On October 7th from 10 am to 2 pm, the Roslyn branch volunteered at Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) to help out with the process of “up potting”.
Up potting is the process of transferring various plants to new pots. Some of the plants helped transferred were Yarrow and Bayberries which are native to Long Island. The aim is to help reinforce more native plants belonging to Long Island and replace non-native ones. This can essentially have greater benefits such as providing the correct foods for the bees and birds. Fall is especially a good time to continue with this process because it allows the roots of the plants to grow before the winter begins and then provides an abundance to work with for the spring.
Since we had many people involved, we were able to separate all the tasks among several people to use our time as productively as possible. As a general overview of the up potting process, we had to prepare the soil for the plants, organize trays and pots to place the soil into, and then insert the plants into the pots.
Starting with the trays, we took out a stack of trays on the side and placed them in rows. Then we took square pots of mainly 2 and 4 inch sizes and organized them into the trays while making sure to keep the corresponding sizes on each tray the same.
Meanwhile, another group of people worked on preparing the soil. We took many new bags of soil and broke the blocks apart to make sure no big uneven chunks were left. Once the soil was evenly spread on the table, we lightly watered using a hose and added fertilizer. Once the soil was moisturized with fertilizer spread evenly throughout, we finally began to fill all the soil into all the pots up to a specific marking on the top. The finished trays of soil were brought to the side to be watered with the hose.
On another table, we were given separate trays with plants already grown. To transfer the plants into the trays, we separated the plants while being careful of the roots and then poked holes into the moisturized soil to place them in. Once the plant was carefully inserted, we filled back the hole surrounding the plant with more soil. For a top coating we sprinkled on sand surrounding the plants to provide for extra moisture. These finished trays were placed on the side to be watered.
The last task involved naming and providing classification for the trays. A few people worked on writing the name of the plants (such as Yarrow or Bayberries) on plastic sticks. These were then poked into the soil of a tray to identify the plant.
This was a continuous process requiring the demonstration of teamwork through different groups and tasks. For example, people had to work on providing more organized trays so others working on the soil could immediately fill them. We made rotations at each table so we were all able to participate. With our work we were able to go through several bags of soil and provide plants their own individual pots to grow throughout the season.
Members who participated include: Yang Amy Wu (4 hours), Katelyn Zheng (4 hours), Kristen Zheng (4 hours), Lincoln Zheng (4 hours), Lyndon Zheng (4 hours), Adrian Jin (4 hours), Leah Chan (4 hours), Phillip Chan (4 hours), Serena Wu (4 hours), Hunter Chen (4 hours), Tiffany Lin (4 hours), Brooke Zheng (4 hours), and Zihan Wang (4 hours).
