Winter is surprisingly busy at Nasami Farm. All of the plant species grown from seed that require cold stratification are sown in December/January and kept in an unheated greenhouse. Cold stratification is a simple measure which will break a seed's dormancy causing the seed to be more ready to germinate. By subjecting the seeds to this pre-treatment you are really only providing them with the effect that “Mother Nature” would have had on the seeds had they been left to their natural course.

Occasionally some species will germinate despite the cold temperatures and afterwards require regular monitoring.  By the end of March, most of these seeds have germinated. The seedlings are still kept cool, but not allowed to freeze.

In the rest of the greenhouses, we are busy trying to keep already growing plants properly watered and cold.  During the winter, cold does not lead to plant attrition at the nursery. In fact, it is wide fluctuations in temperature that cause plant death.  A greenhouse can reach 90-100 degrees on a sunny day in February if not properly vented then plummet to 13 degrees at night. New England natives have been dealing with cold temperatures for millennia, making them vastly more reliable than their imported counterparts. It is our job to make sure greenhouse conditions avoid the temperature fluctuations that could damage plants.

The Nasami team also honed its plumbing skills this winter with the development of a heating bench for winter propagation of evergreens. The highest propagation success rates are achieved while plants are in a dormant state. Cuttings are taken from dormant plants, dipped in rooting hormone and stuck into a very porous medium. Heating the medium to 70 degrees stimulates rooting, typically within 1 to 4 months. 

This new bench is a closed circuit, utilizing a high efficiency on-demand water heater, a circulating pump and radiant heat tubing.  It has proven to be more reliable at maintaining a constant 70 degrees in the root zone than the electric heating mats used in the past. The new propagation bench will also be used to hasten germination of some seed-grown species. We look forward to being able to offer more difficult to propagate species with this new addition.

Come visit the nursery when it opens April 15 and see the fruits of our winter labor!