Nursery

Mission/Vision

Goals

Fruit trees

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

Perennials

• buy from Nourse
• Reselling strategy: advertise weekly on Craigslist,
  • secure a space at the Boulder culinary gardeners club annual spring plant sale (usually there are few/no asparagus vendors)
  • 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

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

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
• 200 bare-root for $2,500
• 100 potted for $3,500
• Net total $6,000

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

Tooley's Trees Tree bags CSU extension Tree resources