Editing Plant nursery (section)

== Important factors for nursery production ==
For a nursery to produce healthy crops, they must manage many factors, a few of them being irrigation, landscape topography, and soil conditions of the site.<ref>Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2022, July 18). ''Starting a commercial nursery in Ontario.'' Retrieved from Ontario: <nowiki>https://www.ontario.ca/page/starting-commercial-nursery-ontario#:~:text=your%20market's%20needs.-,Production%20Systems,deciduous%20shrubs%20and%20herbaceous%20perennials</nowiki></ref>

===Irrigation===

Plants need water to grow. Water needs will vary depending on plant species, weather, and soil. An example is in Ontario, irrigation water is used most in late spring and in summer, when plants need water most, and based on climate patterns in Ontario, this time is also when there is the least amount of rainfall.<ref>OMAF Publication 841, Guide to Nursery and Landscape Plant Production and IPM↵↵<nowiki>https://files.ontario.ca/omafra-guide-to-nursery-and-landscape-plant-production-pub-841-en-2022-11-22.pdf</nowiki></ref> Some nurseries will create water sources by building a dam, or changing a watercourse.<ref>Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2022, July 18). ''Starting a commercial nursery in Ontario.'' Retrieved from Ontario: <nowiki>https://www.ontario.ca/page/starting-commercial-nursery-ontario#:~:text=your%20market's%20needs.-,Production%20Systems,deciduous%20shrubs%20and%20herbaceous%20perennials</nowiki></ref> or building manmade ponds. The water source and water pumps should to be close to fields <ref>Bilderback, T. (2017). ''Guide To Nursery And Landscape Plant Production And IPM.'' North Carolina: North Carolina State University.↵↵<nowiki>https://nurserycrops.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/drip_irrigation-field-stock-Bilderback-powerpoint-pdf-good.pdf?fwd=no#:~:text=Over%20head%20irrigation%20systems%20apply,only%20applied%20down%20crop%20rows</nowiki>.</ref> In this situation, water will need testing for pH, and testing for chemicals in the water to ensure an acceptable water quality.  Two common types of irrigation systems are drip [[Drip irrigation|irrigation]], and overhead [[irrigation]].

===Landscape topography===

A good slope for a plant nursery is 1–2 degrees. Any more than 5 degrees will make the nursery susceptible to soil erosion.<ref>Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2022, July 18). ''Starting a commercial nursery in Ontario.'' Retrieved from Ontario: <nowiki>https://www.ontario.ca/page/starting-commercial-nursery-ontario#:~:text=your%20market's%20needs.-,Production%20Systems,deciduous%20shrubs%20and%20herbaceous%20perennials</nowiki></ref> The nursery stock should be planted in rows running across the slopes.<ref>Bilderback, T. (2017). ''Guide To Nursery And Landscape Plant Production And IPM.'' North Carolina: North Carolina State University.↵↵<nowiki>https://nurserycrops.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/drip_irrigation-field-stock-Bilderback-powerpoint-pdf-good.pdf?fwd=no#:~:text=Over%20head%20irrigation%20systems%20apply,only%20applied%20down%20crop%20rows</nowiki>.</ref> If the landscape of the nursery has sections of land where erosion could occur, the nursery needs to come up with a solution such as by using erosion prevention structures like rip rap.<ref>Bilderback, T. (2017). ''Guide To Nursery And Landscape Plant Production And IPM.'' North Carolina: North Carolina State University.↵↵<nowiki>https://nurserycrops.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/drip_irrigation-field-stock-Bilderback-powerpoint-pdf-good.pdf?fwd=no#:~:text=Over%20head%20irrigation%20systems%20apply,only%20applied%20down%20crop%20rows</nowiki>.</ref> Topography impacts nursery design and layout and it is a factor in strategizing what direction to plant rows.<ref>Bilderback, T. (2017). ''Guide To Nursery And Landscape Plant Production And IPM.'' North Carolina: North Carolina State University.↵↵<nowiki>https://nurserycrops.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/drip_irrigation-field-stock-Bilderback-powerpoint-pdf-good.pdf?fwd=no#:~:text=Over%20head%20irrigation%20systems%20apply,only%20applied%20down%20crop%20rows</nowiki>.</ref> It also impacts where windbreaks should be planted. If an area has a flat slope and is open, it will need a [[windbreak]].<ref>Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2022, July 18). ''Starting a commercial nursery in Ontario.'' Retrieved from Ontario: <nowiki>https://www.ontario.ca/page/starting-commercial-nursery-ontario#:~:text=your%20market's%20needs.-,Production%20Systems,deciduous%20shrubs%20and%20herbaceous%20perennials</nowiki></ref>

===Soil conditions===

For a nursery to produce healthy crops, it will need to have healthy soil. The soil should have good drainage and nutrient holding capacity. Soil testing will help a nursery find out its pH levels, and also the amounts of nutrients in the soil.<ref>Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. (2022, July 18). ''Starting a commercial nursery in Ontario.'' Retrieved from Ontario: <nowiki>https://www.ontario.ca/page/starting-commercial-nursery-ontario#:~:text=your%20market's%20needs.-,Production%20Systems,deciduous%20shrubs%20and%20herbaceous%20perennials</nowiki></ref> To test soil drainage, one method is to dig an 18" deep hole that is at least 4" in diameter. Fill the hole with water, and leave it for an hour. This will allow the soil to saturate. Next, fill the hole with water again but leave the top 2" of soil in the hole without water. Wait an hour then return to the hole with a measurement tool like a ruler to find out how much water has drained from the hole. The corresponding measurements will allow the tester to decide what type of drainage capacity their soil has. If the water level drops 1/2" or less it is poor draining. If water drops 1/2" to 1", it drains at a medium rate. 1"< means that the soil drains quickly.

===Hardening off, frost hardiness===
Seedlings vary in their susceptibility to injury from frost. Damage can be catastrophic if "unhardened" seedlings are exposed to frost. Frost hardiness may be defined as the minimum temperature at which a certain percentage of a random seedling population will survive or will sustain a given level of damage (Siminovitch 1963, Timmis and Worrall 1975).<ref name="simi">Siminovitch, D. 1963. Evidence from increase in ribonucleic acid and protein synthesis in autumn for increase in proto plasm during frost hardening of black locust bark cells. Can. J. Bot. 41:1301–1308.</ref><ref name="timm">Timmis, R.; Worrall, J. 1975. Environmental control of cold acclimation in douglas-fir during germination, active growth, and rest. Can. J. For. Res. 5:464–477.</ref> The term LT<sub>50</sub> (lethal temperature for 50% of a population) is commonly used. Determination of frost hardiness in Ontario is based on electrolyte leakage from mainstem terminal tips 2&nbsp;cm to 3&nbsp;cm long in weekly samplings (Colombo and Hickie 1987).<ref name="colom2">Colombo, S.J.; Hickie, D.F. 1987. A one-day test for determining frost hardiness using the electrical conductivity technique. Ont. Min. Nat. Resour., For. Res. Note 45. 4 p.</ref> The tips are frozen then thawed, immersed in distilled water, the electrical conductivity of which depends on the degree to which cell membranes have been ruptured by freezing releasing electrolyte. A −15&nbsp;°C frost hardiness level has been used to determine the readiness of container stock to be moved outside from the greenhouse, and −40&nbsp;°C has been the level determining readiness for frozen storage (Colombo 1997).<ref name="colom1">Colombo, S.J. 1997. The role of operational frost hardiness testing in the development of container stock hardening regimes in Ontario. New. For. 13:449–467.</ref>

In an earlier technique, potted seedlings were placed in a freezer chest and cooled to some level for some specific duration; a few days after removal, seedlings were assessed for damage using various criteria, including odour, general visual appearance, and examination of cambial tissue (Ritchie 1982).<ref name="rit">Ritchie, G.A. 1982. Carbohydrate reserves and root growth potential in Douglas-fir seedlings before and after cold storage. Can. J. For. Res. 12:905–912.</ref>

Stock for fall planting must be properly hardened-off. [[Pinophyta|Conifer]] seedlings are considered to be hardened off when the terminal buds have formed and the stem and root tissues have ceased growth. Other characteristics that in some species indicate [[dormancy]] are color and stiffness of the needles, but these are not apparent in white spruce.