Planning, execution and detailed follow-up all are important in nursery production

In my work as a grower consultant I have often seen situations where planning, execution and detailed follow-up are not given the attention they need. In many cases, mistakes are made because people are relatively new to the business. In other cases, even experienced operators get so busy putting out fires that they let essential tasks fall through the cracks.

Marketing and business strategies

A person new to nursery production needs to think about where the plants produced will be sold. What will set your new nursery apart from other producers so that it can get customers? If possible, find an unmet need for plant material and grow that if your growing conditions are suitable. Why should potential customers buy from a new nursery instead of where they are now buying? What will your new nursery do to let potential customers know that you exist?

You must have a sound business strategy and marketing plan ready before anything is planted. I have seen many growers plant liners and grow plants without giving a thought to where they will be sold. They wait until the plants are ready for market before they begin marketing efforts. This is too late!

Marketing and advertising should begin well before you have anything ready to sell. Remember, just because you like to grow something and are able to grow it, doesn’t mean people will be lining up to buy it.

Production plans

Do thorough research and planning on what you plan to grow. Don’t make assumptions about things of which you have little or no knowledge. Make a production plan that includes a timeline and thorough detail of the entire production process. Here are some essential steps to starting and running a successful nursery. I have tried to list these in both order of importance and chronological sequence.

1. Be sure that you have an adequate supply of water suitable for irrigating nursery plants. Send a water sample to a commercial lab for an irrigation suitability test. Compare the test results with the acceptable parameters for the plants you intend to grow. Be sure you have enough water available to water the plants you intend to grow and that this supply is adequate to cover future expansion.

2. Make detailed drawings of how the nursery will be laid out before you start land preparation. Determine how wide and how long the growing sections will be. Make sure that driveways between sections are wide enough to perform ongoing tasks. These include spraying, order pulling, pruning and setting new plants on the sections.

3. Consider carefully how you will arrange the growing beds on the sections. This should coincide with your sprinkler system if overhead sprinklers are used. Planning for the irrigation system should be done at the same time. I have seen many irrigation layouts where the sprinklers are too far apart or too close together. In many cases, the outside row of sprinklers is too far from the edges of the sections so that plants along the edge stay too dry.

4. At the same time you are designing the layout of your nursery and the irrigation system, you should be booking orders in advance for lining out stock of the plants you want to grow. It is very difficult to find quality liners at a price you can afford to pay, especially if you plan to grow some of the not-so-common plants. This is usually a good idea so that you have a broad and shallow inventory, unless you are a very large grower or concentrating on one or two specialty items. Many times it is necessary to book orders two or three years ahead of time to have a sure source of the more scarce and desirable plants. You still should have a good mixture of some of the more common plants that the public is aware of and demands. I have encountered several situations where growers try to buy liners six months to one year ahead of time. It is just not usually possible to get a balanced supply to match your planting plan unless you get very lucky.

Business plan

Whether you will finance the business privately or with loans from financial institutions, you will need a financial plan to gauge how you are doing. You can’t make a good plan until you have done the marketing and production planning. This allows you to calculate how much cash will be needed before you reach a positive cash flow. Financial institutions are more interested in how you will generate funds to service your loans than they are in the assets that will secure the loans. Of course, both are important. You will need a written business strategy and a number of financial spread sheets. Among these are:

* An estimated income and expense statement for each year until you reach the point where you can pay off your loans or reach a point where you are earning a return on the total investment.

* A cash flow statement for each year showing positive and/or negative cash flows for each month. These should include debt service costs (interest) for all borrowings.

If the plan will require more than one year to reach the payout point (which is more than likely), you will need a cumulative cash flow statement for the total number of years involved.

* A capital expenditures budget that lists all equipment and facilities needed and their cost. Don’t forget to allow for equipment that may wear out and need replacement before the plan is completed.

* A beginning balance sheet that shows your equity in the new business vs. the amount of borrowed funds.

* A pro-forma balance sheet that shows what you expect your equity to be when the payout point of the business is reached.

Plan irrigation wisely

In general, sprinkler risers should all be the same distance apart. The spacing should be the radius of the sprinkler head. In other words, if the radius of the sprinkler stream is 40 feet then the risers should not be more than 40 feet apart. It is better to use a two-nozzle sprinkler instead of a one-nozzle sprinkler. This helps keep the risers from wobbling if plastic pipe is used. Try to make the distance between sprinklers such that full beds of plants will be between the sprinklers and the risers will be at the edge of each aisle. You will find this handy when you are trying to clean a stopped up sprinkler or trying to apply granular herbicides.

For instance, if sprinklers are 40 feet apart you can get four beds of plants 8½ feet wide or five beds of plants 6½ feet wide. This leaves a 1½-foot-wide aisle between each bed for ease of applying granular herbicides. Start the beds so that the sprinklers always fall in the fourth or fifth aisle, depending on your bed width.

When planning growing sections and beds, it is important to remember the friction loss of water running through the pipes. Take care that friction loss is not more than 5 psi difference between the first and last sprinklers in a line. Also, consider how many sections you will be running at one time and size the mains and sub-mains accordingly.

You should use professionals to design the irrigation system and the nursery layout if you don’t know how to make the necessary calculations. Irrigation systems need to be engineered backwards. Start at the last sprinkler in a run and determine its capacity. Then work backwards from there to properly size the lateral lines, the sub-mains, the main lines and the pump capacity.

Be sure the pump is designed to overcome the feet of lift, the friction loss, and the desired pressure at the sprinkler head. The capacity in gallons per minute is determined by how many sprinklers you want to run at one time. If you plan on expanding later, be sure to include this when you determine the size of your water mains.

- Ben F. Davis II

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Ben F. Davis II operates Davis Nursery Consulting in Grand Saline, Texas, (903) 962-7712; b37p41d@earthlink.net.

June 2008