Raemelton Farm began operations in the summer of 2004. Evaluation of nearly a hundred potential locations over a two-year period yielded one clear choice. The nursery sits on 185 acres of prime farmland in the Monocacy River valley south of Frederick, Maryland. The ground has been in agricultural production since the 1700s and was once owned by Charles Carroll, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence.
A dairy operation had existed on the farm for decades. An intensive year of clean-up, repair, and conversion transitioned the farm to production of B&B trees. The high-quality soil needed little help, just a slight adjustment of the nutrient levels and some sub-soiling.
We now have 11 fields in production and will be reaching the limits of our existing deer fence by 2027. Luckily we have another 50 acres to expand into. Initially, I was really excited for the farm to ‘get bigger’ every year, but now we’re turning rows in existing fields since most of the first plantings have been dug and sold. Go to the ‘Sustainability’ page and you’ll see how we turn our rows and fill our tree holes! We use the land as efficiently and sustainably as possible; no planting in the same tree row every rotation, and we replenish all lost soil from digging.
From the beginning it has been our intention to slowly, and predictably, expand our tree production ground. The remainder of the tillable ground is leased out for corn and soybean farming. Field by field we expand the deer fence, install new irrigation pipe, and plant more trees. At the same time we turn over and replant into existing fields. This expansion + replanting approach allows us to increase the number of plants in the production pipeline while still maintaining an efficient use of our existing infrastructure.
This measured growth of the size of the farm also translates into logical, and predictable, expansion of our specialized equipment. Buying more tractors, new digging machines, and larger tillage equipment can all be forecast well into the future. This lets us search for, and shop around for, the best equipment for our needs. When it comes to narrow tractors and specialized Italian nursery equipment, this forward looking approach is critical.
With 100 acres already in production, in February 2024 we made the big jump into the east end of the farm. Field 11 was lined out with more than 5,000 new trees and shrubs. Many of the new plants are the result of our own, in-house, propagation efforts!
In 2017 Raemelton launched our own propagation program. The increasing cost of west coast liners and the unavailability of some very cool trees pushed us to embark on an in-house effort to start from scratch with as many plants as we can. Our first move was to root summer and winter cuttings. We rented space in the mist house at Waverly Farm, a neighbor and very good friend. If you’ve ever tried to root cuttings you will understand when we say it was hit and miss at first.
As our rooting skills improved we added on lining out understock and summer budding. We now bud nearly all of our eating fruit varieties. This allows us to not just grow the best fruit cultivars, but also ensure that they are on an understock that is best suited to our customers needs. For example, our eating apples are all budded onto EMLA-7 rootstock, which ensures a disease resistant tree the right size for a small home orchard.
By 2019 we took the next step into seedling production … yes, seeds. It can take forever but some trees are reliably produced by planting seeds. American persimmon, bottlebrush buckeye, pawpaw, pecan, walnut, and Chinese quince are all started in our seedling beds. After two years the seedlings are lifted bareroot and transplanted for another two years. Then they are again transplanted to field spacing for growing on to sellable size.
Farming is not easy. We face most of the same risks as any other agricultural operation. Weather is an obvious challenge, but there are others. The pests of nursery crops are always changing. About six years into operations we were confronted with Japanese Maple Scale (JMS). This pest is now well known, but in 2007 we got to be the test site for study of this new insect and helped to develop control measures.
In 2017 we experienced an entirely different threat. Herbicide drift. This article will tell you all about it: https://www.nurserymag.com/article/herbicide-drift/ A nearby, off-label application of herbicide, on a windy day, had a huge impact on our fields and setback growth for some species by a full year. We were fortunate to be able to settle out of court.
Then in 2021 the Brood X periodical cicadas came out of the ground and wreaked havoc on the trees. The egg laying behavior of the cicada leaves a wound on branches that does not callus over and heal normally. Our decision: prune out all the oviposting damage. Yes, all of it. The dogwoods looked like a blind dog had pruned them. It was a major hit to the availability, but a year later the plants had recovered, were free of damage, and looked great!
Even with the challenges of farming we received some wonderful recognition. In 2016, following our introduction of the industry’s only USDA certified ORGANIC nursery stock, we were named Grower of the Year by Nursery Management magazine.
Our willingness to develop cutting edge production processes and grow rare, underutilized species has also led to some really fun projects and custom growing arrangements. From 2013 to 2019 we custom grew the replacement American Hornbeams for the Ellipse at Dumbarton Oaks. Over 100 3” Carpinus caroliniana with 8’ of clean trunk is not something you can find at the local rewholeseller! Another project we started in 2022 is the growing of replacement crabapples for a historic landscape feature. The unusual cultivar was budded on to a specific understock and is being trained to match the customer’s specification for height and form. More on this project when it’s finished.
Even our plant list of more than 330(?) species and cultivars is constantly reviewed. Changes in climate, consumer preferences, and pest pressure all require a dynamic approach to plan selection. No sudden moves, of course, but we review and analyze our inventory every year. It’s normal for us to add a few new plants each year. When necessary, we also have to drop some old friends … sorry, Himalayan Pine. In general, we have seen a slow shift away from some conifers, and an increase in fruit and nut trees. The demand for native trees is also strong, pushing us to look for new and under-produced varieties.
As we continue to expand the fields and test and develop new production techniques, Raemelton Farm will continue to evolve. Stay tuned!
Raemelton Farm is a wholesale B&B tree nursery in Frederick County, Maryland.
There are 100 acres in nursery production with another 85 acres for future expansion. More than 300 varieties of trees are grown here--from traditional landscape trees, to fruit and nut bearing trees, and specimens that are often hard to find in the trade!
