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Home » Miscellaneous » Why do plants have to be inspected?

Why do plants have to be inspected?

Updated : November 21, 2014

14 Comments

I should have titled this how to grow and sell rooted cuttings instead of “why do plants have to be inspected?”

This is really about plants that I bought from one of my customers.

In another post, somebody asked me why plants have to be inspected and how can we make any money growing and selling plants if we have to buy the soil that we put in the pots.  These are good questions and fair questions.  Below is my reply to her as well as some plants that I just purchased and have to plant in my nursery today.

Kathy, this is an excellent question.  But first let me start with a question to you and anybody else that buys plants.  Would you be comfortable buying plants from a grower that was not meeting the standards of your state?  I certainly would not.  If we were not regulated, disease and insect infested plants and soil would be sold everyday.  Pests from around the world would be shipped virtually everywhere and we would all be in serious trouble with pests in our yards.  That’s why there are standards that we have to meet.  To keep the unscrupulous, did I spell that right, growers out of the market.

Now to answer your question.

It costs nothing to root a cutting.  For many plants you don’t even need rooting compound to get a cutting to root, but since it costs so little to use it I usually do just to increase my success rate.  So essentially the plant is as close to free as you can get.  For instance, I just bought 200 Emerald Green Arborvitae rooted cuttings from one of my customers.  Yes, I buy plants from my customers all the time!  So let me show you how Patty packaged these rooted cuttings for shipment to me and we’ll discuss if this was profitable for her or not.

Emerald Green Arborvitae Rooted Cuttings 10 in a bundle.

Emerald Green Arborvitae Rooted Cuttings 10 in a bundle.

When you ship plants it’s important to keep the tops dry and the roots moist.  Patty did a great job doing both.  Proper tagging is so, so important.  You must have the correct botanical name of the plants that you are buying and selling.   Patty stuck a label with both the common name and botanical name right on each package that she sent me.  This bundle contains 10 plants.  I paid 75 cents each for these rooted cuttings so this bundle is worth $7.50.

Note that these are rooted cuttings and they were shipped bare root without soil as they should be.  That means that her cost to make these saleable plants is almost nothing.  I bought 200 of them at 75 cents each.   That’s $150.00!  It adds up!  And lots of other people ordered plants from her on the same day that I did.

Most importantly Patty’s nursery is certified by the state or Arkansas where she lives.  That makes me very comfortable buying plants from her because I know that her plants have been certified insect and disease free.

Rooted Cuttings wrapped in wet newspaper for shipping.

Rooted Cuttings wrapped in wet newspaper for shipping.

After removing the plastic bag I find the roots wrapped in wet shredded newspaper to keep them nice and moist during shipment and until I get them planted today.

Emerald Green Arborvitae Rooted Cuttings.

Emerald Green Arborvitae Rooted Cuttings.

You can see how the cuttings were rolled in the shredded newspaper then the paper was thoroughly soaked, then excess water squeezed out.  Patty did a great job preparing these plants for shipping.  I should point out that Patty’s father bought my Backyard Growing System and just recently he decided that he would retire for good at age 80 and he is turning his nursery over to Patty.  Last fall I bought plants from her dad, Norman.

Folks I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of what I do and the people that I work with around the country growing and selling plants.  Not in a million years did I think that I’d build the world wide growing community that I have.

Emerald Green Arborvitae Rooted Cutting.

Emerald Green Arborvitae Rooted Cutting.

Look at that beautiful little plant that I bought for 75 cents.  I’m planting these rooted cuttings in a bed today, then next year I’ll dig them out and pot them up or put them in the field.  Just a few years in the field and I can easily get $25.00 each for these plants.  Think about that!  I only paid 75 cents each for them.

But think about what Patty did.  She stuck 200 cuttings in a flat, took care of them until they were rooted and sold them to me for $150.00!  So my question to you is;  “Can you make money doing this?”  Of course you can.

In this article about recycling plastic containers we’ve talked about how to get plastic containers for free, but even if you have to buy them a one gallon might cost you 22 cents or so.  Probably less if you use a smaller container like I often do.

Next is the soil.  You aren’t going to used a bagged potting soil that you buy in the store, actually those soils really aren’t what you want, the plants don’t do well in them.  I show you how to make your own potting soil out of materials that you can buy locally.  But even after you buy the materials your cost to fill a one gallon container with potting soil is less than 50 cents for sure.  And I can assure you these numbers are probably high, but even using these numbers you will have less than 80 cents in a plant that you can sell easily for $4.97 to $9.97 or more.  No other business that you know of has that much of a mark up on the products that they sell.  That’s the beauty of what we do.  http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm

I am inviting you to join us in this exciting adventure.  It’s fun and relaxing and it can be really, really profitable.

Ya know, life is too short to spend forever thinking things over. 
Sometimes you just have to dive in a follow your dream.

See ya on the other side!  -Mike McGroarty

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Comments

  1. Potato says

    September 14, 2017 at 4:08 pm

    “I show you how to make your own potting soil” takes me to “Where to Recycle Plastic Nursery Containers and or Pots” which not only isn’t where I wanted to go but also isn’t a valid article. I’ve called 5 of those places and they get excess pots, don’t want the flimsy recyclable pots (just the ones you can sell on craigslist for $20 a pop), and they find my inquiry annoying and a waste of time since I’m not interested in purchasing. I’m finding this website is quite frustrating.

    Reply
  2. oksana says

    September 27, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    Hi ,Mike I have question. Do I have to certify my nursery to sell my plants(online,from my dryway)? Thank you so much

    Reply
    • Mike says

      September 29, 2012 at 9:19 am

      Oksana, legally yes you do. Do people sell without certification? They do, but it’s not something that I would suggest. Some get caught. That’s why you should get my system, take this serious and the certification will set you apart from those that are doing this unprofessionally. http://freeplants.com/wanted.htm

      Reply
  3. Greg Boshell says

    September 16, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Mike,
    I have really enjoyed reading your post for the last couple of years and it has helped me out some.
    Anyway what i wanted to ask you was i am fixing to go into doing cut flowers and i have one florist maybe two next year but if you know of anybody that can give me some more advice i would really appreicate it.

    Thanks
    Greg

    Reply
  4. Kathy says

    September 12, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    Didn’t you mention that these little evergreens are for sale?
    How could I get some – – from you or from
    the lady you bought yours from?
    Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Carlos Cavazos says

    September 12, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Hi Mike. In the article above, the link for making potting soil is the same as the one for recycling plastic containers. Surely would like to see you page on making potting soil! Thanks.

    Reply
  6. Beth D says

    September 12, 2012 at 1:48 am

    Hi Mike. I was excited to see these evergreens. I ordered some from a mailaway nursery and they have taken forever to grow! But these look healthier. Where can I buy some of these and what is the estimated growth per year for them?

    Reply
  7. Sandra Trank says

    September 11, 2012 at 11:13 pm

    Where might I purchase some of these rooted cuttings? My daughter and son in law have zero trees on their property and need some badly. Also is it safe to plant them outside this time of year? We live in NY.

    Reply
  8. jean fisher says

    September 11, 2012 at 10:52 pm

    how do you prunne a peach tree–just planted one

    Reply
  9. Ron Cain says

    September 11, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    How do I get in touch with Patty for a purchase?

    Reply
  10. Danelle says

    September 11, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    Hi Mike, I have a potting soil question for you. Where is the best place to store potting soil until ready to use? Should I store it in bins? I used to use boards from crates to mark off an area near my shed to store soil, but we’re moving and rebuilding a completely self sufficient farm, and I need to know the nest way to store it for use, please?
    Thanks for your emails, they truly inspire me.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      September 11, 2012 at 6:56 pm

      Danelle, most nurseries including myself store potting soil in piles. Of course the piles will start to grow weeds if not turned on a regular basis, but for most nurseries that’s not a problem since they are constantly working their potting soil piles.

      Reply
      • Danelle says

        September 12, 2012 at 11:38 am

        Thanks Mike, That’s what I’ve been doing but I wanted to make sure I was doing it right.

        Reply
  11. Thomas Garrigan says

    September 11, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    Hi Mike it was a great video good looking plants. Looks like a great deal.

    Reply

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