Nursery Cultivation Space Capacity

Nursery Cultivation Space Capacity#

Assumptions#

At the nursery, plants are grown in containers, each with a predictable size and volume. During cultivation, these containers are placed in plant trays, which also occupy a predictable area. Each tray can hold a defined number of pots, and the nursery uses a standardized set of pots and trays for plant cultivation—one pot type per accession-item. This allows us to establish the following equivalencies:

  • Average tray size: ~17¼” x 17¼” (denoted as x)

Pot count per tray:

  • 49 pots of 2¼” square pots

  • 36 pots of 2 3/8” x 3¾” Anderson bands

  • 25 pots of 3½” disposable sheet pots

  • 25 pots of 2 7/8” x 5½” Anderson bands

  • 25 pots of 3½” peat pots

  • 16 pots of 5 3/8” x 6” Anderson bands

  • 16 pots of 4” x 10” Anderson bands

  • 8 pots of 4” x 10” Anderson bands (double-spaced for trees)

Benches#

Plant trays are placed on benches. Each bench provides a fixed linear area (in ft²). The outer edges of the benches are more accessible to workers, while the center is less accessible. Plants placed in less accessible areas are at higher risk for suboptimal cultivation practices (such as over/under watering) and may be harder to monitor for diseases and pests.

For this reason, the nursery typically uses only the easily accessible edge space on the benches, even if the benches are wide enough to accommodate trays in the center.

Since both trays and benches can be expressed in terms of linear area (m² or ft²), and knowing the average tray length (~17¼”), we can express bench length in units of tray length (x). This simplifies the measurement and calculation of cultivation space.

Example Calculation#

Bench dimensions: 28’4” x 3’4”
Converted to inches: 340” x 40”

  1. Length in terms of trays:
    340” ÷ 17.25” ≈ 19.71 trays

  2. Width in terms of trays:
    40” ÷ 17.25” ≈ 2.3 trays

Since a tray cannot occupy a partial area smaller than 17¼”, we use whole numbers only. This means the bench can accommodate:

  • 19 trays along its length

  • 2 trays along its width

Thus, the bench can hold a total of 19 x 2 = 38 trays in the defined cultivation space.

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