PLANNING OF PRODUCTION - TIMING AND SPACING FOR YEAR-ROUND PRODUCTION OF POTPLANTS

When production planning is to be carried out in nurseries biological data is necessary i.e. the time to produce a saleable plant, plant spacing and when the different working procedures and treatments are to take place.

In considering the accuracy of the data, we decided to collect this data once a week from two nurseries with a high standard growing technique for each plant. We have collected or are in the process of collecting data from 42 different kinds of potplants. Data is recorded from propagation to sale from one hundred plants. The date for important working procedures are recorded together with the space needed. Sets of plants are followed so production time the year-round is known, or in the period in which it is actuel for the particular crop.

Finally the collected data is comprised in table and figure form so it is easy for the grower and the advisor to use in production planning. The data can also be fed into a computer and together with data for labour needed at the various working procedures and the price for saleable plants by linear programming makes the optimum production plan for a particular nursery.

The data can also be used in co-ordination of the sale and analysing of the material for the most needed research area.