Every plant in Native Here Nursery begins with a clean pot and clean soil. Without clean pots and soil, no seeds can be sown and no plants can be repotted. Soil wranglers are the first step in the process.
Wait! I hear you asking what is a soil wrangler and what do you mean by “clean”? So good of you to ask. Because we are an outdoor nursery, we face a significant risk of plants becoming infected with plant pathogens, most notably Phytophthora ramorum, the organism that causes Sudden Oak Death. To prevent infection, every pot we use and all the soil we use is run through a sterilizer. Pots or soil are placed in the sterilizer and heated to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, then left to set for an additional 30 minutes, and then removed.
Soil wrangling is an outdoor job requiring a modest amount of strength to shovel the soil. It can easily be combined with other tasks at the nursery such as watering, potting, plant grooming, etc. A single sterilization run is generally around three hours but can vary by around half an hour. We prefer that soil wranglers make a weekly commitment. Once you are trained, the actual hours are flexible.
If you are interested, please contact Steve Toby at stevetoby@comcast.net.
— Steve Toby, Chief Soil Wrangler, Native Here Nursery, CNPS East Bay Chapter
November 2021
