Until this past week, temperatures have been perfect to keep our overwintering storage huts open for airflow through them to prevent fungus growth. Lows in the upper twenties and lower thirty’s at night are just right to keep the trees and shrubs in dormancy although only some would be prone to beginning growth and others not due to the phenomenon known as the chill requirement that amounts to so many hours of 40º F or below temperatures before growth will resume in spring which typically is the duration as much as 1200-1400 hours of total “chill” in winter. Since temperatures have dropped significantly which is seasonal, the houses must be closed at night but opened during the day if temps exceed 32º F and cloudy or 25º F and sunny.
We have ceased production of grave blankets and now will only make them according to new orders and do expect to have enough on hand for carry out. Deliveries will still go on until the 24th of December up until 4 p.m. as long as the grave can be found since many of the cemetery offices will be closed due to the holiday.
Next week poinsettia shipments will go out in a flurry to various churches with many on the same day with a constriction of time between orders. We have been careful for several years to be sure that the plants are thoroughly watered before delivery as watering inside the church would be difficult especially with the pot cover on the plants that holds water.
The geranium cuttings were finished last week and now other shipments of unrooted cuttings from Central America will begin about January 10th for all sorts of flowers that can only be reproduced from a cutting since they do not produce seed. About January 10th will be the transplanting of the geranium cuttings all into various sizes of hanging baskets and pots and in addition another 2000 or so geranium cuttings will be taken off the regrown plants so that they will provide a second crop to be sold starting around the second week of May.
In February and March will come more shipments of cuttings to root and more transplanting until things trail off in mid-April as we approach the selling season. Even in the winter, while sales are non-existent, the work goes on and unfortunately the expenses during the busy winter.
Tom