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What
is a protray?
Protrays are traditionally used in the horticultural industry
for seedlings or cuttings, and are referred to as "starts",
"liners", "plugs", etc. They come in several
different formats; 98's and 58's are what we stock. This means
there are 98 or 58 cells in each 10" x 20" tray.
What are the advantages?
There seems to be several advantages. First of all, unlike
a "compot" where all plants share the same pot,
in a protray each orchid is grown in an individual cell, which
means its roots form a "ball", and this reduces
root damage when they are removed for transplanting.
Another
advantage is relative uniformity of plant height. Plants are
sorted before they are planted into the protrays, and since
they are not competing so much for space -- as would be the
case in compots -- they reach approximately the same size.
You may notice that with compots some plants are large, some
are small, and some are so tiny it would be difficult to transplant
them all into the same size pot.
Size and Value
Although we use compots as a comparison, the seedlings in
our protrays are equivalent to a thumb pot (for 98-cell tray)
or near a full grown 2" pot (58-cell tray). So if you
calculate the price per plant, the savings is so significant
it may be hard to believe. Protrays are efficient to produce
since seedlings are handled as batches. This accounts for
lower production costs, which is how we are able to offer
Hawaiian-grown orchids at such a great value.
58-cell tray
98-cell tray
For Commerical Growers
Protrays are indeed suitable for many commercial growers,
from the small hobbyist greenhouse to large cut flower operations.
You will notice that we stock a wide variety of orchids ranging
from large quantities of UH cut flower varieties to limited
quantities of select breeding.
All In
All
If you followed the offerings of our nursery over the years
you can see how our inventory has evolved to provide an even
greater diversity with each new season. And since we develop
and hybridize much of our own, the best is yet to come.
View 98-cell tray orchid seedling
list
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