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We propagate in the totes all through the Fall and Winter when the plants are dormant. They sit there until they root and seem ready to be transplanted. We also root softwood cuttings in the late spring and early summer. If they seem ready they get potted up in the fall. Done right you can be propagating almost all the time. Potting up when the plants are strong enough to brave the full outdoors. Try an experiment, don’t feel bad if you leave them in the totes for months and months. Get good roots going and all will be well. Stay in touch and let us know how you are doing!

Thanks for watching! You can surely get started in a year. It takes 2-3 to really get going. Propagate early and often! 🌲🌲🌲

Thanks for watching! Good question as once you get to having thousands of plants, watering becomes critical. Your two problems are supply and distribution. If you have city supplied water you should have plenty of supply usually at 50-60psi or more. In our case we use our regular well and we pump water from a pond that we have. Then you need to distribute water to all the plants. You can use hoses, valves, and sprinklers. That works fine and with good pressure you can get your plants all watered as often as each day. We chose to build out a very simple irrigation system using 3/4” pvc pipe and sprinkler heads. We have a website page on what we did and a couple videos here: growingourretirement.com/backyard-nursery-irrigation-diy/ Thanks and wish you well! Larry 🌲🌲🌲

@@Growing-Our-Retirement Really appreciate the detailed response. Aspiring backyard nursery person here. Your content is inspiring thank you!

Anytime, we think there is nearly unlimited room for more backyard growers. Especially those who specialize! Our future doesn’t have to be dictated by the bow stores! Let us know how you are doing!

Yes, we have similar problems and make sure to get totes that have firm locking lids or we put some rocks on top. It’s a constant battle with the critters!

So very sorry for your loss! We never know what life will bring and sometimes it’s nothing that we wanted. We can’t change so much of what happens but we can react and keep moving. You really can develop a nice income from plants. It takes some time and patience but then it can pay off year after year. Hope we can be of some help.

Thanks for watching!

Hi, Thanks for watching. This a great topic but we recommend you speak to a CPA instead of taking advice from us. We talk a little about this on our website, link below. One way to handle the legal organization and taxes is through an LLC. You could file the appropriate tax returns for this yourself but likely better to hire a CPA and get solid advice. Especially if you are going to be making a sizable upfront investment or start generating some good income. Another way, if you can qualify as a farm is to simply file a schedule F for a farm. Or be a sole proprietor and file a schedule C. Reporting income on a schedule F is very similar to having an LLC and filing a schedule C. Forming a sole proprietorship is the easiest method and you can move to an LLC later. Beyond that you may also have to deal with local zoning and in some cases a business’s license. It varies so much from state to state that it’s hard for us to comment or give advice. For us, we do meet the criteria of being a farm. With that we are able to be partially taxed locally for real estate taxes as agricultural. Then for state and federal income taxes we can use the schedule F to report earnings. We were already using a CPA so it was just an easy add on to add the farm component. You may also be required to collect sales tax on plant sales in your state. Something to check on. growingourretirement.com/plant-nursery-retirement-business/ Don’t let any of this hold you back. It’s a lot easier than it sounds and their maybe some tax benefits for you to help get you started. 🌲🌲🌲

@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thanks for your response. I was not seeking actual advice, just experience that I can go down a rabbit hole on. Thanks.

@@DachiaTheDogMom Hope we were helpful. A lot will depend on how your business grows. We hope it goes well for you and grows and grows. Let us know how it’s going! Larry & Martha 🌲🌲🌲

Hi, thanks for the question. We just use something simple like Excel or Google sheets. Down the left column you can list your planting seasons, year and then all the plants you planted or rooted. For example Spring 2025 Norway spruce Green Giant Arborvitae Then across the top of the volume we have headers such as cost of each plant, pot cost, fert and dirt cost with a total cost of each finished plant. Then further across we list a target selling size and expected selling cost. Then we go further with estimated selling times such as Spring 2027 and then we can estimate what our revenue might look like over by the next few years. Keep in mind we might plant 300 Norway Spruces in the Spring of 2025 but plant some in #3, #5, and #7 pots. The plan would be having them ready in 2,3, and 4 years from planting. So we would show them maturing over the next 4 years with different target selling prices. Hope that makes some. We have a simplified example of a starter spreadsheet on our website here: growingourretirement.com/plant-nursery-business-plan/ We need to more videos about planing for the future. Thanks for watching! Larry 🌲🌲🌲

@Growing-Our-Retirement ThankYou for the reply, Larry! I am about 25 miles NNE of Sturgis, South Dakota, and both of you really have me fired up and thinking.

@@danronken6071 The backyard nursery business is really fun and can be nicely profitable. Takes some upfront effort, investment and lots of patience. We don’t know your area but you can see what others sell and try to do the same. We do great with border trees like arborvitae, norway spruce, white spruce, blue spruce, and Schip Laurels. Not sure what grows well in your area but border plants are almost always a hit and people buy at least 10 at a time. Best you, happy New Year!

Thanks for the question. When dividing we hold some back for the future, then divided for sale in #1 size pots. The ones we hold back can go into #3 or even #5 pots so they have lots of room to grow out and be divided again. We find customers mostly want plants in a #1 container.

@ thanks for answering my question. I really appreciate it.

Absolutely! Thanks for watching

Thanks and thank you for watching!

Hi, Thanks for the question. We use plastic #1 pots and soft #3, 5 and 7 mesh pots. We buy hundreds of them on Amazon or 247garden. Here is a link to our resources page showing most of the products we use. growingourretirement.com/backyard-nursery-resources-guide/

Thanks for watching! More to come 🌲🌲🌲

Thanks! We promise to make some sales focused videos in 2025. It’s a great topic 🌲🌲🌲

Hi, so sorry we haven’t put out a video in a long time! Happy Holidays. We got very busy this year and video fell to the side. We will be back at it soon. No snow yet this year but plenty cold. Thanks 🌲🌲🌲

@@Growing-Our-Retirementglad to hear all is well. I was worried something happened.

Thanks!

Hi thanks for the question. No we are not. This isn’t something we do much of, maybe in the future. 🌲🌲🌲

Thanks for the question. We purchased so that are 24" x 16" x 13 7/8” high. These hold about 100-125 cuttings and are $9.00 at Walmart or Amazon. We also use a larger size that is 32-1/8"L x 19-1/8"W x 13-3/4"high. The brand is Sterilite but you can use any brand. We suggest a clear top or white. A dark color top is going to collect sun rays and potentially cook your plants. Keep these in a well shaded area. The lid should completely cover the tote so rain water won’t flood your tote. Watch garage sales and for people downsizing. You can get some of these almost for free. They don’t last forever outside so if you see some for free or at a low cost grab some. It’s hard to have too many of these. Best to you 🌲🌲🌲

@ thanks so much for your quick answer! I really like your channel!

⁠ Thanks for watching! Just checked, Walmartc has the best price on the totes. Happy propagating!

@ we are pretty new to it and have had much failure so far. Gonna try your method. God bless you and your wife!

Thank you! Wish you the same. We also have had plenty of failures. We tried using smaller propagation trays and pots with domes, pots with bags over them, etc. The totes are much more secure and stable. Rooting takes time so they are in there a long time. Sometimes 6 months. They won't fall over and the lids won't come off. They only need occasional watering and provide a very stable environment. Just add some patience and you will see your success rates go way up.

Hi, hanks for the question. Dish pans can work and do fine but the top of the milk jug helps shield from wind but lets some rain in. You might partially cover the dish pans with something clear. Birds and small animals can also dig up your seeds if uncovered. If you use the dish pans, good to watch they don't get to dry. We use a lot of clear plastic totes to with covers. They make a great environment for seeds or cuttings. Cost more than the open dish pans but the cover is very helpful. Good luck, great to experiment!

@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thanks!

⁠​​⁠Thanks for watching !

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for subscribing! More to come! 🌲🌲🌲

Yes, course sand is an option and inexpensive. The bark will make most mixes drain ok and still retain moisture. Sand and perlite drains really quickly and doesn’t retain much moisture. We prefer the look of the perlite in our mix and it lightens the mix. We have found sand mixes can become a little hard and compacted. Hope that helps, Larry 🌲🌲🌲

@Growing-Our-Retirement very helpful. Thank you. Wish you the best in all your works

Thank you and also for you! 🌲🌲🌲

@@Growing-Our-Retirement ❤️

Just occasionally. Check them once per month. The totes hold the moisture in.

Thanks for watching 🌲🌲🌲

Yes! Thanks for that 🌲🌲🌲

Thanks, glad to have you! More videos to come 🌲🌲🌲

Starting small is a good strategy. Our first year we potted up 300 spruce trees just to test. We tested containers, our ability to water, growing time, fertilizers, etc. it took 2 1/2 years to test how sales would go. The problem with small is it takes 1-5 years to grow out a plant and then you may not have grown enough. No perfect answer how to address this. In our large nursery area we now have growing hundreds of what we know will sell. Spruces, Arborvitae, Schip Laurels, Viburnums, Kousa Dogwoods, etc. Then we order in a variety of plants to grow out and see how we will do with them. We are getting to a point where we have a good selection. We do go very heavy on the staples. Nothing beats a 10-30 plant sale for a customer who wants to add a border. Some of those people buy other plants. People who want more specialized plants are often much harder to satisfy unless you have 100-200 varieties of plants. It’s even harder with perennials! So, grow a lot of what is popular and dabble in the less common. 🌲🌲🌲

We do use the assorted packs of plastic sticks to identify plants like White, Blue and Norway Spruce but we don’t write on them. I think we are going to just take the plunge and buy a proper printer and or spend some time this winter making some nice laminated ones. Good winter activity when things are a little slower. Thanks, Larry 🌲🌲🌲

Time certainly is precious.

Hi and thanks for the question. We keep the cuttings in the totes and they stay outside. No grow light needed. Check the tote monthly to make sure everything is staying moist. Add a little water as needed. We pot these up once well rooted. Some new growth may also occur and is a good sign that it is time pot them up. We slowly reduce humidity in the totes before we pot them up. Just open the lid by 25%, then 50% for a week or 2. Then pot them up and give them a little mist 1-2 a day. Keep the small plants in a shady area or a shade house. Thanks, Larry 🌲🌲🌲

We find one application in spring is enough. A fertilizer like Osmocote is going to take many months to break down and all that time will be providing nutrients to the plants. There may be some fast growing plants such as annuals or perennials that could benefit from a little extra fertilizer while they are in growth mode. Since we grow primarily woody trees and shrubs, the slow release is perfect. Thanks 🌲🌲🌲

@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. For trees and shrubs in containers I'd much rather do a one-time spring feed of Osmocote and skip the weekly or biweekly liquid fertilizer additions. Based on your experience it sounds like the Osmocote CRF spring application is sufficient.

⁠Yes, once in the spring seems to be enough. Wanted to add that your spring fertilization should be done almost in the late winter. The slow release fertilizer takes time and water to start breaking down and providing nutrients for your plants. If you wanted to fertilize twice per year I would recommend something like January and June. Happy growing, Larry 🌲🌲🌲

@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thanks Larry, much appreciated. In years past I fertilized in late winter/early spring (March or early April) using CRF. Last year I tried using liquid fertilizer on a weekly basis since I have a very small number of trees and shrubs in containers. It seemed to work well but took significant amounts of time. This coming year I'm going back to using Osmocote CRF. I see why nurseries like yours use CRFs, as the time/labor savings is significant. Hope you and Martha had a successful growing season.

Thanks, I think as you start to scale up you will find the slow release is a must in terms of time spent. Once a year is enough in most cases. When we are doing 10,000 plants in the large nursery it’s an all day chore. We did have a good growing and selling season. Got a little side lined from making videos this summer. We did a renovation on a rental property we own and it took a lot of our time. We will be back at it soon. Best to you! Always enjoy talking backyard nursery. Larry

Yes, no question the bucket loaders is a big help around the nursery. That said a wheelbarrow can work just fine as well but you will get a bigger workout. Since we can lift the soil mix up onto the table we are able to work at a good height and then everything is down from there. Much less lifting. Fortunately the humus, bark and perlite mix is very light! Yes, we have noticed some of the perlite floats to the top of the pots. This is unavoidable but doesn’t cause a problem. We don’t do anything about this. On a limited basis we have been topping some pots with 1-2” of wood chips. Experimenting to see if we can reduce weeds a little. Thanks as always 🌲🌲🌲

Great for you, sounds like you doing well with lots of growth ahead! Wondered if you have tried growing in some type of bed instead of the Solo cups. Will save you some money and probably easier. When you ship, you might ship just bare root. That is how we receive most of our small plants. Wish you great success 🌲🌲🌲

@Growing-Our-Retirement I haven't tried that yet but certainly will , some plants I have just been digging out of my yard when I get a sale , but I had issues with the root systems being too big already and the heavy root pruning required for shipping made the plant go into shock and had some not soo happy customers and may even need to replace alot of those orders, SOME people were understanding that the plants will eventually recover, but the average customer wants a big heslthy plant for a bargin lol am thats what im trying to do ,thing was I hadn't sold any of those particular plants and then suddenly sold a dozen in 1 day so I didn't have the bugs worked out or even a system yet i just knew its a popularplant and i have hundreds of them growing wild, I've since rooted some cuttings so I can still offer the same size plant but with a MUCH smaller root system

@@agentbarron9768 Yes, understand and it really does take some time to get a system down. One way to reduce the shock from digging up the plants is to root prune the plants in advance. Just go around the plant and use a spade to prune the roots. Then just leave the plants in the ground. Or it may also make sense to transplant the plants into a bed in advance. Whatever you can do to deliver really healthy plants is of course always good. 🌲🌲🌲

@Growing-Our-Retirement Thanks for the great advice I'll definitely subscribe

Good question, for the most part we use a mix of about 50% screened humus (decomposed leaves and grass clippings) and 50% shredded hardwood bark. To this we add maybe 5% perlite. A little more perlite for a seed starting mix like this. This mix is easy to make/find in our area and very economical. With all we do each year we use about 20 cu yards. We are making this for under $25.00 per cu yard, delivered. You could certainly use a baled product like a Pro-mix. Just be sure it does not have any fertilizer in it. We do add fertilizer to small plants but only slow release. Hope that helps 🌲🌲🌲

Take the leap, even if just a small one!

Sure, the pots we use are called non-woven fabric pots. There are many offered in the marketplace. Some are better than others. The lower quality tend to be less substantial and floppy or the handles tear off. We have some links on our Resources Page. We buy our from Amazon or 24/7 garden. Here is the link to all the products we use. growingourretirement.com/backyard-nursery-resources-guide/ Thanks 🌲🌲🌲

These did root well and will be read for sale next spring. Generally we have to grow a plant for 18 months. If you don’t sell them all they will keep growing and you may be able to raise the price.

Hi, No need to do anything different. Hardwood cuttings are completely dormant once Fall arrives. The cuttings will callous over once they sit in the totes for several weeks. They likely wont root until the temperatures come back up in the spring. The totes keep the snow off and the moisture in. One warning, the totes can get pretty brittle in the cold. Just let them be until Spring has arrived.

@@Growing-Our-Retirement thanks so much! Subscribed.

⁠Glad you joined. Lots more videos to come. 🌲🌲🌲

Hi, Thanks for the comments. We actually do grow a lot of native plants. We can’t tell you everything we do in 1-2 videos. Perhaps we should do a video on the topic and share our experiences. There is a falsity that circulates that non-native plants don’t have a benefit to the environment. A tree like a Norway Spruce offers many benefits. It offers beauty, wind protection, converts C02 into oxygen, and eventually dies and improves the soil. Compare that to a tree that will never grow because the deer will munch it to the ground. Another point of confusion is invasive vs non-invasive. Obviously you risk your natives surviving if you introduce aggressively invasive plants. Not a good idea! Much of this also depends on where you live. The deer are so over populated in much of New Jersey that it is nearly impossible to grow some native plants. The deer will kill them all unless you install significant fencing. Good topic, appreciate your thoughts.

Yes! That’s great. A backyard nursery is an excellent way for a stay at home parent to make some extra money. In some cases a lot of extra money. The work flow is flexible, start with a small investment, as the children grow, they can even help. Love it 🌲🌲🌲

Yes, an excellent tip! For years we have blown all our leaves out of the beds, off the driveway, etc and mulched them back into the lawn. Some too get blown back into the woods. A couple years ago we started collecting some of these and topping of pots of the trees and shrubs we are growing. Helps hold moisture and slows the weeds down. As you mentioned it’s time consuming but 100% agree we should do more of this!

Great you are doing so well as to sell out! This is an issue for sure! You just have to hold back some plants for cutting stock. For this reason we have a separate area for growing and selling. We don’t want people trying to buy small plants or plants we use mostly for cuttings. You may have to create at least a small separate area. As you said, a good problem to have. Thanks! Keep in touch, Larry 🌲🌲🌲

Hi, Thanks for watching. We are limited to 110 volts so the pump we use is about 1,290 gallons per hour. We push to some areas that are uphill too so that reduces the volume. We can push 4-6 of the wiz head sprinkler heads at a time with this set up. It’s a little more work when you do your layout but adding heads doesn’t greatly reduce your flow. If you use more heads at say on 25 foot spacing you can run more heads and get good coverage. We have a page up showing the pump and more details on our website. It is here: growingourretirement.com/backyard-nursery-irrigation-diy/ We try to write a page with links and details for each video. We also have a resources page with almost everything we use around the nursery. We make a small affiliate fee on some links. Helps to keep us making more videos and webpages. Thanks! Larry 🌲🌲🌲

Thanks for watching. We have series on starting a nursery from scratch on a low budget. There is a video on getting plants for free. Yes, you might keep some large plants to take cuttings from. We have also asked friends, family and even our Church if we can take cuttings from their plants. Once you have rooted plants they will require some pruning so the plants branch out and be fuller. you can also root these cuttings. Once you get started you will never run out of cutting material.

@@Growing-Our-Retirement thanks very much. I’ll take a look. I watched bits of those earlier today. And while I was cycling home I was thinking would it be a good idea to call into a house if I like what I see and ask for a cutting 🤣 so that’s another question answered. And, I forgot that I actually have a house height pine tree in my garden. Couldn’t get good enough pictures (because it’s dark) so I can’t identify it yet. I found it in a forest 20 years ago (it was lying on the trail) and was definitely among a large batch of the same. So I assume it is some bit valuable. It has pine cones, and did for many years (but I have not seen any of them germinate, the ground is full of branches and small plants so it may not be easy for them to grow). That might be a good start for me, and it’s definitely in need of a good pruning. I also have some other medium size trees with purple leaves (possibly plumb trees, but I don’t recall ever seeing any plumbs worth getting excited about, but nice trees nonetheless.

⁠ We have not successfully propagated pine or spruce trees but in theory it can be done. We go after what we like but also what we think we can sell. Arborvitae’s, Azalea, Holly, Andromeda, Hydrangeas, Rhododendrons, Dogwoods are all no brainers. Beyond a basic 20 or so plants it’s all experiment and see how it goes. Give some plants a try and ask around! Good luck!

@@Growing-Our-Retirement thanks very much for that list. I know of most of them, and there’s a very nice man living nearby who loves anything gardening related. He’s the one who got me excited about this. So I’d say he’ll be happy to share some more knowledge. But yeah, lots of experimenting will be ahead id say

​​⁠Great! The experimenting is fun! Good to start with some easy ones like arborvitae and hydrangea. These root easily and it will encourage you to more and more

Thanks for watching! Yes all deciduous. We have great success using the clear totes and highly recommend a similar set up for softwood and hardwood Azalea cuttings.

Hi, Thanks for the question. We use about a teaspoon for a one gallon pot and a tablespoon for a 3 gallon pot. A little goes a long way. We don’t mix it in but sprinkle it on top. We rub it in a little so it doesn’t get washed away. It’s best to let it slowly dissolve and work downward into the roots. We buy larger bags and it’s fairly economical. Smaller bags might be less economical but you only use a little bit on each plant. Going without would not be recommended, plants need a good balanced but slowly released bit of fertilizer. Don’t substitute anything that is a faster release. You just want slow fertilization to enhance already good soil. Hope that helps. 🌲🌲🌲

Glad you joined us. We up north are jealous of you down south who can propagate all year long. Thanks, Larry 🌲🌲🌲

Yes, the plants we grow are all dormant in the winter so they are not growing and don’t need much water. They do get natural rain which tends to be plenty to keep them from completely drying out. Thanks!

@@Growing-Our-Retirement awesome thanks

@@Growing-Our-Retirement just one more question comes to mind. I know you have a pond with lots of suply but for the area bere in the video what amount of water a day could go for watering 2 000 l or maybe 4 ? I am going to Dig a pond or a well aswell

⁠@@KusiuEDithard to estimate the amount of gallons we use. The pump we use is rated at around 1,500 gallons per hour. We run the irrigation in the area shown in two sections, each with 4 sprinkler heads. The heads restrict the flow so I am guessing only 1,000 gallons per hour. To water this entire area takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours per section. So, 2 sections x 2 hours is 4 hours x 1,000 gallons would be around 4,000 gallons total. We use the same pump to also water 2 other areas so it could be we use up to 8,000 gallons for a full watering. Hope that helps.

@@Growing-Our-Retirement its very helpfull , thanks alot

Thanks for watching! Maybe too much for some but we like to make sure we cover anything anyone would need to know. 13 1/2 minutes isn’t a big investment to learn to propagate possibly thousands of plants.

@@Growing-Our-Retirement 6 minutes would have been ample leaving 6 minutes to learn something else. That's what I would call a sensible investment.

Thanks again, we will try and speed it up a bit. Thank you for watching!

@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thank you. I took 9 cuttings yesterday as shown by you. Fingers crossed.

⁠Wish you well!

Thank you so much! So great you started your own plant side hustle! It’s an excellent business! More to come, Larry 🌲🌲🌲