All of our taprooted species are undercut early in the growing season. This process breaks taproot dominance and forces the plant to take the energy produced by the shoot and use it to grow significantly more lateral roots in the first 8” of the root system, which ultimately, is what ends up in the planting hole. More lateral roots in the planting hole result in significantly higher survival rates and increased growth. See a video about our process here.

We believe in a balanced root to shoot ratio, proper stem caliper and well formed plants.  Top pruning our bed run seedlings multiple times each year provides these attributes and results in a consistent and uniform product.  For field grown liners and container plants, shoot pruning with hand pruners allows us to properly shape the trees as well as providing the other benefits mentioned above.

A tree's health is only as good as it's roots. Roots seek out water and nutrients, and in container grown trees, they'll keep growing in whatever direction they can find those things. This leads to circling or girdling roots as they grow around the enclosed pot producing a tree with a structurally compromised root system at planting. Air pruning reduces the pot's enclosed surface area by providing open slats, so when each root hits the air they naturally prune themselves, stimulating new root growth within the root ball and ultimately the development of a full, radially branched root system ready for planting.

The majority of our products are planted in wild land environments and not in nursery settings. Tree that are planted in these environments have to survive on the nutrition they brought with them from the nursery, as most wild land sites are nutrient deficient. Our intense fertilization practices ensure that we are loading the plants up with nutrients they need while they are in our care to ensure they have what they need to get started out right in their new environment. We use a balanced nutrition approach to ensure that all nutrients needed are readily available to the plants grown at our nursery.

Our capabilities are a huge advantage to our customers. Using our network of logistics providers, we’re able to coordinate expedited shipments across the southeastern U.S from Alabama to Texas, up the mid-Atlantic to Virginia and Maryland, and up to the Mid-East and Northeast to Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

• Dedicated Full and Multi-Drop Truckloads: Using dedicated truck carriers familiar with our business, we have the capability to drop-ship to work sites via full dedicated trucks, or with multi-drop dedicated lanes. We have frequent lanes that run north to MD/PA/NY and OH, west to AL/MS/LA/TX and east to SC/NC/VA.
• Ground/LTL: We offer third party ground and LTL shipping with pre-negotiated price discounts that offer our customers cost savings for smaller shipments.
• NFN Delivery: For Mid-sized shipments we also have an in house delivery option at affordable pricing capable of delivering anywhere in the eastern US.

We have a genuine interest in the success of our customers. Every year you will find us on the road, on the phone, doing whatever it takes to find out how our plants are growing. Feedback from our customers is like fertilizer for our plants – providing us with the details we need to guide our production decisions toward better plant products. 

We work hard every season, evaluating the previous season’s successes and areas for improvement to help us ensure we are aligning our operations toward our goal of continuous improvement. From shipping to packaging to plant quality, our customers can be assured that we are committed to their success, value their feedback and that we are on their team!