What’s Happening Below the Soil

The tops are well branched, the structure is developing nicely, and when you get a chance to dig around the roots, that story continues below ground.

One of the things that is most exciting about nursery production is seeing what you normally don’t get to see. Most of the year, we judge a tree by what’s above the soil. But when digging season gets closer, you get a reminder that so much of the quality of a plant is in the root system.

This year’s crop has strong, well-developed roots with a good amount of fine root growth. That’s encouraging to see, especially on material that will soon be heading to other nurseries for the next stage of production.

A Few Years in the Making

There’s something satisfying about seeing a plant after several years in the field and knowing the work that has gone into it, grafting, growing, pruning and all the little decisions along the way that help shape the final plant.

With three-year tops and four-year root systems, these plants have had time to establish good structure on both sides of the soil line.

We’re still a little ways out from digging, but from what we’re seeing now, this is one of the stronger crops we’ve had in a while.

We thought these photos were worth sharing because they show both sides of the plant, what we see every day above ground, and the part that’s been quietly developing underneath.