Resource Book on Horticulture Nursery Management

10. Store and Office
Garden tools, implements, raw materials, insecticides, fungicides, manures,
fertilizers, boards, polythene bags etc are stored in store house. An ideal nursery has at
least one well managed office for keeping all registers, notebooks, information books and
for instructing the team. The record of mother plants, progeny, Stock of plants, etc is
preserved in office.
Types of Plant Nursery Soil
Nurseries grow plants for resale to landscapers and to the general public. A nursery
can be a field nursery where plants are grown in the soil, a container nursery where all the
plants are grown in pots or a greenhouse operation where the plants are grown in
different types of growth media. The type of soil needed for nursery production will
depend upon what and how you intend to grow. Growing media such as peat or bark are
often used in container and greenhouse nurseries to reduce the pest and disease problems.
1. Field Nursery Soil
Field nurseries mainly produce ornamental shrubs, fruit trees and perennial
flowering plants. The type of soil needed for a field nursery needs to be fertile and well
drained. The soil should cling to the roots of the plants well when the seedlings/grafts are
transplanted and the root ball is covered with burlap for shipment.
The top soil should be enriched with compost and manure to maintain fertility and
soil structure. The root ball size should be kept as small as possible to minimize topsoil
loss. Short duration cover crops may be taken on fallow areas to improve soil tilth by
minimizing erosion.
2. Container Nursery Soil
Container nurseries grow plants in containers. Some containers are pot-in-pot where
plant containers are placed in permanent ground containers called socket pots. These are
usually used to grow trees or large shrubs. Smaller plants and shrubs are grown in pots
above the ground. Good drainage is necessary for container grown plants. A mixture of
sand, peat moss and aged hardwood bark is commonly used for pot mixture. Lime often
needs to be added to the non-soil growth media to balance its pH. Additional nutrients
and minerals such as sulphur may also be needed.
3. Greenhouse Nursery Soil
A greenhouse nursery uses a combination of growing media to grow plants. In the
greenhouse aeration and drainage are important considerations. Sand and organic growth
media such as hammered bark and sphagnum peat moss provide good support for young
plants without exposing them to the disease and pest risks found in topsoil.
Legal Authorizations for Starting Nursery Business
A commercial nursery business requires a business license which is a rather lengthy
process. In many cases zoning ordinances dictate possible uses for land. Normally, a
nursery business would be considered an "agricultural use", but in some cases it may also
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