Transplanting Coleus

A large storm has been pounding New Jersey all day today. Driving rain and gusting winds have made working outside impossible so the intrepid Rutgers Gardens Volunteers spent the afternoon indoors at the Floriculture Greenhouses at the School of Environmental & Biological Sciences formerly known as Cook College. Our mission today was to repot coleus cuttings from the gardens.

First, we assembled our materials. Here are a few of the cuttings we were working with:

Next were the pots, trays and potting soil we needed.

The potting soil comes in those huge bales you see in the background. It has to be broken up so there are no lumps and then slightly moistened to make it easier to work with.

Here, the Head Hatter demonstrates the correct method for filling the pots. Yes, there IS a right way and a wrong way!

We work in an assembly line, with one or two people processing the soil and filling the pots which are placed in trays and then passed on to the one or two people who are doing the actual transplanting from the four-packs to the pots.



Each cutting is meticulously labelled with the variety and the date it was planted.

The Head Hatter demonstrates proper planting technique:

Anyone not occupied with processing soil or planting in pots acts as a runner, bringing soil out and potted plants back to the greenhouse space rented from the college. Renting space in their greenhouse is cheaper than heating the greenhouse at Rutgers Gardens.

Here are the results of our labors:

We chatted while we worked so the time passed very quickly. We are already discussing the design and plants for the Display Gardens for next year. Stay tuned for next year's theme and my plans for my own plot!