Plant nursery business

[ultraG]

Hi, my relatives and I are about to obtain 20 acres or so of farmland in South Cambs which we would like to use for a plant nursery business. We're currently working on the business plan and are fishing for ideas. I just joined the forum wondering if I could perhaps be put in touch with students or graduates interested in collaborating. We are starting fairly small scale. Farming experience is somewhat limited across the family partnership, though two of us graduated from agricultural colleges, so we're not completely hopeless either... If anyone has ideas or interest in plant nurseries (of various types, we're still at early design stages) and would like to collaborate please let me know. Feel free to see questions over. Thanks.

 

[bluebell]

first thing of all, have you worked on a commercial nursery ? next where are you going to sell what you produce to? my experience 30 yrs, family owned, when we started way way back in the late 1970s it was just the taking off the leisure market and garden centres, plants we just couldnt get the amount to satisfy the demand ? that then led to major expansion in growing here and on the continent, holland being and still is the major grower and exporter to the uk of plants from bedding plants to mature large trees, now i would say that growing plants or producing plants is not the problem its where you sell them ? the market has changed alot in a short time ? look at the internet sales ? and shopping channels ? two things we didnt have to battle against ?

 

[Netherfield]

A lot of people got in trouble because of Covid, truck loads of plants thrown away because there was no market for them, kind of thing that can kill a startup business.

Like livestock, plants don't keep for later.

 

[renewablejohn]

A plant nursery is all about heating as your trying to grow in a UK climate at a time of year when it is cold. South Cambs would not be on my list if I was going to compete with the Dutch.

 

[Lincs Lass]

Garden centres are having problems getting plants in from eu ,,too much brexit paperwork and the amount of plants that have gone to waste .

 

[ultraG]

first thing of all, have you worked on a commercial nursery ? next where are you going to sell what you produce to? my experience 30 yrs, family owned, when we started way way back in the late 1970s it was just the taking off the leisure market and garden centres, plants we just couldnt get the amount to satisfy the demand ? that then led to major expansion in growing here and on the continent, holland being and still is the major grower and exporter to the uk of plants from bedding plants to mature large trees, now i would say that growing plants or producing plants is not the problem its where you sell them ? the market has changed alot in a short time ? look at the internet sales ? and shopping channels ? two things we didnt have to battle against ?

@bluebell, many thanks for the good questions. Personally I have not. Neither have my relatives, though my dad has a keen interest. He's a trained agronomist in France. We were wondering if there is a niche for growing and selling to distributors (B2B). Frankly I myself am clueless - no shame in admitting it. And yes, it would seem internet sales or other B2C formats may look more viable, though I was hoping there would be a format that allows us to channel sales to more limite number of parties, at the cost of margins, at least initially. But thanks for the response anyway, at least it helps me formulate these thoughts. I happen to be the future co-owner of the land and am coordinating things on this side of the Channel, so it's a bit of a learning curve.

 

[ultraG]

A lot of people got in trouble because of Covid, truck loads of plants thrown away because there was no market for them, kind of thing that can kill a startup business.

Like livestock, plants don't keep for later.

@Netherfield. Interesting. I have to do some market research but I would expect that it had to do with the lockdown cycles. I would imagine that timing around spring/early summer would be an essential aspect of early sales. Also, at a macro level, there's light at the end of the tunnel for the UK. But yeah, if we go in another lockdown cycle next winter it's would be a big challenge. We aim to present our biz plan to planning authorities in about 6 months, so plenty of time to fine tune / revise

 

[ultraG]

A plant nursery is all about heating as your trying to grow in a UK climate at a time of year when it is cold. South Cambs would not be on my list if I was going to compete with the Dutch.

Thanks

 

[ultraG]

Garden centres are having problems getting plants in from eu ,,too much brexit paperwork and the amount of plants that have gone to waste .

@ Lincs Lass, interesting, definitely worth looking into it

 

[ultraG]

Sorry one more question if I may, and please excuse the absolute beginner / outsider lack of knowledge: is there a market for nurseries specializing in vegetable produce like tomatoes or other fruits and vegetables? I'm only interesting in the growing part, not harvesting.

 

[Netherfield]

Sorry one more question if I may, and please excuse the absolute beginner / outsider lack of knowledge: is there a market for nurseries specializing in vegetable produce like tomatoes or other fruits and vegetables? I'm only interesting in the growing part, not harvesting.

Probably well dominated by Marshall-seeds.co.uk, Dtbrownseeds.co.uk, Thompson&Morgan, to name but three with online and garden centre sales.

 

[Exfarmer]

I have been involved in the business in the past. Taking over a bankrupt company growing seedling trees. Even after taking the stock on at zero cost we still struggled to make any money. After 4 years we gave up.
The problem, cheap competition from Eastern Europe and the non availability of chemicals to control both weeds and herbicides.
However things have moved on and plug growing is the way forward but this is not openground and relies on tunnels or large glasshouses.
The current difficulties with Brecxit and covid are temporary, the trailers full of Dutch / Polish / Romanian, will soon be back on track.
The large garden centre chains will always buy from the cheapest source whatever and the woodland trusts / county councils are little better.
However there are still small growers beating the odds and if you are in Cambs well worth going up to Fordham and see how a grower can still compete with a large garden centre in the same village.

 

[Princess Pooper]

As others have suggested, you need to do some serious market research before you spend a penny on setting up. Talk to retail nurseries - where do they get their plants from (many do not grow their own), are there particular plants they struggle to get, or even particular sizes of certain plants.
Do you want to go down a specialist niche? Some nurseries specialise in just one type of plant e.g. iris, hebes, etc.

What about shrubs, or fruit bushes, or fruit trees? With regard to the veg plants then I would say yes - I imagine existing nurseries have the commercial scale plant supply sewn up but more market stalls, DIY shops etc are selling veg plants to the retail sector and they are not growing them in-house. Get out there and see who is selling what and ask some questions.

 

[Exfarmer]

Talking of internet sales Thompson and Morgan have certainly found a good way to send out young plants.
However they have not got their internet ordering sorted, wont go further!

 

[Bongodog]

A plant nursery is all about heating as your trying to grow in a UK climate at a time of year when it is cold. South Cambs would not be on my list if I was going to compete with the Dutch.

Why not ? relatively far South so good daylight length, plus South Cambs is well sheltered from prevailing weather from all directions, we regularly look at bad weather reports in the winter and wonder what all the fuss is about. Our kids have basically no idea what settled snow looks like,

Sorry one more question if I may, and please excuse the absolute beginner / outsider lack of knowledge: is there a market for nurseries specializing in vegetable produce like tomatoes or other fruits and vegetables? I'm only interesting in the growing part, not harvesting.

Don't think there's a huge domestic market for veg plants, very few people grow much of it in their gardens these days.
There may be a market for growing and selling direct depending on where your location is in South Cambs, some parts are quite built up with sizeable populations, other parts are exceedingly rural with very little passing trade.
Bedding plants and veg plants are a quick way to turn over produce, 10 weeks or so from planting to sale, but they only have a week or two to sell them, shrubs however take longer but have a far longer shelf life, many are sold as year old or even older plants.

 

[Bongodog]

If you want to see what can be done starting from nothing growing plants go and have a look at Simpsons at Fordham.

 

[delilah]

Flowers seem to be having a bit of a renaissance.

https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/

 

[Netherfield]

This is one you are up against.

Coletta & Tyson Ltd Wholesale

Coletta & Tyson are one of the leading horticultural nurseries in the UK supplying over 1000 varieties into the market.

www.coletta.co.uk

 

[toquark]

Tree planting seems to be a major focus of the ELMS scheme so maybe a tree nursery would be less exposed to the peaks and troughs of the leisure market?

 

[Forkdriver]

This is one you are up against.

Coletta & Tyson Ltd Wholesale

Coletta & Tyson are one of the leading horticultural nurseries in the UK supplying over 1000 varieties into the market.

www.coletta.co.uk

I just had a look at their accounts. From four hundred acres they had sales of £ 22 million but profit before tax of 2.2 per cent, so only a small margin for error. If you can turn over a million from 20 acres, you don't have a huge living.