Page 57 - MNLGA Free State Winter 2023_WEB

Strategic Planting Plans for a Wholesale Field Production Nursery –

It’s Not Easy

eciding what and how many plants to grow is feet to 5 feet tall. They were all planted the same year
sometimes an easy decision and sometimes and treated the same. The new series are very uniform
Dan educated guess. We analyze sales annually growers with excellent color and uniform density.
to be certain the educated guess is as educated as we In our industry, most people are happy to share
can make it. When it takes 5-10 years to finish a plant, information. So, it can be extremely valuable to talk
the risk factors can be significant. Wasting ground and with competitors and listen to customers to gauge their
maintaining a plant for 10 years only to find out it isn’t awareness and interest levels when new plants are
going to sell or not sell well is accompanied by serious introduced to the marketplace.
financial loss.
Still after all that screen time and face time, we may take
Counting the cost of land, pesticides, irrigation, marketing, a chance on a new plant, spend five or six years getting
equipment and fuel, labor for planting and pruning, and it to market size only to find it’s a flop. Furthermore, to be
dozens of other expenses, we have about $75 invested in prepared in case it is a success story, we have to plant it
an average plant over a 5-year period which is our typical every year to build a continuous future inventory once it
rotation. That’s just one plant. We want to get it right!
becomes available. We hope we get it right.
Planting Plans Based on Research and Word of Mouth
Planting Plans Based On Demand
We try out new plants every year. We depend on a mix We always keep an eye on what we have in stock for next
of research and word of mouth to finalize our selections year. For example, we used to plant 1,000 Green Giant
before adding new plants to our catalog. Increasingly, Arborvitae each year to keep up with customer demand.
our choices for new plants are driven by the marketing One year staff sold 1,500. While this was beneficial for
of newly patented selections. However, we must decide business that year, we had to halt sales to preserve the
how many new plants we should risk investing in. Most following year’s availability. We adjusted our plan to grow
growers now complain that too many new plants are 1,600 the next year to keep up with demand in our yearly
coming to market. Do we really need another Hydrangea planting plans.
or Hibiscus? I am only occasionally convinced that a new
plant claiming to be better than the one it is replacing or Eliminating plants completely from production can
competing with is actually better. The new patents are be tough. It’s wrong but on occasion, emotion comes
often only marginally different. into play. A given plant may have been instrumental
in building the business over time. One grower I know
When I hear of a new variety, the first thing I do is research believes we should eliminate the least selling ten plants
it online: How big does it get? What climate conditions will every year. However, sometimes a plant may fall into
it tolerate? Will I be competing with container growers? that category simply because we did not plant enough
Can we bring it to the market at a cost that allows us to in previous years. That can occur due to lack of a liner
financially succeed? A good example of a truly better, supply.
new plant is in the new Viburnum carlesii series including
‘Sugar and Spice’, ‘Fit 2B Tied’ and ‘Spice Island’. The A stunning example of how demand changes relates
species plant does not grow uniformly from plant to plant. to our sale of hollies. In 2007, Ilex was our number two
We have rows of Viburnum carlesii with plants from 2 (continued on next page)

Membership Matters • WINTER 2023 57