Need some advice of a tree farm

[gravelyman50]

hello, i am currently in the lawn care and landscaping industry and my father in law has ten acres that he currently has leased out to farmers and he said we could start a nusery on the property if i wanted to.

What i am mainly interested in is growing a bunch of differnet varieties of pine and shade trees, even some ornamental trees but mainly want to sell 6' and up. 2-3" caliper trees and up. And i do realize this is going to be a llloooong wait to get some return money wise considering the trees will take at least 5 maybe 7 years before they can even be dug and sold. There is a creek that constanly runs water in the back of property so thats not a problem.

I guess my question is where do i buy my pines and shade trees? Is there a good place online they you guys order from? I am new to the nusery thing and have a lot to learn, but am willing to.

[allinearth]

How do you plan to dig them? A spade and skid steer will be a lot of expense for a 10 acre tree farm.

[JB1]

look on this website, theres some on here thats has liners.

http://www.southeasternnursery.com/index2.shtml

[gravelyman50]

I planned on getting a bobcat with a spade.. Do you not think 10 acres is not big enough for a farm? im not tring to sell thousands of trees a year, maybe 100-200 year.

[allinearth]

I may be wrong but it seems like a lot of equipment to be purchased for only 10 acres. Unless you plan to use the skid quite a bit for landscaping. If it was me I would maybe put a pencil to pot in pot or see if I could hire someone to do the digging.

[Tuley]

Get a plan, put it on paper, STICK TO THE PLAN.

IMHO,
Grow what you will use on your jobs, and sell the rest, Learn what you can grow and buy what you cant, increase you inventory every year, but only if you use and or sell everything you can grow.

You might decide you want to grow flowering shrubs instead of trees. You might decide on bareroot liners instead of finished material (quicker turn)!

Stick with your PLAN

[Ric]

Originally Posted by Tuley

Get a plan, put it on paper, STICK TO THE PLAN.

IMHO,
Grow what you will use on your jobs, and sell the rest, Learn what you can grow and buy what you cant, increase you inventory every year, but only if you use and or sell everything you can grow.

You might decide you want to grow flowering shrubs instead of trees. You might decide on bareroot liners instead of finished material (quicker turn)!

Stick with your PLAN

YES

Understand Tree Farming is a long term proposition that takes money. Unlike annuals that turn cash flow in 30 days, Tree can take several years for the first sale. Force growing trees makes them weak and if you cut off the heavy fertilizer with out weening back you throw the tree in to shock. This is important when selling a tree to a client who does not know how to care for a tree.

In edit let me add Tree selection and planting grid are important in order to fully use your ground. Planting very large growing tree so smaller trees can be grown in between is important. I would contact your State Forest Dept as well as your Land Grand University for more information

[Dtreefarm]

Originally Posted by gravelyman50

hello, i am currently in the lawn care and landscaping industry and my father in law has ten acres that he currently has leased out to farmers and he said we could start a nusery on the property if i wanted to.

What i am mainly interested in is growing a bunch of differnet varieties of pine and shade trees, even some ornamental trees but mainly want to sell 6' and up. 2-3" caliper trees and up. And i do realize this is going to be a llloooong wait to get some return money wise considering the trees will take at least 5 maybe 7 years before they can even be dug and sold. There is a creek that constanly runs water in the back of property so thats not a problem.

I guess my question is where do i buy my pines and shade trees? Is there a good place online they you guys order from? I am new to the nusery thing and have a lot to learn, but am willing to.

We started a tree farm in 2000. Count on a full seven years at least with pine and spruce for a sale in that size.

We bought most of our seedlings from www.cliftyview.com A local nursery with quality stock of many varieties. We also bought plug seedlings from a university forestry extension. Those plugs were the best seedlings I had ever put in the ground.

Do not over fertilize. Keep the weeds down for the first few years as they REALLY hinder seedling growth and shape. This can be done by tillage, spraying and picking by hand. There is also a host of bugs and fungus and some molds you will have to monitor for also....

Its a long term deal.... And with the turn in the market that happened a few years back, just as we had big, beautiful spruce for sale we LEASED out all the digging instead of buying the equipment ourselves. Its not easy deal but when other things fell off, the trees kept us going.