Demand for ornamental nursery stock during the Second World War was minimal with the remaining crops becoming un-saleable and overgrown. Italian Prisoners of War helped to clear Creek and Sluice Farms, which were planted after the war with the few young tree stocks that were available. In the hot summer of 1947 little grew on the worn out light land, and in the drought of 1949 stock began to die. Although demand was picking up, there was little to sell. Some 50 years after RCN bought the Nursery, it nearly went out of business.

Just as RCN had realised in 1897 that he had to have fresh land, the new management team recognised it was essential to move on to heavier but workable soil. A block of such land became available in 1950, inevitably called Newfield. Creek and Sluice Farms and Gazebo were sold. The strong growth on Newfield soon gave good stocks for sale.

The little grey Ferguson tractors proved invaluable, and one of Charles' first decisions on his return was to say goodbye to the Suffolk Punches. In 1960 furrows were drawn out behind the tractor for the tree stocks to be placed in them, initially by hand, later mechanically. Great progress, except that on Newfield the furrows in the soil opened up in the summer drought and the tree stocks dried out. A lighter soil was clearly essential for mechanisation. In 1960, 15 acres of suitable farmland was rented to the north west of Woodbridge, followed in 1963 by 11 acres of park land at Bredfield, which threw excellent growth.

With traditional hand planting, stocks were planted in rows across 22 foot wide drifts. Now the rows were turned to run the length of the field. Diesel rotovators slowly churned up the centre of these rows to keep them free of weeds, throwing out dust and stones. "Was there no better machine for this?" Charles asked Johnny Crane, who said "Wat yew warnt's un 'orse" - so Charles brought back the horses! Polly and Dolly were allowed to see their time out.

But even the horses couldn't cope with another problem. The new farmland was ploughed deeper for tree stocks than it had ever been before, thus bringing up masses of weed seed. In the summer of 1962 the land looked like the poppy fields of Flanders. Fortunately, the herbicide Simazine came on the market, and Dick Cox was engaged in 1963 to be responsible for all herbicide and chemical treatments. Soon the fields were all exceptionally clean. This chemical served the Nursery well for several decades, but gradually groundsel and then other weeds built up resistance, and environmental concerns increased. Now the trend is away from chemicals with mini tractors cultivating up the rows and larger tractors drawing steerage hoes controlled by sensors.

Newfield served the nursery well during the 1950's but in 1965 it was sold for house building, thereby financing the purchase of more suitable soil, and the early garden centres.

The medium light land needed for expansion lay more or less along the line of the A12, between the light Sandling soils to the East and the coast and the heavier clays to the West. Thus field production began to move North East along the A12.

In 1973 the pig farmer who had bought Creek Farm decided to sell it. He had farmed and manured it well, regaining its fertility, and had installed an irrigation bore - so the nursery bought the land back, but not for the same price! This irrigation proved invaluable during the severe droughts of 1975 and 1976. It was then clear there was no point in striving to grow nursery stock on light soil in Suffolk without irrigation. Bores were sunk wherever it was possible to get permission, and today all the Nursery fields can be irrigated.

No further suitable land came on the market near Woodbridge, and in 1978 the first fields at Hacheston were purchased. As demand for trees for the public sector contracted, the nursery fields consolidated at Hacheston and Loudham. Melton and Pettistree, each having had two crops of trees and of roses, are now covered with containers.

Traditionally lifting of trees was by spade - slow, hard, often wet and cold work. The first step in mechanisation was under cutting a whole row with a large U blade drawn by a cable and winch on the tractor at the end of the row, but this reduced the growth in the following year of any not sold. In 1982 a machine became available which could select only the tree required when positioned in the row, lifting it with a side mounted U blade driven by hydraulics. This and other subsequent machinery have revolutionised winter field work.

Although the spade and the hoe have largely been superseded, the knife has not. The craftsman's skills of budding, grafting and pruning continue today, just as they did 100 years ago.

The only change has been the advent of plastic. Raffia has been replaced by plastic tubing for tying tree stems to bamboo canes, and by polythene tape for tying in buds and grafts. When the old technique of chip budding, which did not create a union under raffia was shown to do so under polythene tape this was a major step forward. Not only did bud take increase significantly, but also the range of plants that could be successfully budded in the fields increased.

Many plants once grown in the fields are now produced throughout their nursery lives in containers. Some, however, have refused to adapt themselves and Lilacs are one of these, for which Notcutts have long been known as specialists. The large field crop of Lilacs thus continues unchanged although recently Lilacs produced via micro propagation have become available. These start their life in a test tube and are lined out in the fields after weaning for two years, before being prepared for despatch.