Slide 1
Building 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.
The Guy Who Should be
Giving this Talk
Nick Ferguson,
Propagation Specialist
He Propagates More than
Just Plants!
All 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 Spades
An 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 Perspective
Goji Soft Wood Cutting Simply Stuck in Wet Soil for 5 Days
The Layout of our Farmstead
An 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 Nursery
Bitter 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
Smiths 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
Herb Roots/Cuttings/Divisions
Comfrey
Valerian
Echinacea
Bee Balm
Lemon Balm
Stone Root
Blood Root
Dream Root
Primary 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 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 up
Our Initial Nursery Set up
Our Initial Nursery Set up
Our Initial Nursery Set up
Our 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 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 Hardest Worker!
Develop compelling stories about what you sell
Focus on the market not the permaculture market
Dont 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 dont care how once you start it is
addictive
Spread the addiction
What 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 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
The Big News PermEthos in Conjunction with Mark Shepard's RAD
are developing one of the largest Permaculture/Restoration
Agriculture farms ever developed.
How Much Opportunity is There?
Alcoa Aluminum in Arkansas
1400 Acres
100 Acre Research/Ed Facility
Pecan and Chesnut Overstory
Apple Understory
Alley Cropping Aronia/Elders
Holistic Grazing Management
The Planting Requirements on this ONE Project Show How much work
needs to be done.
Pecans 11,000
Chestnut 1,200
Honey Locust 2,800
Aronia 28,000
Elders 57,000
Total Plants 100,000+
Again this is ONE project for ONE customer!
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 Business
Presented by Jack Spirko, CEO PermaEthos, LLC
To learn more visit:
www.PermaEthos.comwww.TheSurvivalPodcast.comwww.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.
