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Nurser y Mana gement
• nursery trolleys are an essential item in every nursery. These are two-, three- or four-wheeled trolleys with a wide shallow tray primarily used for moving plants around the nursery. Most trolleys hold both pots and seedling trays. The trolley tray is covered with a metal mesh that allows water to freely drain away when plants in the trolley are watered before unloading. Several trolleys should be conveniently located in production areas for nursery workers and in sales areas for customers to transport their selected plants; • hand trolleys, which are useful for moving many things about the nursery including boxes of materials (chemicals, pots, stationery, tools etc.) when delivered and large planter tubs when a forklift or tractor isn’t available. They are particularly useful in retail nurseries or at shows and exhibitions where a small upright trolley is more manoeuvrable than a larger nursery trolley in a confined space.
Figure 9.4: Nursery trolleys are a standard piece of equipment that may be used by staff and customers alike.
Additional potting equipment suitable for larger nurseries Soil-mixing equipment Cement mixers (small or large) are sometimes used for mixing potting media in nurseries that make their own mixes. In some bigger nurseries large amounts of soils, composts, mulches or growing media may be mixed or transported using a front-end loader. Ideally these materials should only be mixed and stored on a clean surface such as concrete, so they are not contaminated by soil particles and soil-borne pests and diseases from underlying soil.