How to Start a Nursery Business: 10 Steps

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

If you have a green thumb, enough space, a source of water, and a big dream, you can test your skills in running a plant nursery. This is not a guide to growing plants, but a small contribution to starting a business, since cultivation varies considerably from one area to another.

Steps

Step 1. Check with the authorities in your area

There are several regulations to be respected that can affect nursery businesses, and since these can vary from place to place, you should do some research to understand which ones may concern you. Here are some points to think about:

• Commercial license. If you intend to start a nursery business, the license is most likely required, and could require significant expenditure.

  

• Urban destination. For most of the areas in our country, urban plans establish the intended use of the land. In general, a nursery company is classified as "agricultural use", but it could also be classified as "commercial use", "agro-industry", or otherwise.

  

• Check the building permits required in your area in case you need to build a greenhouse, warehouse, or warehouse for materials and tools.

  

• Check what insurances are needed for this type of business. These may include property risk insurance, accident insurance for employees and workers, and liability insurance if you plan to welcome visitors to your nursery.

  

• Check the regulations governing crops in your area. In some places it may be required to comply with restrictions established by the sector authorities.

  

• Check the availability of water for irrigation. The water management authorities may have established specific permits to install irrigation systems, or to draw water from waterways or lakes.

  

Step 2. Analyze your potential market

You will need to be able to assess the demand for plants to plan which and how many to nursery. Here are some things to consider:

• Which plants to grow. Nurseries produce plants for home gardens, for ornamental purposes, for reforestation, and for other uses. You will have to decide whether to produce plants in containers, with bare roots, or with soil and protective cover.

  

• Amount. This is not a simple subject. If you produce more plants than you can actually sell, you will be engulfed by the surplus, and in addition, you will have to bear the costs of an oversized investment. However, if you produce less, you will have to bear lower financial burdens; it must be considered that satisfying customer demand is essential to establish a good relationship with them.

  

• Commercial break. This is a cost that virtually all companies must incur to secure market share. You have to decide in time what your advertising program will be, and predict the related costs in your business plan.

  

Step 3. Choose a place to start the nursery

If you don't have your own land, you need to rent or buy one. Make sure it is suitable, with an appropriate intended use, and, possibly, that it can be expanded as business grows. Also make sure the land is easily accessible, particularly if you plan on customers coming to visit you to buy plants.

Step 4. Carefully select suppliers to keep costs down

As you are starting out, you will need to establish a good relationship with the wholesalers of the items it needs to grow and succeed. This could also include:

• Seeds or seedlings. If you do not intend to harvest wild seeds and seedlings, you must buy them from a nursery supplier, or from a farm, or from a garden supplier. You will have to try to buy the best quality ones, at the lowest possible price.

  

• Containers. These can be simple "peat pots" for seasonal vegetables or plants, or about 4, 12, and 60 liter plastic containers for growing "potted" plants and shrubs.

  

• Garden materials, mulch, and soil amendment. Again, these will be available from nursery supply wholesalers if you buy sufficient quantities; otherwise, you will need to start your own business by buying them at retail from garden material suppliers.

  

• Equipment. They can include anything from irrigation systems to a lift bucket tractor based on the type of plants you want to grow. You will most likely need at least a pickup truck and trailer to transport plants and materials, and deliver to customers. To develop an accurate business plan, you will need to consider whatever you may need to start your business, including shovels, hoes and rakes.

  

Step 5. Learn about the peculiarities of local crops and potential problems in your area

You may also need a license for the use of chemicals if there are problems related to pests, plant diseases, or insects in your area.

Step 6. Talk to local gardeners to find out what they are looking for in the markets

In many areas, there are "mass consumption" plants common in all areas, but these are also the ones that are most easily found. Learn about the unusual plants they may need, and about indigenous species that can be grown and planted for the same purpose with less environmental impact.

Step 7. Study the plant species you intend to grow to determine how long it will take for the plant to be ready for commercialization

Ornamental plants grow quite quickly under the right conditions, but can take a year or more to be ready for market. Trees obtained from seed can take 3 to 5 years, depending on the species and characteristics of the market.

Step 8. Take all the information you gathered in the previous steps and prepare a business plan

You should be able to prepare a table of "Start-up costs" with the initial investment, and operating costs in order to determine how much money you will need to start up, and to support the company until you start selling the plants. and to generate income.

Step 9. Talk to lenders, government agencies assisting small business startups, and potential investors to see if you can build a financial framework that can cover startup costs

Step 10. With the above information, you should be able to determine the initial size of the company

As a rule, you start with an individual, family-run business, and then grow as you generate an income; however, this means having, in the meantime, a regular job to support the company.

Advice

• Get used containers to avoid over-investment if you plan on growing potted plants and shrubs.
• startanursery.com: This is a private site with links to U. S. government agencies. with research and information on nursery activities. On the Internet you will also find several sites that can help in the evaluation and start-up phases of the business.
• Specialized, especially at the beginning. You can simply start by growing vegetables in peat pots to sell to local gardeners, or fruit plants, starting with planting and grafting with selected cultivars that you can have access to at no cost.
• Be aware that the certification of plants, for the health of the plants themselves and of the species, is required by many regulations, therefore, be prepared to document the origin of the seeds, and to have the plants checked by professional operators for diseases, weeds. and vermin.
• Look for seeds from local sources that you can harvest and germinate. This will require more work, and a longer period of time before the plants reach a commercial size, but it will allow you to save on the purchase of seedlings.