A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. The plants concerned are for gardening, forestry, or conservation biology.
Types of Nurseries
There are wholesale and retail nurseries. Wholesale nurseries produce plants in large quantities which are sold to retail nurseries, landscapers, garden centers, and retail outlets. Retail nurseries sell to the general public.
Nurseries can be classified based on type of plant like ground covers, shade plants, fruit trees or rock garden plants.
Components and Layout
The main components of a nursery are:
- Mother plants for propagation
- Propagation structures like greenhouses
- Nursery beds
- Pot yard for potted plants
- Packing yard for packing plants before transportation
The layout should enable smooth flow of operations to save time. The roads and paths should be carefully planned.
Selection and Cost Management
The choice of plants and mother plants is important for the success of a nursery. The plants should be healthy, disease free and genetically true to type.
Costly nursery practices are followed in some nurseries to produce quality planting materials. However, commercial nurseries often avoid expensive practices to maximize profit.