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A Farm of My Own:  nursery/tree farm  |
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greyghost
True Blue Farmgirl
650 Posts
Lynn
Summerville
Georgia
USA
650 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 13 2006 : 6:20:59 PM
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DH and I have been talking a lot lately about buying our land. A tree farm has been something DH and I have wanted since we were engaged. The hard part for us, really, is how to make income on it while the japanese maples are maturing.
You gals know I love plants, and starting plants. So I suggested why not have a nursery - one to the trade only? Nothing huge, but I know we'd have one customer right off the bat with the nursery I'm working with. I know it's gobs of work, but working with smaller plants is something I can do, while DH focuses on the bigger plants that I can't be moving around with the back. I've looked into the cost of greenhouses and they aren't that bad... and around here, if your business is in the county, you don't even have a liscense. It's weird. Won't be so easy forever.
I don't know that I know enough about plants to have a nursery... But you have to start somewhere & experience is a great teacher. I do work p/t at a nursery, and I garden a lot myself & am a mod on another gardening forum.
DH is quitting his job at the end of May - so we need to get the loan now while he is employed as far as the banks are concerned. The tree farm is what he wants to start in addition to the remodeling biz. So he will also have the time to work on the nursery, it won't just be me on my over-extended schedule!
So am I nuts for considering this path? |
Edited by - greyghost on Apr 13 2006 6:52:00 PM |
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cajungal
True Blue Farmgirl
2349 Posts
Catherine Farmgirl Sister #76
Houston Area
Texas
2349 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 04:37:54 AM
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No, you are not nuts! You're probably the envy of a lot of people.....starting new doing exactly what you want to do. Sounds like y'all got a plan. Trials will probably come but with your farmgirl attitude y'all will make it!!
Blessings
Catherine
One of the best compliments from one of my daughters: "Moma, you smell good...like dirt." |
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greyghost
True Blue Farmgirl
650 Posts
Lynn
Summerville
Georgia
USA
650 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 06:10:50 AM
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| Oh I have no doubt trials will come. But I think if we plan it right, we'll be okay. A little thinner for a while, but ok. |
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westernhorse51
True Blue Farmgirl
1681 Posts
michele
farmingdale
n.j.
USA
1681 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 06:48:57 AM
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NO ONE is nuts for following their dreams. If that were true I think many of us would be "elsewhere". You have to try, you would never know if you didnt. It takes guts to try it(I tell myself that daily) and the worse thing is that it doesnt work out, it wont kill us. We just start again! A plan of course is needed & you mentally work out all that will go wrong as much as you can because things always go wrong but we still try. Go for it, start slow & take it from there.
We want a small sheep & herb farm, nothing big, I have no sheep but am trying to start a small fiber business and I work on a herb farm to learn (no pay). Im taking small steps and not getting any younger(54) but it's fine & it will happen. Your not nuts, your brave!!
she selects wool and flax and works with eager hands Prov.31:13 |
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NicoleG
True Blue Farmgirl
92 Posts
Illinois
92 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 08:29:28 AM
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| I think it is a great idea. My dad co-owned a nursery when I was little but sold it because it was an hour away and they all had other jobs too. I'm also considering having a nursery when I get land. I think it would be hard work but you would be doing what you love and getting fresh air and sun. You would also be your own boss so if you decide to change something or start growing a new plant, you can. Good luck with your nursery and keep us posted! |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Apr 14 2006 : 11:34:48 AM
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sounds like a 'grande adventure' to me gurlfren! go for it!!!! xo
True Friends, Frannie |
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n/a
deleted
74 Posts
Tammy
Southern Coast
Oregon
74 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2006 : 11:28:15 AM
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Lynn,
I run a new nursery on the Southern coast of Oregon. I would be happy to give you as much help and advice as possible to help you get started and help you become successful.
Tammy
When I feel spring coming I have to plant or I’ll go crazy! |
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greyghost
True Blue Farmgirl
650 Posts
Lynn
Summerville
Georgia
USA
650 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2006 : 6:54:39 PM
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Tammy, that is wonderful!
I'll email you with questions if I think of toooo many for a thread!
I have friends with a tree farm, and another set of friends locally with a garden center (I also work there a few days a week) - so I want to be a wholesale grower as I don't want to deal with customers. The folks at the garden center have already said they'd buy from me, so that's a start. And there are about 3 other locally owned garden centers that might be interested in buying from us. The smaller centers have a hard time dealing with big nurseries like Bonnie's because they have big customers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot... so privately owned garden centers are small fish.
I get all kinds of the nursery mailings already, so seeds, sources for pots & starter pots are all there. I looked at the prices for greenhouses - nothing fancy for now - and they aren't that bad.
I've pretty well decided I'm going all organic, that way it can be a selling point as more and more people are starting to realize that sterilized soils, salt-based fertilizers and pesticides are not all that great for the environment, us, OR the plants. I'm also not crazy about persticides (just being in that section of the store can make me light headed in a hurry) or fertilizers to start with, it's kinda like putting your plants on drugs. This means I'm going to need a LOT of compost piles. Which is fine, provided the land we buy isn't entirely cleared so we at least have leaves to put into that pile, ash from burning, grass clippings from mowing, etc.
I just hope I have enough experience to spot diseases before they get bad, or spread. I haven't had much trouble with my home garden, but that doesn't mean I won't have trouble someday either.
My biggest question at the moment is winter growing - I imagine you need grow lights to get those tomatoes & marigolds that everyone wants in early spring ready to go, and most seedlings need at least 12 hours of light. What kind of apparatus do you need, and how bad is the light bill?
What do you grow? DH says Oregon is a big Japanese Maple growing area, and that you guys get to grow all the really cool varieties. We'll be doing a lot of other rare sorts of trees too - the trees are DH's department though. I know more about plants than he does but he'll learn. :) |
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n/a
deleted
74 Posts
Tammy
Southern Coast
Oregon
74 Posts |
Posted - Apr 17 2006 : 2:38:18 PM
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Lynn,
Well Lynn you are picking a very rewarding and relaxing career change. Most of my family has worked in Healthcare for the past 15-20 years and we were eager to get out of the toxic environment into something more healthy.
My parents started a very small hobby nursery wholesale and retail about 3 years ago. In June of 2004 I quit consulting and commuting 16+ hours each week and decided to stay home. In late January of 2005 I started working full time at the nursery with my parents and their business partners.
It really started out as an extension of their hobby. It wasn't much of a business, but there were a lot of expenses involved. My parents dumped all of their saving into it and weren't getting anything back and their wasn’t a plan to get anything back in the near future either.
When my daughter and I came on board last year we collectively made the decision to turn it into a real business that would start paying it's own bills. We set business hours, goals, responsibilities and started a business plan. That's about the time the business partners back out. Their hearts weren't into the commitment of a fulltime business, they were more interested in playing with plants (I don't mean that disrespectfully), they had a love of plants not business.
Now things have changed (you have to stay fluid in this business), we expanded our inventory in one year from about 300 plants to 3000 plants. We use to carry perennials(that we propagated) now we carry fruit, ornamental, evergreen and annuals. We expanded our lot size by at least 800 percent. My parents, daughter and I really want to make it in this business. Our town has a population of 1100, but we have a tourist population that helps with sales. We are doing pretty good. We still do not make a profit (or paycheck), but we are growing the business. Every penny we make we put back into the business.
Now our primary focus is retail, but we do have some discount customers (City Parks, State Parks, Garden Clubs, and Landscapers). For the most part we work with a very select few growers to supply what we need (besides what we try and grow). Blair supplies us with Summer & Fall perennials. He also grows grasses. He is a retired landscaper from southern CA so he is a well of knowledge and has given us some really good pointer during our first year of business. We use to also use Harts Nursery as our main distributor last year, but what we found is they sell to the box stores so low, that our wholesale price from them is higher than the box stores retail price. I know the growers don’t always have control over it, but that’s about when I decided we needed to work with a smaller nursery and give them our business. We now use Helmers for our hybrid vegetable starts, annuals and tender perennials. We also have a grower for lilacs, rhodies and azaleas and then another one for hostas. There are a few Japanese maple growers here, but I find on the coast it’s really hit or miss for selling them. Most people here want Bloodgood, it’s cheap and they love the colors. I personally love the selection from Mountain Maples in Northern CA. I buy my maples from them at the S.F. garden show each spring for my home.
Last year we propagated and grew about 20% of our stock everything else was purchased from outside growers.
This year I decided to get my hands on some plugs and grow as much as possible here, it enables us to make more of a profit and I was able to reduce the retail price of our popular plants. It feels really good being able to make more money and drop some of the retail prices by 25-35% and more.
There is a book you should look for it’s called “So You Want to Start a Nursery” by Author: Avent, Tony. I can’t believe all of the information he has packed in this book. I picked it up a year ago at the Farwest show in Portland. We also joined the OAN (Oregon Associations of Nurseries), this has been so helpful, they publish a buyers guide each year, so we have an idea of who grows what.
For us we have 3 major jobs at the nursery growing, tending and selling are all very important parts of our business. You had asked about grow lights, we do not at this time use them. We start our plants very early and let nature take it’s course, we do however use heated mats. Next year however we are planning on installing 3 tables with lighting. Our electricity costs haven’t been to much of an issue yet, but our water bill is huge! We are planning on building a new retail center this fall and we are going to build gutters that will trap our roof run off into a holding tank to try and reduce the amount of city water we use.
We are not organic, but I agree it’s great if you can start that way. We will be completely organic by 2008, but it takes time switching over. We do not use chemicals. We use neem for just about every flying insect and sluggo for slugs and snail. Both are organic. I would recommend looking into neem. It’s works great.
Well that’s about it for now. Let me know if you have any other questions or want to bounce something off me.
Talk to you soon,
Tammy
When I feel spring coming I have to plant or I’ll go crazy! |
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greyghost
True Blue Farmgirl
650 Posts
Lynn
Summerville
Georgia
USA
650 Posts |
Posted - Apr 17 2006 : 5:17:43 PM
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Neem is wonderful stuff - I use it all the time. I hadn't heard of it until I started visiting www.thehelfulgardener.com (where I eventually became a mod and have learned more about organic gardening from a mod there).
We'll have to install a well - that's about 8K but most of the area we are looking at has an underground river - you need a DEEP well to reach it, but the water pressure is incredible. So that will eliminate the water bill. It is a big up-front cost though.
I hadn't looked into heated mats... that's a "duh" right there! And I will go on Amazon tonight & get the book you recommended.
I had planned on the first year buying most of the seeds, and then propagating as much as possible from cuttings after that. I hear what you are saying about staying fluid. While working at the garden center I know the serious gardeners are like me: they want that newest really cool looking plant that they saw an article on in a magazine. Like the stained glass hosta, or the Lady in Red hydrangeas. So I know I will ALWAYS be needing to stay on top of the earliest news for latest developments, so I can grow them & sell them to the garden centers.
I also want to offer a lot of the heirloom varieties of tomatoes, like Cherokee Purple (and all the others that aren't coming to mind right now... been a very long day). I noticed my garden center doesn't carry them, but at least two people have asked about them (I am only there one or two days a week).
Some of the herbs/wildflowers coming near wild extinction -- I want to grow those so people have them in their gardens, they could escape, and be back in the wild (some varieties of echinacea purpurea are one of them that SHOULD be all over this area, and isn't due to wild harvesting). These I'd like to also sell to the state for roadside planting. They'd seed themselves, hopefully.
The garden center I work with is very supportive of me doing this - they've already said they'd buy plants from us.. so that's one. It's a start...
I was thinking of at first just having one of those HUGE greenhouses they sell in the cataloges, and the first year starting the trees & focus on annuals and veggies. Then during the course of that year aquiring the perennials, bushes, etc. that people also like to buy, and work on getting that ready so the following spring there will be more to sell than just annuals & veggies. By that time the trees should be big enough to go outside & get acclimated.
We still haven't determined what the best route is for growing the trees - the pots in pots system (one big pot in the ground, which you can fill with water, and the pot with the tree inside that pot) I like for the ease of removing the tree for sale. But a tree farmer we know in FL has said trees can do some funny things growing in pots. His are all in the ground, but FL sand is a LOT easier to dig a tree out of than Georgia clay... which at times is as hard as a rock! I tend to think if you think ahead and at a certain size, move the tree into a HUGE pot that goes into the other huge pot... it should be okay. We're still researching.
I'll bug you as I think of more questions. I looked up some property for sale today so I can go driving around Wednesday morning and look at it. Thanks for your info :) |
Edited by - greyghost on Apr 17 2006 5:18:31 PM |
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n/a
deleted
74 Posts
Tammy
Southern Coast
Oregon
74 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2006 : 09:40:32 AM
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I hear the Pot in a Pot system works pretty good, but you could always talk with Maple growers that have soil and weather conditions similar to you. It's really good to hear how much research you have already done. That's a great first step.
Regarding the heirloom varieties, we tend to grow them ourselves. We really do not have a grower near by that specializes in them, so we grow them ourselves. I love the heirlooms nothing can beat their flavor.
Good luck on your property search.
When I feel spring coming I have to plant or I’ll go crazy! |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - Apr 18 2006 : 9:10:59 PM
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I just had to jump in and say thank you for all of this information - even though I am not planning on starting a nursery/tree farm business, it is so helpful. Thanks!!!
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
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A Farm of My Own: nursery/tree farm |
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nursery/tree farm
