Community Nurseries Contents

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Title Page
Foreword............................................................. 5
Introduction ........................................................ 6
Acknowledgements .................................................... 7
1 Seedling quality .................................................. 9
Quality versus quantity ............................................. 9
Seed source quality ................................................. 9
Seedling physical quality ........................................... 11
Assessing seedling quality .......................................... 13
Keep the best, ditch the rest ....................................... 16
Summary of seedling quality ......................................... 18
2 Seed handling, seedling germination and sowing .................... 19
Seed pre-treatments and seed storage ................................ 19
Controlling germination ............................................. 21
Direct sowing versus seed beds ...................................... 23
When to direct sow seed.............................................. 23
When to use seed beds ............................................... 24
Types of seed beds................................................... 24
How to prick out correctly .......................................... 25
Summary of sowing and seedling germination........................... 29
3 Substrate quality ................................................. 30
Physical and chemical properties of substrates....................... 30
Adding beneficial fungi and bacteria ................................ 32
Organic matter is a treasure......................................... 33
What happens during composting? ..................................... 34
The right ingredients for compost ................................... 36
The ‘three bed system’ for making compost ........................... 38
The most common problems in compost making .......................... 40
Calculating substrate quantity....................................... 40
Summary of substrate quality ........................................ 42
4 Production methods ................................................ 43
Bare-root plants and stumps.......................................... 43
Plastic bags......................................................... 45
Root trainers ....................................................... 46
New developments .................................................... 47
Summary of production methods ....................................... 49
5 Water is life...................................................... 50
When to water ....................................................... 50
How to water......................................................... 53
Hardening off and transport ......................................... 54
Summary of watering.................................................. 55
6 Shade cools........................................................ 56
Regulating shade .................................................... 56
Types of shade....................................................... 56
Summary of shade..................................................... 60
7 Plant nutrients ................................................... 61
Nutrient balance and nutrient deficiencies........................... 62
Inorganic fertilizers ............................................... 62
Summary of plant nutrients........................................... 66
8 Safe pesticide use ................................................ 67
Classification of pesticides......................................... 67
The effects of pesticides on people ................................. 70
Precautions with pesticides ......................................... 71
Precautions when mixing chemicals ................................... 71
Precautions when spraying pesticides ................................ 73
Pesticide disposal .................................................. 75
Cleaning up ......................................................... 75
Summary of safe pesticide use........................................ 76
9 After your plants leave the nursery................................ 77
10 Good nursery practices depend on you ............................. 80
References .......................................................... 81
Nursery manuals ..................................................... 81
Other books and articles of related interest......................... 82
Appendix I Nursery experiments for improving plant quality .......... 84
Why try nursery experiments? ........................................ 84
Everyone is a researcher ............................................ 85
How to conduct experiments........................................... 85
Correct data collection ............................................. 86
Substrate experiments ............................................... 86
Plant density experiments ........................................... 87
Interpreting the results............................................. 88
Appendix II Natural pesticide recipes ............................... 89
Appendix III Suppliers’ addresses.................................... 93