Fall Harvest Begins

Fall color in the fields means fall harvest of the deciduous crops is not far off. As the weather cools and days get shorter, dormancy is triggered in plants adapted to the higher latitudes with colder climates. This dormancy is what we wait for when determining when to lift crops in the fall.

Some years Mother Nature is kind and allows a longer window between the onset of dormancy and the freezing of the ground. Other years she throws us a challenge. Any year it is an extremely busy time with digging crops and moving them into cold storage that holds them for shipping during the winter and spring.

Some crops will require spring digging. The sales staff can provide information as to which crops are spring dug. We try to provide as many crops as possible from the fall lift to make them available to you as early in the season as you need them. Once the crops are lifted, they are moved to climate controlled cold storage, sorted, graded and prepared for shipping. Most crops will be ready to ship by January.

Bonus of Increased Plug Production

Increased production in our greenhouses now allows us to provide more P-1 and P-2 transplants and to sell plugs directly to you. Plug grown plants offer faster root development, ease of transplant, uniform sizing, and rapid establishment and fall is a great time to plant. Cool temperatures and warm soil aid root development, and minimizing transplant stress. Fall allows the plant to root in before winter, with minimal irrigation.

Get a jump on spring... order today. Limited time offer. $500.00 minimum. You can meet the minimum with other plants that ship in spring.

Plugs Shipped Now for a Jump on Spring

Eye Catching Fall Color

Just as blooming flowers can make a landscape, so can fall foliage. Leef peepers fill the highways in New England following the turning Maples or Colorado with the green and gold of Aspen and Spruce.

What actually makes the leaves of the trees change from the persistent summer green to these varying shades, and why do these colors seem to be different every year? The answer to this is based upon a number of different variables both environemntal and biological. Different pigments generate the varying leaf colors; the predominant green color comes from chlorophyll, the yellow and orange from carotenoids and xanthophylls, and the red from anthocyanins.

Trees, like many Populus species, that change to yellow and orange in the fall have carotenoids and chlorophyll pigments in the cells of the leaves throughout the entire growing season. Chlorophyll is the dominant pigment, so it masks the carotenoids throughout most of the year. During the summer months, cartenoids aid chlorophyll in photosynthesis by contributing to harvesting light, and protects chlorophyll from damaging sunlight.

For the rest of this article see our website Lawyer Nursery Newspaper - September 2007 for more about fall color development in an article by our plant propagator and greenhouse manager Seth Swanson.

Fall Harvest Begins

October and November are busy months for the fall harvest in our fields. This year the warm weather has lasted well into the fall months with the first frost in Plains not arriving until September 17th followed by Indian summer until the second week of October. Connell and Olympia also experienced warm temperatures well into the fall.

Leaf drop is needed before deciduous plants are harvested and placed fall color, is activated by plant hormone level changes, in this case ethylene. Among the earliest to drop leaves in the fall are species within the genera Amelanchier, Juglans, Aesculus and Gleditsia. Some of the last to drop leaves include Pyrus, Fagus and Quercus species.

The variation in leaf drop and dormancy development in various crops adds one more aspect to the already complex job of harvesting in the fall.

Saving With the Benefits of Bareroot

For either our field-grown plants or greenhouse- grown plugs, the benefits of bareroot plant material are all yours. Benefit One is getting the plants to you. The savings in freight costs are yours to keep when you ship just the plant material. Freight costs are based on both weight and volume. By either measure, bareroot plants pack the most efficiently, saving you money.

Benefit Two, once your plant material has arrived bareroot stock lets you easily inspect the most important part, the roots.our customers with plant material well balanced between root and shoot mass. At Lawyer Nursery we strive to provide Inspection and trimming before planting are easily accomplished. You know before you plant what is going into the container or ground.

And Benefit Three, when it’s time to plant knowing the root structure allows you to select the best size pot for containerizing plants. If planting into field sites, or final growing sites, bareroot material is easy to transport to the location. Naturally, planting must be done with care to protect exposed roots from drying conditions. Once planted, bareroot material tends to anchor more securely. The roots move out into the surrounding soil more quickly than containerized material that has been planted with planting medium still in place around the roots. Extension of the root zone also provides more opportunity for water and nutrient absorption.

Studies have found that bareroot plantings benefit from the lack of the soil/potting medium interface, thus resulting in faster top growth after the first year of root growth and establishment. 1,2,3 the benefits are there for your business and your customers.