Nursery

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Mission/Vision

The nursery is a program of Jacob Springs Farm that we hope to expand to become a source of income for our farm. It involves reselling trees and plants as ordinary retail nurseries do - but also growing out and propagation too.

We want to focus on varieties that are heirloom and quality oriented and locally adapted for cold semi-arid climates

Part of our quality focus is to provide customers with good information about what will work well for their situation and our local climates (including those who live in the mountains - covering zones 3-6 and a wide variety of micro climates.

Goals for 2016

Fruit trees

-apples -pears -plums -apricots -peaches -cherries

Perennials

  • Reselling strategy: advertise weekly on Craigslist,
    • secure a space at the Boulder culinary gardeners club annual spring plant sale (usually there are few/no vendors of perennials)
    • Put up signs and sell self-serve at a farm stand
    • convince like-minded landowners to plant heavily in perennial type environments (Churches: BVCC, City on the Hill, Schools:Shepherd Valley, Businesses, individuals etc...)
    • visit other farm stands and places selling starts and let them in on your order for 150%-200% of your price with an agreement not to undercut your price and payment up front
    • Landscapers often purchase trees from us to resell - pitch other perennials to them also?

asparagus

Purchase in quantities above 100 roots per variety to get to a price point below $0.65 each. Asparagus roots packed in sand sell for up to $5 in places like McGuckins, $3 gives a healthy profit or $2.50 for more than 10. Plants which have been potted and are starting to grow could be sold for $7-15.

currants and gooseberries

They do very well in this area and most people are unaware

  • Order 25 – 99 per variety to get a price of $6.50 each - sell them barefoot on craigslist for $12-$15 and potted at farmstead and plant sales for $15-20

elderberries

Order 3 samdal and 3 samyl elderberries for planting at Jacob Springs in spring 2016

raspberries

For priomocane fruiting raspberries ("everbearing") good varieties for the Colorado front range are Joan J, Himbo Top, BP-1, Heritage, and Niwot (black)

Others

  • Horseradish does well here, $1.64 per plant cost at 100 quantity, Sell for $5-8 bare root and $8-12 potted?
  • strawberries are ~$0.40 - Sell for $3-$5 barefoot and $5-8 potted?
  • rhubarb plants are costly ~$6 per plant look for another source
  • do elderberries make sense? $7 / plant

Economics

  • Purchase fruit trees for ~$8.50/tree

Options for fate of tree

  • Sell bare-root 3/4" fruit trees for $25/tree or $20/tree when purchasing 10 or more trees (avg $21/tree)
  • Sell potted 3/4" trees leafed out for $45/tree
  • Plant and grow trees in the ground until next season, sell as 1" bare-root for $35
  • Plant and grow trees in pots until next season, sell as 1" potted for $60

Options for how trees are sold (using 500 trees as a baseline): net profit

  • All bare-root sales: 500 trees = $6,250
  • All potted sales: 500 trees = $18,250 MINUS cost of pots/soil/fertilizer
    • Assuming free soil and fertilizer from farm, pots costing $700: $17,550
    • Assuming $250 on fertilizer and $600 on soil: $16,700
  • Trees overwintered in-ground and sold as bare-root next season: $13,250
  • Trees overwintered in pots and sold next season: $25,750 MINUS cost of pots/soil/fertilizer
    • Assuming free soil and fertilizer from farm, pots costing $700: $25,050
    • Assuming $500 on fertilizer and $600 on soil: $23,950

Realistic scenario

  • 300 total trees ($2,500 invested)
  • 200 bare-root for $2,500
  • 100 potted for $3,500
  • Net total $6,000

Timetable

Jan-Mar

Purchase and advertise

Apr

Pick ups and planting out

May-Aug

Growing our stock

Sept-Dec

Growing Methods

Soils

  • Recycling grow facility soil
  • On-farm compost
  • Local soil

Irrigation

  • Drip irrigation

Containers

  • In-ground bags
  • Above-ground air pruning bags
  • Plastic pots

Resources