Page 58 - MNLGA Free State Winter 2023_WEB

IT'S TIME FOR SHARING (Continued)

make room for new plants that are trending. The longer
you’re in the industry, the easier it becomes to make these
We operate on current knowledge judgment calls.

to make the best decisions about I like to say we have become experts at efficiently

planting strategy, and our previous destroying plants. With the combination of a compact
track loader with a stump puller, a forestry mower to
information helps relieve some mulch the plants in the field, and the rotary spade plow

of the guessing that can feel to incorporate the mulch deep in the soil, we can make a
growing problem disappear in no time. Don’t forget every
burdensome. year a plant lives in our field, we spend $15 while it may
serve no useful purpose.

selling plant at 3,880 plants. 2023 is not over, but I expect At Waverly Farm, we maintain a three-year document that
Ilex sales will be less than 1,000. Ilex opaca and cultivars tracks the number of plants by species or cultivar we sell
can take up to 10 years from start to finish for a 6-7 foot yearly but we also
plant. Hollies in general average about 7 years. That have those records
means, if I expect to sell 1,000 per year, I need 7,000 in going back to 2007.
production. Annually, we analyze the data and do what The three year trend
I euphemistically call ‘balancing the inventory’ --- killing line is useful on a
excess plants. current basis. This
keeps a reliable
Reducing Guesswork with Meticulous Record running record of
Keeping
what’s performing
Some plants will trend for a few years, and then the and what may just
demand may decrease. This puts growers in a tricky be wasting labor,
situation. We have to decide between maintaining energy, and space.
inventory or eliminating plants that aren’t moving to
We operate on

58 WINTER 2023 • Free State News