Dig 'em up; Heel 'em in! Heeling in plants and storing plants until you need them.

Growing nursery plants in the ground is super easy; digging them without destroying them is not. In this video, we will dig them and heel them in, or put them in a temporary holding spot, until we're ready to pot them up. Plants have to be dug in the dormant season and safely storing them is imperative to their survival when Spring comes.
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Пікірлер: 39

  • @gracefarm394
    @gracefarm3942 жыл бұрын

    Thank you I will keep this in mind for next Winter this winter concentrating on propagating Rosemary plants.

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful!

  • @suzycowan5072
    @suzycowan50722 жыл бұрын

    Hi, I just found your channel a few weeks ago and have really enjoyed watching your wonderfully informative videos. I have dreamed of having a backyard nursery since about 2014 when I watched my very first video on how to propagate from other live plants and trees as softwood and hardwood cuttings. I have the property to do so, but I am still working on saving my start-up costs. In the meantime, I garden and occasionally take cuttings from plants and trees that appeal to me. Just for an example, my mom was visiting up north when she was informed by my brother-in-law that the construction crew was about to begin clearing some land he had purchased and how they were about to tear out thousands of lilac trees and saplings. When my mom asked him what they planned to do with them he just told her that they would be mulched up along with a bunch of other indigenous trees and brush. My mom knows how much I love lilac trees and called to ask if I wanted any of them and of course, I said yes, as many as she could get for me. I also said that if I could have a couple of days, I would drive up there myself and help to get them, but Joe said the crew was set to dig them the next day. My mom and sister went out to the property and got me about 30 of the most beautiful yearlings. I have them planted at the back of my property in large grow bags and so far they are doing great and even began greening up this week. I was even able to get a couple very young Hawthorns. Also, I have a very old Hickory tree growing practically outside my backdoor and occasionally the chipmunks and squirrels will bury the nuts out in my garden beds and forget about them, in the spring I will go out and dig up the saplings out of my garden beds and pot them up. I have about 10 of them growing so far and I was wondering if I could just bury a bunch of them myself and see if I can get saplings to grow. I really didn't mean for this comment to be so long, I start talking non-stop when I like the subject I'm talking about. What I'd like to do is ask you a question, if I may. Why do you feel the need to heal up all those saplings? If you had no intention of potting them up right away, why didn't you just leave them in the raised bed? did you need the raised bed for another project? or is it an absolute must to dig up the saplings only when they are in their dormant stage and you heal them up until spring when you will be potting them up for your first sale of the season? Sorry to be so inquisitive, I am just trying to glean as much information as I can. Many Blessings to you always ~SuzyJC-in-Pataskala-Ohio/USA_05.05.2022~

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Heeling in? No, It's not necessary. It just depends on what you're going to do with them. But here's what happens... Spring comes quickly and we go from below freezing into the 50s and 60s quickly. I have 2,000 plants to pot, weeds to deal with, sales to start getting together, and 10 other things to do all at once in the Spring. Next thing I know, the arborvitaes, still in the ground, are putting on new growth and I haven't dug them yet. They need to be dug while still dormant. So, I can dig them any time of the winter and heel them in, which simulates planting and then I just pluck them out of the pile to pot whenever I have time, even if they've already started rooting into their heel in places. Also, I sell some bare root plants, so if someone comes by and needs 50 Green Giants, I just go grab them from the pile in 2 minutes.... digging was done weeks ago. Bottom line is it buys time and gives you some flexibility.

  • @Johnglenn-fr5ss
    @Johnglenn-fr5ss10 ай бұрын

    I've learn a lot of great information in a short time being subscribed to this channel. thanks for solid information and all your advice , my back yard nursery is starting slowly but surely

  • @Veritequiparles
    @Veritequiparles9 ай бұрын

    Heeling in, in Europe means somethig a little different. We heel in when planting (anything) into their growing spot (is that's a container, bed or whatever), using the heel of the foot to pack the soil down for good contact with the roots. Heeling in, in N. America is as you demonstrated above :)

  • @taraliou1021
    @taraliou1021 Жыл бұрын

    👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻thank you for the video

  • @justanOldBird
    @justanOldBird2 жыл бұрын

    What's the purpose in doing this? Why not leave where they were until you could pot?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Not much going on in the nursery in winter. Once warm weather comes, you may not have time to dig them. They start putting on new growth above and below ground sooner than you realize. So, especially if you have a lot of plants, doing this saves a ton of time later when you have more to do. Also, I suspect there are many practical wholesale applications for this on a larger scale. If you’re dealing with fewer plants, dig and pot immediately is fine. I do plenty of that as well.

  • @newarkgardener6187

    @newarkgardener6187

    2 жыл бұрын

    I was just gonna ask the same question. Seems unnecessary to me, but then I'm not a nursery

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Another way I use heeled in plants is that I sell some of these through the winter months bare root. When people come by and pick up 10 or 20 or more of them, they are ready to go. Just pluck them out of the pile and send them on their way. It's really more practical for larger nurseries dealing with larger quantities of plants, but there are practical applications in a small nursery too. If you have your own nursery, you will often realize, "I don't have room for all these plants right now!" Heeling in allows a lot of plants in a small area, until you can move/sell some others. It's always a good problem to have too many plants, but it's still a problem. When you propagate your own plants, their exponential growth in numbers can create a lot of situations that require creative solutions. This is just one of them.

  • @davidblackwell6842
    @davidblackwell68422 жыл бұрын

    dave uk. good job done savvy we used do all our bare root potting in the winter weather permiting and make the most of mild spells .all best

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yep. Heeling in just buys time later. It’s a great “holding spot.”

  • @AlltheBuzzNativePlants
    @AlltheBuzzNativePlants11 ай бұрын

    Hi Craig! No one watches the videos to see your pretty face... Lol. All good my friend. Great content. Keep it up!

  • @lilyrosedaisyvioletsweetpe1207
    @lilyrosedaisyvioletsweetpe120711 ай бұрын

    💚

  • @renee2005
    @renee2005 Жыл бұрын

  • @randyman8984
    @randyman89842 жыл бұрын

    I am curious how many you had? it looked like way over 50 but I am just guessing. I went and got a load of pine fines today. Mixed in with my compost I made over the last 12 mnths. I also had some pine bark I got from my uncle and ran it through my chipper and got a wheel barrow full of just pine bark dust. I am gonna mix it in too.

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    That bed had 85, I think. About 300 total.

  • @hosta127
    @hosta1273 ай бұрын

    I heeled in several canes of Limelight and Nikko Blue hydrangea last fall and now they are sprouting tiny leaves from the bottom. Should I pot these up now or treat them as cuttings? Not sure what to do with them now.

  • @hosta127
    @hosta1278 ай бұрын

    Craig, I am a big fan of your channel and cannot say how much I appreciate your good teaching. I was hooked immediately when KZread put your video, “Backyard Nursery as a Side Hustle” in my playlist. I received 12 bare root variegated Weigela just this week. Am I correct in understanding that these should be heeled in until potting up in the spring?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    8 ай бұрын

    You can pot them now or heel them in... either way, they're just gonna sit there until Spring. Heeling in is a temporary holding spot. Right now, potting them is basically the same thing since they are dormant (I assume).

  • @stevenfrey8034
    @stevenfrey80342 жыл бұрын

    One thing I noticed that people don't realise is that plants need to be watered in the winter. So I'm always right there to tell them, and they say: "oh really"?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yep. Not near as much, but especially nursery plants can’t ever dry out!

  • @stevenfrey8034

    @stevenfrey8034

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@savvydirtfarmer amen to that, gardening brother.

  • @lagoya
    @lagoya2 жыл бұрын

    Hi, thanks for your informative videos I've been inspired to start my own nursery since I already have the space and some experience with propagation. How much do you sell them for, bareroot, at that size?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    About $10 bare root 30-36" tall.

  • @hosta127

    @hosta127

    8 ай бұрын

    I’m also curious when you will be offering your bare root emerald green arborvitae and other cuttings (can’t pull up the name of them) for sale online.

  • @crystalruth3733
    @crystalruth37332 жыл бұрын

    I am curious, we get pretty cold and snowy up here in Michigan, would you recommend doing this during the winter up here?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Yes, if you need to. Heeling in is not necessary. You can dig and pot them immediately if that fits your situation better. However, if you need to store them for any length of time, you can certainly do it. The main reason I do it is to save space and time come Spring. I'm busy doing too many other things when the weather warms up and since my ground is usually not frozen, this is one chore I can get done in the winter. Also, I sell quite a few trees each winter bare root. When people come by to pick them up, I can just go pluck them out of the mulch pile instead of having to dig and dealing with mud, etc. As long as you keep the roots covered and moist, you'll be fine.

  • @iamthewelcher
    @iamthewelcher Жыл бұрын

    I thought everyone said "hilling them in" or up... mostly when transplanting vegetables to garden?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    Жыл бұрын

    I think those are two separate things. Hilling vegetables has to do with piling dirt, so to speak, around your vegetable plants. Heeling in is temporary placement of dormant plants.

  • @BooYahPower
    @BooYahPower Жыл бұрын

    In your raised beds, how far do you usually space out the green giants? How small were those when you put them in, and how long did they stay there?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    Жыл бұрын

    About 6” spacing. Don’t leave them over a year or they too crowded at that spacing, or they get too hard to dig. They grow that size from about a 6” rooted cutting in a year

  • @BooYahPower

    @BooYahPower

    Жыл бұрын

    @@savvydirtfarmer I appreciate the knowledge. Do you fertilize while they are in the bed?

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    Жыл бұрын

    @@BooYahPower Yes, but if you've got good, fertile soil, it's really not necessary.

  • @hisherbs8538
    @hisherbs85382 жыл бұрын

    Algorithm

  • @savvydirtfarmer

    @savvydirtfarmer

    2 жыл бұрын

    Woohoo!!

  • @hisherbs8538

    @hisherbs8538

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@savvydirtfarmer you from around the Gaston County area?