Budget Nursery Ideas?

[JohnAndSancho]

Spring is here, and the summers are always crazy hot and swampy. I want to kind of expand past the Future Spider Mite Factory™ in my bedroom, and Lord knows y'all sent me plenty of seed, a lot of which I still haven't started to germinate. 

I had an idea last night and wanted to bounce it by y'all, something that would hopefully let me start sprouting a bunch of stuff outdoors. What if I were to lay some Harbor Freight tarps down over grass, and get some rebar and chicken wire to (HOPEFULLY, key word HOPEFULLY) keep the cats out? I can weigh the tarps down/help anchor the rebar with cinder blocks, there's a nice pile of them. 

I've got concerns with drainage doing this, because we don't really get light rain, we get that Forrest Gump kind of rain. There's always standing water for days after a storm

 

In addition to the acreage, the yard is huge and stays overgrown so this would kinda make that easier too. On a smaller scale, since right now we're talking like, small seedlings in plastic cups, there's never a shortage of little Styrofoam coolers for my brother's Humara and Wild Fork orders... And there's a huge pile of sand by a creek about a mile down the road. I could fill the coolers with sand and just plop my cups in those and wrap them in chicken wire to keep them from becoming litter boxes. I know nematodes in sand are an issue in Florida, not sure if they're a problem in East Mississippi. 

 

I've also mulled around an indoor idea - my grandfather built an add-on to the house for my uncle as a playroom - it's a really good sized space if I wanted to spend a bunch of money on grow lights and humidifiers, and I'd def have to paint it from the floors to the ceiling in Kilz, but it's just sitting there. It'd be a grand undertaking just to find a home for all of his Hot Wheels and what not. It does get hot in there in the summer, it's not connected to the central HVAC. 

 

It also goes without saying that this would be an absolutely insane idea to even attempt unless I thought I could recoup at least part of the investment, which we all know is not really likely unless you're growing something exotic. 

[ChicagoPalma]

9 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Spring is here, and the summers are always crazy hot and swampy. I want to kind of expand past the Future Spider Mite Factory™ in my bedroom, and Lord knows y'all sent me plenty of seed, a lot of which I still haven't started to germinate. 

I had an idea last night and wanted to bounce it by y'all, something that would hopefully let me start sprouting a bunch of stuff outdoors. What if I were to lay some Harbor Freight tarps down over grass, and get some rebar and chicken wire to (HOPEFULLY, key word HOPEFULLY) keep the cats out? I can weigh the tarps down/help anchor the rebar with cinder blocks, there's a nice pile of them. 

I've got concerns with drainage doing this, because we don't really get light rain, we get that Forrest Gump kind of rain. There's always standing water for days after a storm

 

In addition to the acreage, the yard is huge and stays overgrown so this would kinda make that easier too. On a smaller scale, since right now we're talking like, small seedlings in plastic cups, there's never a shortage of little Styrofoam coolers for my brother's Humara and Wild Fork orders... And there's a huge pile of sand by a creek about a mile down the road. I could fill the coolers with sand and just plop my cups in those and wrap them in chicken wire to keep them from becoming litter boxes. I know nematodes in sand are an issue in Florida, not sure if they're a problem in East Mississippi. 

 

I've also mulled around an indoor idea - my grandfather built an add-on to the house for my uncle as a playroom - it's a really good sized space if I wanted to spend a bunch of money on grow lights and humidifiers, and I'd def have to paint it from the floors to the ceiling in Kilz, but it's just sitting there. It'd be a grand undertaking just to find a home for all of his Hot Wheels and what not. It does get hot in there in the summer, it's not connected to the central HVAC. 

 

It also goes without saying that this would be an absolutely insane idea to even attempt unless I thought I could recoup at least part of the investment, which we all know is not really likely unless you're growing something exotic. 

I do local stuff and grow chicago hardy cannas and elephant ears, i also have orders of windmill palms for my neighbors because they were impressed with the palm being able to survive our winters with some protection.  Idk about you but up north people are willing to pay money for some permanent tropicals.

[peachy]

Growing seeds outside even covered in chicken might work if you live in a bug free/ mouse free environment.  Mice and rats (ugh and eek) can chew through tarps and even squeeze through bird wire. Grasshoppers and grubs make short work of any seedling too. Just my thoughts on the topic

Peachy

[Brad52]

I’m not quite sure what you are after but I’m starting to have plants what offer and would benefit from being divided.  But what to do with lots of small pots considering slugs, snails, etc and my plan is to buy stair stringers and connect with lumber to make shelves.  I would attach copper tape for the crawling mucus blobs to enjoy and the lumber should allow some way to minimize wind blown pots-maybe the shelf spacing allows the pots to drop between them.  I like the idea of using the vertical space this would allow.

in my case the question is will there be a market for mangave, aloe, ginger, heliconia, bananas and aroids as those I have in greatest quantities.

 

[aztropic]

On 4/4/2024 at 1:25 AM, JohnAndSancho said:

It also goes without saying that this would be an absolutely insane idea to even attempt unless I thought I could recoup at least part of the investment, which we all know is not really likely unless you're growing something exotic. 

If you actually need to make money, "to recoup part of the investment" you're probably better off just letting the idea pass. First off,you would have to grow plants that the locals are familiar with, and sell them at a steep discount to what the big boxes have them priced at. "People generally don't buy what they don't know". You could be growing the rarest palms on the planet, but the specialized audience would probably not be local,so then you have to figure out how to ship live plants so they arrive in perfect condition to the buyer. Then there's the ever increasing price of shipping,not to mention the cost of shipping supplies like boxes and tape,plus the drive to the shippers and back - it ain't cheap! 

Unless,you are just growing the plants for your own enjoyment,and selling off the few extras you may produce locally, it will surely be a money losing operation. 🤷‍♂️ 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona