What preparations should be done to start a nursery business?

Starting a business is everyones dream. If you are interested in gardening and have a certain knowledge reserve about managing nurseries, then you can start the nursery industry. The editor has compiled I hope this preparation work on the eve of starting a business in the nursery industry will be helpful to you. However, this article is not a tutorial on how to grow plants, because the growth conditions of plants are very different in different regions. It is just some preliminary guidance for starting a nursery industry.

Method/Steps

1Check the laws in your area. There are multiple potential jurisdictions that may apply to your new business, as things vary from region to region, so you should do some research to see which regulations may apply to you. Here are some aspects you’ll want to consider:
- Business license. If you are planning to start a commercial nursery business, then this license is most likely something you will need and can come at a considerable cost.
- Property zoning. In much of the United States, zoning ordinances regulate the possible uses of land. Typically, the nursery industry is considered an "agricultural use," but in some regulations it may be classified as a "commercial," "agribusiness," or other classification.
- If a greenhouse is required in your area, or you plan to build a storage building or warehouse for materials and equipment, check out the building permit requirements.
- Find out what insurance you need in order to continue your business. May include property risk insurance, workerscompensation (if you have employees), and general liability insurance (if you expect customers to visit the nursery).
- Check the regulations governing growers in your area. In some places, you'll need to meet government agricultural inspection requirements.
- Look at the availability of water for irrigation. If you plan to install an irrigation well, or draw water from a river or lake, the water management authority may have to issue a separate permit.
2Research your potential market. You need to be able to anticipate the needs of your plants so you can plan what you will grow. Here are some things to consider.
- What plants do you want to plant? Nurseries grow plants for home gardens, landscaping, reforestation and other uses. You need to decide whether to produce container grown, bare root or root ball plant products.
- Quantity. This will be a very difficult question. If you produce more plants than you can effectively sell, you will be forced to accept the excess output and have to lose the cost of your investment. Not only reducing the financial burden, but also being able to meet the needs of your customers is crucial to maintaining a good relationship with them.
- Advertising. This is a cost item that almost all companies must invest in order to ensure their market share. Decide early on what your advertising base will be and how much money to budget within your business plan.
3Select a location and start your business. If you don't own land, then you may need to lease or purchase a piece of land for your business. Make sure it fits your purpose, is partitioned appropriately, and can grow as your business prospers. Also make sure the location is easily accessible, which is even more important if you rely on customers coming to you to purchase your products.
4Research material suppliers to reduce costs. Because you are in the beginning stages of your business, you will need to establish relationships with wholesale suppliers who provide the items you need. May include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Seeds or seedlings. If you are not going to harvest seeds and seedlings from the wild, then you must purchase them from nursery suppliers or farm and garden supply sources. You need to buy the highest quality product you can at the lowest price.
- Container. Might be a "mud cup" for seasonal vegetables or flowers, or a 4L, 12L, 60L for growing "potted" shrubs and treesLiter plastic container.
- Landscape structures, mulches and soil conditioners. Likewise, you can buy from wholesale nursery suppliers if you're buying in large quantities, or retail from garden and landscape suppliers when you're just starting out.
- Equipment. This can include anything from irrigation equipment, to a tractor with a loader bucket, depending on the type of plants you're growing. Most likely, you will need at least a small truck and trailer for moving plants and materials and delivering them to customers. To create an accurate business plan, you should take into account everything you need, even shovels, hoes, and rakes.
5Understand the local growing conditions and potential problems in your area. If there are pest, disease, or insect problems in your area, then you may need to obtain a fertilizer spreader license.
6Chat with local landscape designers to find out what they might be in the market for. In many areas there are "staple" plant products that are commonly used in any one field, but these plants may also be the most available. Ask them if they need someToo common plants, and native plants that can be grown and planted for the same purpose but with less impact on the environment.
7Understand the plant species you plan to grow to determine a reasonable time frame between when the plant is first planted and when it is available for sale. Ornamental plants grow faster under the right conditions, but they may still take a year or more to reach market. Planting trees from seeds may take three to five years, depending on market size and species.
8Collect the information you gained in the previous steps and start a business plan. You should create a "start-up cost" chart, recording the initial investment as well as operating costs, to determine how much money you will need to start and maintain your business until you start selling plants and generating revenue.
9Chat with lenders, government agencies that assist small business startups, and potential investors to see if you can develop a financing structure that will cover your startup costs.
10Using the information above, you should be able to decide on the size of the business you are going to start. Its fairly common for a person to start a business, a backyard operation, and let it grow as their income increases, but that also means that in the interimYou will also have to continue working in a regular job to meet your financial needs.

Tips

If you want to grow shrubs or trees in containers, look for used plant containers from construction projects to avoid a "losing money" investment.
Please note that plant certification is required in many jurisdictions, both for species and plant health, so be prepared to document the source of the seeds and have the certification agent inspect the plants for diseases, Noxious weeds and pests.
Look for sources of seeds that you can harvest and germinate from local sources. This will require more labor and more time to bring the seeds to market size, but will save money on purchasing seedlings.
Specialize, especially in the beginning. You might just get started by growing mud cup vegetables to sell to local gardeners, or grow fruit trees from seed and graft them with cuttings from varieties you can get for free.
[[1]], a private website that links to the U.S. government agency that regulates the nursery industry and provides relevant research and other information.