Wow, how excellent for you! Wish you great success! It’s a journey and lots to keep learning along the way. The short answer is many woody trees and plants are 100% fine in pots all winter. The plants are dormant and they are in soil. Being in the ground really isn’t any better. If they are OK for your zone, they will winter over just fine. Your big enemy in the winter is of course the cold but wind is what can really damage evergreens with needles. We used to start with really small seedlings and if planted in the fall we would loose some. So one recommendation is to start with larger plants. To minimize wind damage you could use some simple hoops with shade cloth or white plastic. We have never done this but it might have some benefits. We tried blowing our leaves into the nursery areas which seemed beneficial but was a huge mess to clean up in the spring. A really good idea is to use the inexpensive erosion fabric fences sold at places like the Home Depot. This is inexpensive, really cuts the wind and easy to install and remove. Or T posts and burlap is great too and you can go taller. Do some trial and error but we loose very few plants to the winter cold. That said we have learned that some plants should be planted in the Spring so they have a better chance of making the first winter. We plant Skip Laurels and Arborvitae’s only in the spring. Blue, Norway and White spruce are all OK in the Spring or Fall. We are going to have to do a video on this come this fall. Thanks for the excellent question! Keep us posted on your progress!
Thanks for the detailed reply. We are mostly starting with larger plants, but do plan to start with Arborvitae, Dogwood, Norway Spruce, Red Cedar, Forsythia and Holly (native to our site). Great idea to use silt fabric, as a general contractor I even have a bit hanging around and may still consider the simple hoop houses if ambitious enough. Will continue to follow your progress and look forward to a successful first season as a backyard nursery operator!
Hello- want to give a shout out to your channel. My wife and I found your channel a few months ago and we are now planning our own backyard nursery in Massachusetts. We have a large piece of property, however, it is rocky and because of that we had not considered the idea of a tree farm, but because of you, we are now clearing a 1 acre spot to start and we are hoping to maybe make it bigger if successful. One question I wanted to run by you that someone mentioned to us and I have not found the definitive answer… If money is not the considering factor, with the trees do better in a hoop house for the winter? A friend of mine who grows Christmas trees is very concerned that the roots will be damaged by the winter temperatures unless I put the pots in the ground, but I also know that you grow in pots on the ground without burying or insulation? Sorry for the long post, I know you have mentioned in several videos that a greenhouse would be nice for certain tasks like propagation but is it something that could be helpful also for the main tree nursery areas? Keep up the good work
Link to the Erosion Control / Silt Fence. 100 feet with posts for $48.00 is pretty reasonable. 3 feet high. www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Contractor-Grade-Assembled-3-ft-x-100-ft-Silt-Temporary-Fencing-14987-0-3610/202521468
Wow, how excellent for you! Wish you great success! It’s a journey and lots to keep learning along the way.
The short answer is many woody trees and plants are 100% fine in pots all winter. The plants are dormant and they are in soil. Being in the ground really isn’t any better. If they are OK for your zone, they will winter over just fine.
Your big enemy in the winter is of course the cold but wind is what can really damage evergreens with needles. We used to start with really small seedlings and if planted in the fall we would loose some. So one recommendation is to start with larger plants.
To minimize wind damage you could use some simple hoops with shade cloth or white plastic. We have never done this but it might have some benefits. We tried blowing our leaves into the nursery areas which seemed beneficial but was a huge mess to clean up in the spring.
A really good idea is to use the inexpensive erosion fabric fences sold at places like the Home Depot. This is inexpensive, really cuts the wind and easy to install and remove. Or T posts and burlap is great too and you can go taller.
Do some trial and error but we loose very few plants to the winter cold. That said we have learned that some plants should be planted in the Spring so they have a better chance of making the first winter. We plant Skip Laurels and Arborvitae’s only in the spring. Blue, Norway and White spruce are all OK in the Spring or Fall.
We are going to have to do a video on this come this fall.
Thanks for the excellent question! Keep us posted on your progress!
Thanks for the detailed reply. We are mostly starting with larger plants, but do plan to start with Arborvitae, Dogwood, Norway Spruce, Red Cedar, Forsythia and Holly (native to our site). Great idea to use silt fabric, as a general contractor I even have a bit hanging around and may still consider the simple hoop houses if ambitious enough.
Will continue to follow your progress and look forward to a successful first season as a backyard nursery operator!
Hello- want to give a shout out to your channel. My wife and I found your channel a few months ago and we are now planning our own backyard nursery in Massachusetts. We have a large piece of property, however, it is rocky and because of that we had not considered the idea of a tree farm, but because of you, we are now clearing a 1 acre spot to start and we are hoping to maybe make it bigger if successful.
One question I wanted to run by you that someone mentioned to us and I have not found the definitive answer… If money is not the considering factor, with the trees do better in a hoop house for the winter? A friend of mine who grows Christmas trees is very concerned that the roots will be damaged by the winter temperatures unless I put the pots in the ground, but I also know that you grow in pots on the ground without burying or insulation?
Sorry for the long post, I know you have mentioned in several videos that a greenhouse would be nice for certain tasks like propagation but is it something that could be helpful also for the main tree nursery areas?
Keep up the good work
Link to the Erosion Control / Silt Fence. 100 feet with posts for $48.00 is pretty reasonable. 3 feet high. www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Contractor-Grade-Assembled-3-ft-x-100-ft-Silt-Temporary-Fencing-14987-0-3610/202521468