With hundreds of acres of balled-and-burlapped, container and field-grown trees, shrubs, perennials and ornamental grasses, Tankard Nurseries in
The nursery sells primarily to landscape contractors and rewholesalers, and it has a few high-end retail customers. Their customer base is primarily the Northeast with a heavy concentration in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area and Long Island and New Jersey.
The original nursery was all B&B. The future of production at Tankard will likely focus on containers, said Joe Ray, general manager at Tankard. Container sizes range from 2 to 50 gallons.
“We’re looking to phase out some trees in the field, but keep field production for arborvitae, crape myrtles, boxwood and taxus,” Ray said.
And some field-grown material will continue to play an important role in container production, said Ed Tankard, company president. Tankard transplants some of its material from the field into containers -- from 3 gallons up to 25 gallons -- including boxwood, viburnum, arborvitae and crape myrtles.
“We get a big, heavy plant, and it cuts down on labor because we’re not shifting up plants throughout the whole process,” Tankard said.
The field-grown material is transplanted into containers during the spring.
Pumped-up propagation
Tankard Nurseries propagates 90 percent of its plant material. The nursery produces big, heavy liners that allow them to skip the process of shifting up to a 1-gallon container.
“We’ll propagate in a standard 50-cell or 84-cell flat, but when it’s rooted, we go to a 3 1/2-inch Jiffy peat pot,” Ray said.
That step adds about three months to the propagation cycle, but eliminates the 1-gallon step.
“We worked our production cycles to accommodate the extra propagation time, but come out with a healthier liner, that, for the most part, goes directly into a 2- or 3-gallon container,” Ray said. “We found it’s cheaper to hold plants during propagation.”
Tankard uses this process with most of its plants, but it works especially well with faster-growers like abelia, rose, spirea and hollies.
Tankard is experimenting with Jiffy Preforma plugs during propagation, especially with boxwood and crape myrtles.
“We can propagate directly into the Preformas, which eliminates the need to pot into the 3 1/2-inch. We’ve also found the Preforma plugs go through our automated planter better than the 3 1/2-inch pots,” Ray said.
Season extenders
Late last spring Tankard completed construction of a 4-acre Cravo retractable-roof house. The idea behind it was to bring some items to market earlier and extend some fall sales, Ray said.
“We’re still learning how to best use the house, but we’ve accomplished what we set out to do,” he said. “It’s a finishing or extending house, not a growing house.”
This spring, the nursery finished off hydrangeas in the Cravo and was able to sell them two to three weeks earlier than anyone else in the area. Tankard also got ornamental grasses out to market earlier after finishing them in the Cravo.
During summer, the Cravo provides some relief from the sun for items like boxwood and nandinas in containers.
In fall, Tankard will transplant bareroot boxwood from the field and liner beds into containers and extend the rooting time in the Cravo.
The flat-roof Cravo is equipped with extra braces for hurricane-force winds.
For more: Tankard Nurseries, (800) 552-2088; www.tankardnurseries.com.
Post-production techniques pamper plants
Tankard Nurseries uses pretreated burlap to extend plants’ shelflife. It’s especially appreciated by the rewholesale customer, said Joe Ray, general manager at Tankard.
“It extends the shelflife about three to four months,” he said.
And for summer digging, the nursery uses BioPlex, a plant stimulant, to curb stress.
“It works especially well on crape myrtles, which don’t dig well until after they flush. But that’s at the drier time of the year,” Ray said.
Crews form a moat around the plant and the BioPlex is applied as a ground drench.
“It really helps the vigor of the plant. The drier the soil, the better the BioPlex works,” he said. “We like to have it set for a minimum of eight to 10 hours, but it’s best if it sets for 24 hours.”
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Tankard digs orders at least one day in advance so plants can stay in the mist barn overnight.
- Kelli Rodda
Founded: 1933 by brothers John Ed and Sam Tankard. The founder’s son, John E. Tankard Jr., continues to help run the business along with his sons Ed and Richard.
Location:
Crops: Shrubs, trees, grasses, perennials, broadleaf evergreens in containers, B&B and field grown. The senior Tankard introduced Ilex crenata ‘
Customer base: Landscape contractors, rewholesalers throughout the Northeast.
Employees: Up to 100 during the peak season.