Intro to Track #2; Herbal Market Gardening

The Educational Channel for Getting Started / Optimizing the Small Farm

This educational Track helps our 1782Farm.com / Simples & Worts Members transition from Track #1; Living an Herbal Lifestyle with You! to running an Herbal Liner Business and / or Plant, Shrub, Tree Nursery. Track #2 is also appropriate for those of you who are interested in farming and ranching as I will be educating you on a range of Methods, Tools and Training (MTT) which are not often covered in basic horticultural or farm / ranch educational programs. For instance, I will get into the details of the overarching methodology known as Value Chain Management. I will also cover business function modeling, financial planning methods, software applications such as for crop planning, and a whole lot more. I think you’ll really like learning about the best practices and processes such as whole farm management, decision-making, and a lot of the newest grower approaches such as:

• Organic / Ecological Farming

• Holistic Resource Management

• Square Foot Gardening

• Hydroculture

• Hydroponics

• Aquaponics

• Vertical Farming

• Aeroponics

• SPIN (Small Plot INtensive) Farming

• No Till Farming

• Tissue Culturing

• Floristry

• Organic Vegetable Farming

I will also introduce to those Mentors and Coaches that I have been following. I will

To get you started, let’s define what I mean by the phrase, “herbal liner business”. Wikipedia defines a plant liner quite well, as follows:

"Liners" is a horticultural term referring to very young plants, usually grown for sale to retailers or wholesalers, who then grow them to a larger size before selling them to consumers. Liners are usually grown from seed, but may also be grown from cuttings or tissue culture. They are grown in plastic trays with many "cells," each of which contains a single liner plant. Liners will typically range in size from a 36 cell tray up to a 288 cell tray. The most common size used in commercial nurseries is between 50 and 72 cells. The term "liner", is typically used for perennial, ornamental, and woody seedlings. Annuals in this form are usually referred to as plugs.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, plants can only be defined as "liners" if they are at least an inch in diameter but not more than 3 inches in diameter at the widest point. Plant liners must also have established root systems that touch the outer edges of the container and stay intact when lifted from the container.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Plant Materials Manual defines "liner" as plant material which is grown in one location and then “lined-out” in another location for finishing off. Plants may be started in seedbeds and lifted bare-root or grown in containers. Either type of these liners may finish their production cycle in the ground or in containers.

A liner traditionally refers to lining out nursery stock in a field row. The term has evolved to mean a small plant produced from a rooted cutting, seedling, plug, or tissue culture plantlet. Direct sticking or direct rooting into smaller liner pots is commonly done in United States propagation nurseries. Seedlings and rooted cuttings can also be transplanted into small liner pots and allowed to become established during liner production, before being transplanted to larger containers (upcanned) or outplanted into the field.

So, if you’re interested in getting started in an herbal or perennial plant liner business. Then, Track #2 is for you. If you are not into plant propagation, but more into homesteading or permaculture then I encourage you to explore Track #4; Green Energy and Homesteading.

We will start with some basic business planning acumen such risk management, team-building, requirements management and each and every commercial software solutions that we can find and assess. That’s where you come in. We will offer collaborative capabilities based on the feedback that I get from you and our commercial leaders, who we refer to as Ranching Sherpas or Herbal / Farming Sherpas.

I look forward to meeting you and getting to know about your career orientation or business focus, on the other side!

Phil Wilson

Showing our Herbal Liner and field-based Pot-in-Pot operations.