So you want to start a Plant Nursery?

Some quick tips from John Mason, author of the new ebook Starting a Nursery or Herb Farm.

Management and Organisation

To work efficiently and profitably, a nursery or herb farm must be both well organised and properly managed in a clear conscious manner. As with most other businesses, it is essential to be confident enough to make firm clear decisions when they are needed. The nurseryman or herb farmer who hesitates too often or takes too long to make decisions is almost certain to fail.

SELECTING THE SITE

It is not always possible to have the ideal site. Sometimes a piece of land is already owned or perhaps financial limitations force a compromise. Important considerations are discussed on the following page.

To Own or Rent?

If money is to be borrowed for any part of the operation, land is a better proposition for a loan than most other things. You should consider the permanency of your operation. Land ownership is considered a less flexible means of operation than renting. Renting. however, can be an insecure form of tenure.

Size of Site

Generally, nurseries or herb farms require significantly less land than other types of primary production. Propagation nurseries and retail operations can be successfully conducted on sites of less than one acre. Standard container growing of herbs or other plants is usually conducted on a couple of acres. Some of the largest container nurseries in Australia are able to run on less than five acres because they are carefully organised and managed. Open-ground nurseries can be anything from a couple of acres to several hundred acres.

If your site is not ideal you can at least make the most of it: terracing using railway sleepers to create beds in the sloping ground. Use windbreaks to protect plants in open places.

Proximity to Market

If retailing. the operation is best located on a major road travelled frequently by large numbers of prospective customers or, alternatively, in a centre which is frequented by prospective customers. Avoid locating too close to similar existing businesses. If wholesaling. locate within reasonable proximity to customers or to existing transportation networks (e.g. a mail-order nursery selling throughout Australia could successfully establish close to any reasonable railway station).

Availability of Water

All plants need water to grow, but some need more than others. A reIiable source of unpolluted, salt-free water is essential.

Fertile Soil

This is only really important when growing in the open ground. Good container nurseries can be established in very infertile areas.

Climate

If establishing in an unsatisfactory climate for the plants being grown, extra expense will need to be incurred on developing climatic controls (glasshouses, windbreaks and  shadehouses).

Availability of Materials

In container nurseries, in particular, it is important to be close to a reliable source of material which can be used in potting mixes. Cartage costs on sand, loam, lignite, pine bark and other such materials can be significant, and you may be charged for every kilometre each cubic metre of material is carted.

A successful nursery business does not necessarily require large premises: this setup operates from a house block in the middle of a city.

Many shops supplement their sales with a nursery department, and an outside display can secure many casual sales to passers-by.

SELECTING THE CROP

All too otten, people enter horticulture with very definite prejudged ideas on what they will grow, where they will grow it and how they will grow it. While such people have a real advantage in that they obviously love that particular type of plant they can only benefit by giving objective consideration to all the alternatives.

Crops grown by nurseries fall into the following broad categories:

INDOOR OR TROPICAL PLANTS: 

Grown outside in the northern parts of Australia; the same are often grown indoors in cooler parts.

NATIVES:

Plants indigenous to Australia.

PERENNIALS:

Soft-wooded (herbaceous) plants grown for decoration.

BULBS:

Also corms, rhizomes and tubers grown for flower, often with perennials.

EXOTIC ORNAMENTALS:

Woody plants not native to Australia grown for nonproductive or amenity purposes. Often nurseries specialise in one particular group of exotics (e.g. azaleas, geraniums or cacti).

Deciduous fruit tree nurseries usually also grow deciduous ornamental trees which require similar techniques and treatment. Some specialise in citrus or berries.