This is a follow-on from yesterday or the day before's post on my blog. It is not about buying plants from reputable nurseries that are well-known. It is the bargain basement end of purchase.
61
Cotoneaster franchetii were wrapped in a gossamer of clingfilm and waiting on the pallet. These are for a customer who wants a fairly instant hedge. The plants were in 2 litre pots and height advertised was 60 to 90 cm. Each plant cost round about £5.50.
Is this a good way to buy plants? Well, the first hour of the day was spent in cutting out all the dead twiggy bit of the hedglings. There were surprising quantities of stick deadery.
Yes, the plants were big which means that the customer and her caravanserai of dogs, lolloping great dane and racing whippets and a coming and going of many people to her busy back door will not walk through the new hedge but round it. The secateurs were itching to cut back after planting. Resisted.
About 10 percent of the plants either had signs of muntjac damage or had developed aerial roots, mangrove swamp style to cope with an erratic watering regime. Every single plant was root bound. The pots had to be cut off the plants which was a bore and doubled the planting time. The tightly bound knot of roots were pushing out fresh white
radicals, so I guess the plants were not objecting too much to subsisting in their pots. I made a slight cut into the potted balls and fed them on bonemeal.
Would I buy from this wholesale company again? I wonder. The extra time involved in preparing the plants bumps up their cost by about 30%. The free pallet that came with the job lot was the best thing about this order. And of course, smaller is better when it comes to planting hedges.
This is a follow-on from yesterday or the day before's post on my blog. It is not about buying plants from reputable nurseries that are well-known. It is the bargain basement end of purchase.
61 Cotoneaster franchetii were wrapped in a gossamer of clingfilm and waiting on the pallet. These are for a customer who wants a fairly instant hedge. The plants were in 2 litre pots and height advertised was 60 to 90 cm. Each plant cost round about £5.50.
Is this a good way to buy plants? Well, the first hour of the day was spent in cutting out all the dead twiggy bit of the hedglings. There were surprising quantities of stick deadery.
Yes, the plants were big which means that the customer and her caravanserai of dogs, lolloping great dane and racing whippets and a coming and going of many people to her busy back door will not walk through the new hedge but round it. The secateurs were itching to cut back after planting. Resisted.
About 10 percent of the plants either had signs of muntjac damage or had developed aerial roots, mangrove swamp style to cope with an erratic watering regime. Every single plant was root bound. The pots had to be cut off the plants which was a bore and doubled the planting time. The tightly bound knot of roots were pushing out fresh white 
radicals, so I guess the plants were not objecting too much to subsisting in their pots. I made a slight cut into the potted balls and fed them on bonemeal.
Would I buy from this wholesale company again? I wonder. The extra time involved in preparing the plants bumps up their cost by about 30%. The free pallet that came with the job lot was the best thing about this order. And of course, smaller is better when it comes to planting hedges. 
