Pot Sizes

Mail Order Pot Sizes

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Colossians 1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.

One of the most common question I get is, "What size of plants do you ship?" Please review the comments that I have received from current customers!

I do not make a distinction between my retail plants and my mail-order plants. You will get the same size plant that you are use to getting from the best quality retail nursery. The only difference is that the pot is removed, dirt not attached to roots is removed, root mass is bagged, and the plant rests in a dark box for a few days.

My greenhouse starts up in February and as pots are filled they are raised in this pampered environment. Early spring sales will already have 1/2 to 2 full months of growth started before they are shipped. Hostas that are grown at AAA Ornamentals are dug as soon as the spring weather permits starting sometime in April. As the season rolls by, the plant will naturally mature and become a larger healthy plant. Shipping continues all season long (obviously shipping larger and larger plants).

Hostas

Most of the hostas that I sell are field divisions either from my own propagation beds or from other hosta wholesalers.

Field Divisions are plants that are field dug in the spring, divided, and planted directly into the nursery container (or) smaller plants field divided, and left in a pot over a season to produce a larger plant.
Tissue Culture are plants that are produced in a laboratory and raised until large enough for retail sale. This method allows hostas that grow slowly to be propagated faster. This method reduces the expense of slow growers or new popular introductions. A tissue culture plant is not inferior genetics. You will not be able to tell the difference in performance between a field dug or tissue culture plant.

Early spring orders (April) may be shipped with foliage already started, or as a freshly dug field division. Most hostas are 1-2 full crowns. There are many questions such as "How many eyes are your hostas". I believe that most folks are referring to the petitoles (spikes) that emerge from the crown of the plant. One crown may produce anywhere from 1, 2, 3, 4, sometimes 5 spikes/eyes.

Grasses

Field Divisions are plants that are dug up in the spring, divided, and planted directly into the nursery container.
One year pots are plants that are field dug in the spring but divided at a much smaller size. These are then planted into a smaller pot and allowed to grow. These are then repotted the following year into the standard nursery container. When they are repotted they are equal in size to the field division size first described.

size123.jpg (8037 bytes) Because most mail-order shipments are performed by the end of May, the 'size of the pot' really does not matter, that is the resulting plant during this time will be the same. My mail-order operations are geared for April - June shipping. The picture to the left illustrates this perfectly. Each pot was started with the same starter plant. Each plant represents what the plant will look like by the 1st of June. Early spring development does not require a full two gallon container. As you can see in the picture, all grasses regardless of the pot size are comparable in size. (Pictured left to right, Miscanthus sin. 'Gracillimus', 'Graziella', 'Graziella') The 1/2 gallon (3 5/8 x 3 5/8 x 6" deep) container was chosen so that the root mass would not have to be disturbed for shipping. All other sizes require the roots to be disturbed because of the removal of excess potting media (especially the 2 gallon container) to limit the weight of the boxed plants. As the growing season progresses, the 1/2 gallon container will be up-potted to a 1 gallon square container to allow for further root growth.

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AAA Ornamentals, 8S953 Jericho Road, P.O. Box 277 ~ Big Rock ~ Illinois
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