shrubs. In this case, it is important to emphasize the quality of the cuttings as well as the substrate of the seed traytaking into account that it will be the base on which the plants will develop during their first stage of life.

While the plants are growing and developing in the propagation trays, after a while it is time to transplant them into a larger pot where they will begin their rustication process, this is a process by which they gradually undergo the plant to environmental conditions more similar to those outside a greenhouse, so that it develops tolerance to wind, sun and temperature variations, and that they can live without problems in any garden or pot, brightening up our environment.

At this point, when the plant has a certain size and development and that it shows its jovial beauty, it is the moment in which they leave their nursery nurseries to the markets for their distribution and presentation in gardens and shops where we can buy them.

So far we have unraveled just a little of this fascinating world which is nursery and the market of plants, emphasizing one of the links in this chain, such as ornamental plant nurseries, our nursery nurseries, which normally are unnoticed, but which carry out fundamental work and from which contribute to improving our quality of life, from a park, a garden, or a home which dressed with a plant, refreshes our eyes and we can find a moment of peace in the greeness of the leaves and joy in the bright colors of the flowers.