Building a Successful Plant Propagation BusinessBuilding a Successful Plant Propagation Business

Presented by Jack Spirko, CEO PermaEthos, LLC

The Two most Important Definitions a Business Owner Can Know

• Marketing - exposure to a belief

• Sales – transfer of belief

These are what we call, absolute definitions, commit them to memory.

All Successful Businesses have AbilitiesAll Successful Businesses have Abilities

There are many but these 6 are critical to success

• MarketABILITY – the ability to tell your story

• ReferABILITY – the ability for others to tell your story

• ProfitABILITY – the ability to yield a surplus

• RepeatABILITY – the ability to sell to a customer many times

• AdaptABILITY – the ability to evolve and be sustained

• ScaleABILITY – the ability to grow sufficiently

The Plant Business Has These In SpadesThe Plant Business Has These In Spades

An Example of a Story that Sells a PlantAn Example of a Story that Sells a Plant

The Phoenix Tears Goji – A True Story – The Best Always Are

• Chinese workers on the transcontinental RR brought them to America

• Found on a Ranch in Utah in the Sinks of Dove Creek

• Survived and Self Propagated for 160 Years

• Tested and confirmed to have some of the highest nutrients percentages

• The individual that found them makes 40K a year on a 80 foot row of them

• But you have to pay him a royalty to tell his story and sell his version

• However most of this story applies to all Goji Berries

To Put Things in PerspectiveTo Put Things in Perspective

Goji Soft Wood Cutting Simply Stuck in Wet Soil for 5 Days

The Layout of our FarmsteadThe Layout of our Farmstead

An Orchard that Fuels a NurseryAn Orchard that Fuels a Nursery

Bitter Sharp

• Brabant de Bellefleur• Cap of Liberty• Dufflin• Foxwhelp• Golden Hornet

Sharp

• Court Pendu Rose• Crimson King• Esopus Spitzenburg• Harrison• Northern Spy• Rhode Island Greenling• Ribston Pippin• Zabergau Reinette• Sugarloaf Pippin • Hyslop Crab

Cider Apples Going into this NurseryCider Apples Going into this NurseryBitter Sweets

• Brown Thorn• Bulmers Norman• Chisel Jersey• Cimitiere• Coat Jersey• Dabinette • Ellis Bitter• Medaile D Or• Muscadet de Deippe• Muscadet des Lense• Vilberie• Yarlington Mill• Nehou

Sweets

• Airlie Red Flesh• Pomme Gris• Cannon Pearmain• Goldrush• Grimes Golden• Mother• Nelson County Crab• Roxberry Russet• Smith’s Cider• Sierra Beauty• Virginia Beauty• Virginia (Hewes) Crab• Wickson Crab• Whitney Crab• Yates• Yellow Bellflower

• Scion Wood

• Blackberry Cuttings/Layers

• Designer Autumn Olive/Goumi Cuttings

• Southern Wine Grape Cuttings/Scion

• Goji (cuttings)

• Aronia (cuttings)

• Elders (cuttings)

Nursery Products of this Orchard Nursery Products of this Orchard

• Herb Roots/Cuttings/Divisions

• Comfrey

• Valerian

• Echinacea

• Bee Balm

• Lemon Balm

• Stone Root

• Blood Root

• Dream Root

Primary Methods of PropagaionPrimary Methods of Propagaion

• Hard wood cuttings

• Soft wood cuttings (intermittent mist)

• Propagation from seed

• Grafting

• Layering

• Division

All but one of these are simply different methods of cloning!

• We are first a permaculture demo site and homestead producing food, medicine, animal products and providing a place to learn.

• We are second a small farm producing duck eggs

• We are third a plant producer / nursery

• Why?

• We love to practice and teach permaculture

• We desire to produce our own food

• The ducks create a customer base

• We believe in the local food movement BIG TIME!

• Growing plants becomes like printing money

• We can propagate more than we can ever plant

Our System ExplainedOur System Explained

• 16 foot work/planting/grafting bench, constructed of Trex and an Outdoor Sink

• Two seedling beds and two intermittent misting beds (capacity 30,000+ plants)

• Two 1500 gallon poly tanks with rain catchment

• Surflo pump with filtration to provide mist and irrigation pressure

• Located with filtered morning shade on the east side of an out building

• Large grow out area to be mulched with cedar mulch

• Total area is roughly 600-700 square feet, room to put in more beds if we desire

• 6 bed veggie garden, with irrigation can be converted to propagation at any time

Our Initial Nursery Set upOur Initial Nursery Set up

Forget Selling for a Minute – What if you wanted to full on plant a 1 acre permaculture food forest, and get it planted in one season, what would it cost you?

Understanding the MoneyUnderstanding the Money

Plant Type Count Price Ea. Total USD Time Each Mins. Tot. Hrs.

Trees 255 25 $6375.00 5 1275 21.25

Support Sp 675 3 $2,025.00 2 1350 22.5

Bushes 450 20 $9,000.00 5 2250 37.5

Vines 25 20 $500.00 3 75 1.25

Herbacious 450 5 $2,250.00 2 900 15

Seed $600.00

This gives us a total of $20,750.00 less a hard seed cost of $600.00 so a final plant cost of $20,150.00 divided by 97.5 hours yields a return of $206.00 an hour you pay yourself to plant a food forest!

• Specialize in something

• A website is NOT a business, it is your harder working employee though

• Develop compelling stories about what you sell

• Focus on “the market” not the “permaculture market”

• Don’t try to emulate me or anyone, BE what YOU are

• Develop your skills, develop your knowledge

• Consider the house flipping model, (buy, improve, sell)

• Become a local expert

• Share your knowledge until you are told to shut up, then shut up

• Never apologize for your price

• Get started, make plants, I don’t care how once you start it is addictive

• Spread the addiction

What I Would RecommendWhat I Would Recommend

• Timing

• Tools

• Diseases and Pests

• Disease Prevention

• Growing Medium

• Intermittent mist

• Site and Cost Assessment

• Propagation Methods Including

Consider Our Plant Propagation CourseConsider Our Plant Propagation Course

• Seed• Cuttings• Division• Root Cuttings• Layering• Grafting

In short our course provides everything you need to know to set up and start propagating plants now.

To get a things running for direct sale or propagation for your own site.

Instructor Nick Ferguson has been in the horticulture business since the age of 12! Over 20 years!

Cost – $350.00

Use Discount Code “pv2ppc2015” for 25.00 off for the next 30 days

• 8MB USB Titanium USB Drive Contains the Following

• This presentation with expanded content

• Building a Permaculture Business (From PV1)

• Episodes 1-20 of The Duck Chronicles

• $50.00 off our plant propagation course

• $100.00 off our online PDC (a big bonus coming)

• 20 dollars off my MSB program (will not expire)

• 40 of the Best TSP Podcasts of all Time

• Six part series on food forest design

• Four awesome Geoff Lawton Interviews

• 3 Additional Presentations

• Power point decks for all 5 presentations

• Full explanation of my site design plan

• Some other cool stuff

Building a Successful Plant Propagation BusinessBuilding a Successful Plant Propagation BusinessPresented by Jack Spirko, CEO PermaEthos, LLC

To learn more visit:

www.PermaEthos.comwww.TheSurvivalPodcast.com

www.DuckChronicles.com

Find Cool Stuff at: TheSurvivalPodcast.com/permaculture

Social Media:Facebook- FaceBook.com/survivalpodcast

Twitter - Twitter.com/TheSurvivalPodc YouTube - YouTube.com/survivalpodcasting

“The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the

cultivation and perfection of human beings.” ~ Masanobu Fukuoka.