A Texas Tree Farm

[Kenneth]

I am looking to start a tree farm in containers to resale to lanscapers etc...

I want an inventory of 10,000 - 40,000

I want to start from seedlings and plant in 1, 3, 5, 10 and 20 gallon containers

Oaks (Red, Live, Sawtooth, etc...), Bradford Pears, Maples etc...

Should I look for an existing tree nursery? Or just Buy/Lease 10-30 acres?

I am in Midlothian, Texas just south of Dallas/ Ft Worth...

Any advice?

[gsganzer]

I don't know how you'd go about it. I don't think there's a whole lot of margin in the product and leasing would just cut into what little there is. One question though, what are you doing about water? Container plants need a good supply water.

I bought a 8' tall Shumardi Oak the other year (B&B, not container). It cost me $90.00 (this included the tree and the guy coming to my house and planting it in my north Texas clay). A heck of a bargain. I would have payed him that just to did the hole [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] .

I don't know how the guy could make a profit at that price? I was so excited, I was planning on having him plant 4 - 5 more this year. When I went to his nursery, I found out he went out of business. I guess that answered my question about the kind of profit he was making.

[Kenneth]

My basic business plan looks like this...

1st year Start 15,000 Seedlings (Mixed)... Harvest 0
2nd year Start 20,000 Seedlings (Mixed)... Harvest 5 - 10,000
3rd year Start 30,000 Seedlings (Mixed)... Harvest 10-20,000

Each year after that, Start 30,000 Seedlings, Harvest 30,000

I have funds to live on for 18 months...

Sales would consisit of a mix of sizes to mostly large Distributers, and landscapers.... any stock not sold wold be moved to a larger container for next years sales.

I have a local guy to deliver and plant ( At customer expense) if customer needs that service as well...

Prices
3 gal - $10
5 gal - $15
10 gal - $30
15 gal -$45
20 gal -$60
40 gal- 200 gal varies

Water comes from a well

I already have the contacts for sales contracts as soon as I can get my inventory....
With this price structure, It would take 3 years to realize maximum cash flow....

Inventory startup cost would run about $6,000

I don't know about fertilizer, etc...
I was hoping to use as much manure from local Ag barn as posible to mix in with my planting mix...
I have one guy I talked to that will lease me 10 acres of his pasture for $100 per year if I will pay for the well operating expenses for the water that he uses for his cows, About $300- $500 per year....

He has a 3000 gallon tank I can tap into for watering (filled by the well pump)

I was hoping to find a grower that was getting out and I could buy his assests etc... Found one (too far away), but still looking

Okay,... Take your best shots...

[gsganzer]

I don't see any problem. Good luck with your venture.

[Kenneth]

Do you think it is a workable plan?

What might keep me from making it work??

I am a little nervous about trying to completly survive on trees etc...

Do you know of anyone selling their farm in our area?

[gsganzer]

I used to be a certified arborist and nurseryman back in my college days. My only concern is doing everything as containers. It becomes pretty labor intensive. Seedlings, Pots, soil, mulch, irrigation, insect control, disease control, mortality rate etc. If you lose irrigation for a day or two, your cooked in the July/August heat. The container grown stock does get the higher prices and is a better product.

Why don't you go into landscaping and lawn maintenance along with the nursery venture. It'd help with the cash flow and allow you to sell some stock at or near retail prices. I think your plan's achievable, but I'm not sure I'd stake a living on it until I saw the numbers after a few harvests.

I'd contact the county ag extension and see what information they have. They may have some low interest loans available for the ag industry.

[Gatorboy]

I also am thinking about starting a tree farm. I am currently in the experimentation stage and am going to grow trees in Rootmaker products using the Whitcomb System.

This spring I currently have 7 Rootmaker trays of 32-cells growing trees from seed at my house. I have Silver Maple, Green Ash, and Black Walnut. These will stay in these trays until around July 1, when I will transplant them into 5" knit bags placed in cinder blocks. The trays and bags have holes in them to allow air pruning of the roots which causes root branching, hence more roots being generated.

Then, in the fall, these 5" knit bagged trees will be transplanted into the ground into a 14" knit bag. This size bag will be the correct size to grow trees up to 2" in caliper. The beauty of this system is that it creates trees with excellent roots and also the ability to harvest without losing most of the roots that happen when using a tree spade.

I am in the process of installing a submersible well using a portable generator, for I don't have electric on my property. I will water using overhead mist spray heads for the trees in the cinder blocks and drip line for the trees that will be planted in bags in the ground. Once the trees are in the ground, they need less water than if I grew them in containers.

I have yet to determine who my customers will be -- I haven't talked to any nursery owners, landscapers, etc. yet. Right now I am in the experimentation phase to determine the mechanics involved in producing a marketable tree.

[Kenneth]

We planned do several of the things you suggested...

Thanks for reaffirming that.... I mentioned your post to my wife and business partner

She worries about us being spread too thin...


I hope to keep our expenses in check and maybe even self sustained...(too much to hope for???)

Thanks for your ideas…. So much experience on a list like this, I would be a fool to ignore it…

I saw yesterday a report where growing trees in Texas for landscaping etc… is a $254,000,000 a year business…..

Maybe money does grow on trees??? [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks again

[Kenneth]

I read some of the research from your post... (to grow trees in Rootmaker products using the Whitcomb System)

Has any one else heard of this stuff?

Is it feasable for a lage scale operation?

Which of their products would I use?? And How would I do it?

[Gatorboy]

Rootmaker's biggest customer is Rennerwood Tree Farm. They mainly sell plugs at about .99 each. They sell over 1 million plugs a year!

Another grower using Rootmaker Products is Possibility Place Nursery.

There products provide many different ways to grow trees (container, Pot-in-Pot, field, etc). I think this produces the best root system and grows trees faster than conventional field or container planting.

Keep us posted on your venture, and I'll do the same.