Native Plant Nursery: Ground Knowledge to Know and Understand before Starting out
Starting your own native plant nursery may be a challenging feat, but it’s surely rewarding and satisfying. If you are into gardening, such a plan may be worth exploring. But if you want to start one for the sake of money, you need to forget it. This type of gardening can’t make you rich. Instead, you will be spending quite a lot! But then again, it’s super rewarding if you are able to achieve a successful outcome. In the end, there is always a possibility to make money, although you shouldn’t bet your life on it.
Native Plant Nursery: What Is It?
The native plant nursery refers to the activity or a place where you grow plants being native to a certain area. What’s considered native plants, anyway? Aside from the fact that those plants are unique to that particular area, they also mean that those plants have gone through a long evolution journey together with the insects, wildlife, and other types of living forms occupying the area.
Having native plants is beneficial, especially for the environment. A lot of people are interested in buying such plants because they are natural and beautiful, as well as unique and different.
Because of the native traits, these plants are generally quite easy to care for. They don’t need tons of water. They don’t need chemical fertilizers or pesticides either. The most important thing about native plants is the fact that they provide food as well as water for their surrounding wildlife. Plus, they support pollinators and they can help with water quality improvement.
A Word of Advice
When you want to start this kind of nursery, there are a lot of things to consider. First of all, this kind of nursery takes serious commitment. There would be a lot of hard work being involved. You will have to deal with long working hours and very limited time off. Not to mention that you will have to spend extra, which means that you shouldn’t expect a fast return.
Moreover, quality water is crucial. Not many people know that water quality is vital for the success of native plants growth. You see, water is a part of biological factors responsible for plant growth. You want to consider two major factors regarding water quality. Dissolved or soluble salts. This is about the dissolved minerals’ composition and also concentration that is usually found in water. The existence of weeds or algae’s seeds, pesticides, and dangerous fungi within the water.
In most cases, growers may use surface water or groundwater for irrigation because they are viewed safer than surface water. The latter is typically coming from lakes or streams, and they may contain weeds’ seeds or fungal pathogens which can affect the quality of the native plants.
Bottom Line
It would be wise to start small. Don’t be too ambitious with big projects. Starting small allows you to run your plan while taking measurements of your abilities. Along the way, you should develop a business plan. Once you are used to your native plant nursery, you can make further plans to execute in your next step.