Tucker Bush babies enjoying the WA winter sunshine at Domus Nursery
We’ve been busy getting ready for Spring! Around this time of year, our days are often spent monitoring our display and trial plants, making sure they’re faring well in the WA winter and growing comfortably in their pots.
We trial a range of different pot sizes to see what works best — obviously you wouldn’t plant in a pot that’s too small, but pots that are too big can cause problems as well. We’ll talk more about that another day.
Tucker Bush seedlings and cuttings growing in a heated greenhouse environment
Most people don’t realise how long it takes for seeds and cuttings to transform into the beauties they see in garden centres. For most of our plants, we’re talking at least 6 months to a year. Currently, we’re trialling several propagation and seed germination techniques (like smoke and Gibberellic acid) to see what can give Tucker Bush plants the best and fastest head start in life.
Growing a steady supply of Tucker Bush plants over winter
Soon, we’ll be taking cuttings and setting seeds aside for the next round of sowing. Last season’s seedlings have had a rough run, as Winter’s been especially cold. But now with a bit of sunlight, we’ve got some Native River Mint starting to shoot. This is a good opportunity to add a bit a slow release fertiliser in anticipation of the warm weather.
We work with Domus Nursery to supply all of WA’s Tucker Bush plants. They have a great greenhouse facility with movable seedling trays and bottom heating. These conditions mean our seeds still germinate and our cuttings still put out roots when it’s cold outside.
Seedlings and rooted cuttings overwintered in the greenhouse are potted up into tubestock and hardened off in semi-shaded areas
The worst of winter is over by the time they’re ready to move into tubes. Because they’ve been indoors up until this point, we still need to harden them off in a semi-insulated environment. This ensures they’re nice and tough for when we shift them outdoors.
Newly potted plants in 175mm pots need some protection before being hardened off for sale
Tucker Bush “Herb & Veggie” babies in 140mm pots basking in the sun
What next?