Building a Sustainable Nursery:
The Power of Propagation & Simple Systems
You voted, and I heard you— y’all unanimously expressed a love for visuals, so I’ll include custom photos with each weekly update as we move forward!
In last week's edition, we explored the importance of biodiversity and regionally appropriate plants. This week, we’ll dive into two more essential factors for our nursery’s growth: ease of propagation and straightforward systems.
Ease of Propagation
What Does It Mean?
Propagation is the process of producing new plants from parent plants. I focus on species that can be easily multiplied using various methods to ensure a high success rate.
Methods We Use
Seed Propagation:
Each species requires specific conditions for germination, often involving cold treatments before sowing. I’ve dedicated countless hours and resources to mastering this, and I still encounter challenges. For instance, a failed seed crop can be frustrating, especially when it involves nut trees like oaks or soft fruits like mulberries.
Rooted Cuttings:
Certain plants, like elderberries, root exceptionally well from cuttings (>80% success rate). This asexual method produces genetically identical plants. The process involves harvesting first-year wood during dormancy and planting it directly in the ground.
Stool Layering:
This technique involves mounding material (like wood chips) around the base of a tree or shrub, encouraging it to root and sprout new plants. One established plant can yield multiple divisions. (Below is a great video on the topic from a trusted resource)
Stool Layering w/ Edible Acres
Tip Layering:
Often seen in nature with wild blackberries, this method occurs when a plant's stem bends to the ground and roots without intervention. I love utilizing these natural processes, especially with edible plants, as they can reduce grocery bills significantly.
I aim for a success rate of over 70% for all propagation methods. For example, if I start with 100 elderberry cuttings, I strive for at least 80 to develop into sellable plants.
Simple Systems
Why Simplicity Matters
Implementing straightforward, replicable systems is critical for managing the nursery efficiently. This approach makes it easier to train others in the future and ensures that practices can be easily adopted.
How We Do It
Mobile Infrastructure: I focus on low-cost, mobile solutions loosely embedded with permaculture principles, allowing for flexibility and adaptation.
In the image below, you’ll notice the beds can be easily lifted and relocated with minimal effort if necessary. This gives me the opportunity to lease land in the future without worrying about losing inventory if I need to relocate.
Trainable Processes: My goal is to develop systems so simple that anyone, even children, can understand and implement them. This will allow me to bring on new team members in the future and rapidly bring them up to speed.
A high success rate in propagation supports these systems, making it easier to share knowledge and practices with others, while keeping their productivity high.
What This Means for You
By prioritizing ease of propagation and establishing simple systems, my goal is to be able to build this out on a profit sharing model where one day I will be able to pay someone to work alongside me and also make a decent livable wage. I don’t know about you but I always feel better supporting a business that I know is treating and paying their employees well.
Next week, we’ll dive into the last two items to consider when growing the nursery: the use of sustenance crops and crop profitability, helping to provide resilience to your community and farm operation.
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Much love,
Many blessings,
Travis
PS Thank you for your continued support as I navigate this journey. This newsletter serves as my personal accountability tool while I work toward establishing a full-time plant nursery by 2027.
👍 Edible Acres is a generous wealth of experience based knowledge, an inspiration to us all. I'm interested to hear more about which plants you're using each propagation method for and more specifically how you're doing it. Building propagation beds/mounds? Air prune boxes, buried buckets...
Everyone should be propagating in all the ways! We need more edible plants everywhere.