Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Nicholls State University (NSU), BTNEP has developed its Native Plant Production Facility on 2.5 acres of land at the NSU Farm in Thibodaux, LA.
After 2 years sharing a facility with the Native Plant Initiative, BTNEP grew out of this space and broke ground on a 3600 sq. ft. shadehouse in the summer of 2011. Grow out of plants eventually exceeded that footprint and an additional 1200 sq. ft. was added to the shadehouse. In addition, BTNEP built a 1500 sq. ft. greenhouse through a generous donation to our foundation from Mosaic. The addition of the greenhouse allows us to overwinter susceptible herbaceous and woody species. A potting shed was created by reroofing a dilapidated goat shed. None of these facilities would exist, however except for the many hours of labor put in from hundreds of volunteers.
Collected and prepared seed is potted in containers and grown out in the shadehouse for at least one growing season for planting in the fall, winter or spring. A large percentage of this work is done through the help of volunteers and with the assistance of our student workers. If larger plants are required for the project, the one-year-old plants are transplanted to larger pots and grown out for another year.
