Growing High-Value Trees For Profit
Growing trees for profit is an ideal part-time or full-time business for anyone who desires to be their own boss and enjoys being outdoors working with plants. Trees are a consistently profitable and renewable resource that can be produced in a small backyard or acreage. Best of all, trees are not a seasonal crop like flowers or vegetables. If your flowers or harvested vegetables don't sell, you don't make anything. Instead, trees just keep on thriving, so you can sell the larger trees next year for more money. That's one of the very best reasons to grow trees - their price keeps rising yearly.
You can begin a tree growing business with a tiny investment of money - as little as a few hundred dollars. You don't need a degree in horticulture either - just some common sense and the capacity to learn as you grow.
During good times or bad, having a 'alternative' business in your spare-time is a helpful way to protect yourself from the ups and downs of the overall economy and the job market. A tree growing venture can offer you with a secure income working just a few hours a week. If you make up your mind to turn it into a full-time business, your revenue can grow as fast as your plants.
The best way to ensure your tree growing success is to grow 'high-value' trees, which bring a premium price for either the trees or products made from the trees. Here are just a few of the valuable trees to consider:
BONSAI-- With a history dating back thousands of years, bonsai, the art of growing miniature trees, is still growing in popularity. Millions of people around the planet love these natural beauties, which use very little space because of their compact size. This is just one of the reasons why a bonsai nursery makes good sense for a person with minimal growing space. These high-value trees can generate a considerable income in a very limited nursery area.
FRUIT TREES-- There is an expanding demand for both backyard fruit trees that can produce a crop for homeowners striving to reduce food costs and as a commercial tree for those interested in starting a fruit tree nursery on small acreage. There is a revived interest in the heirloom fruit trees, such as antique apples, many of which date back to Thomas Jefferson's era. Thanks to tree researchers, dwarf fruit tree varieties are now available that can make two or three times per acre what standard trees produce, and begin production in just three or four years.
JAPANESE MAPLE-- Acer palmatum is a small tree with an extensive range of leaf shapes and colorations that may be grown in most climate zones. Retail nurseries often refer to Japanese maples as a 'collector's tree,' as collectors are ready to pay high prices. As a good example, a local nursery that specializes in larger sized trees charges $ 200 to $ 2,000 for "specimen" Japanese maples with a minimum of a 2" diameter trunk. Landscapers often use these stunning trees as portion of an arrangement or as a stand-alone specimen tree. The Japanese maple is a solid choice for a tree nursery with modest space.
LANDSCAPE TREES-- A backyard tree nursery is a perfect business for anyone who wants to earn an income from a 'green' business that may be launched on a shoestring. From apple trees to yews, there are hundreds of popular trees which can be grown and sold to property owners, landscapers and retail nurseries.
NUT TREES-- A five-acre parcel of full-grown nut trees can yield a full-time salary when well managed. The newest method is using permaculture to set up a natural forest, with taller nut trees, like walnuts and chestnuts for the upper story and shade-tolerant nuts, such as filberts, for the under story. Growing nut tree seedlings to sell on a piece of the acreage can produce added income. When the large trees are full-grown, they can be selectively harvested for their valued timber, which can fetch several thousand dollars for just one tree. Growing walnut trees can be particularly profitable, as the timber is extremely valuable.
Nut breeders have developed new cultivars that yield younger and are hardier. Best of all, these new cultivars produce bigger, tastier nuts that are very easy to crack. These improved trees have meant improved popularity, so tree nurseries have seen strong sales from homeowners who want to be able to collect their own nuts.
TREE FARMING-- Old-fashioned 'monocrop' tree farms, with row after row of tree trunks with little on the ground between trunks is quickly being replaced by a 'greener' and more profitable system called agroforestry. Agroforestry is a system that combines crops, or livestock, or both, with tree farming to provide diversified income, greater water retention and greatly improved habitat for livestock and wildlife. Done right, it can provide much higher income, food for grazing animals, erosion control, shelter for the animals from sun and wind, even fix nitrogen in the soil! Setting up a tree farm, if you have the acreage, can be a profitable business.
WILLOW TREES-- If you do an internet search of the term 'willow basket weaving,' you will find about 250,000 links. Basket weaving is enjoying a renewal of interest, as both serious artists and hobbyists discover this extremely versatile plant material. That has created a market for willow cuttings in a rainbow of colors. Also, there is strong demand for potted willow trees. Willow cuttings, taken from existing trees, can be sold for stewardship and biomass projects.
CHRISTMAS TREES-- Growing Christmas trees is a well known and profitable tree crop for over 20,000 growers in the United States. Most growers plant over 2,000 trees per acre, so if you own or can lease as little as an acre of land, you can begin Christmas tree farming. As the number of city dwellers increases, smaller sized tabletop trees have become more popular, even at prices of $ 30 - $ 50 per tree. Many buyers like to purchase living uncut Christmas trees that may be kept in a pot or the yard until the next holiday season. Some growers have noticed they can make as much money each holiday season from 'greens' like decorative boughs, garlands and wreaths, as from their cut tree sales.
You can begin a tree growing business with a tiny investment of money - as little as a few hundred dollars. You don't need a degree in horticulture either - just some common sense and the capacity to learn as you grow.
During good times or bad, having a 'alternative' business in your spare-time is a helpful way to protect yourself from the ups and downs of the overall economy and the job market. A tree growing venture can offer you with a secure income working just a few hours a week. If you make up your mind to turn it into a full-time business, your revenue can grow as fast as your plants.
The best way to ensure your tree growing success is to grow 'high-value' trees, which bring a premium price for either the trees or products made from the trees. Here are just a few of the valuable trees to consider:
BONSAI-- With a history dating back thousands of years, bonsai, the art of growing miniature trees, is still growing in popularity. Millions of people around the planet love these natural beauties, which use very little space because of their compact size. This is just one of the reasons why a bonsai nursery makes good sense for a person with minimal growing space. These high-value trees can generate a considerable income in a very limited nursery area.
FRUIT TREES-- There is an expanding demand for both backyard fruit trees that can produce a crop for homeowners striving to reduce food costs and as a commercial tree for those interested in starting a fruit tree nursery on small acreage. There is a revived interest in the heirloom fruit trees, such as antique apples, many of which date back to Thomas Jefferson's era. Thanks to tree researchers, dwarf fruit tree varieties are now available that can make two or three times per acre what standard trees produce, and begin production in just three or four years.
JAPANESE MAPLE-- Acer palmatum is a small tree with an extensive range of leaf shapes and colorations that may be grown in most climate zones. Retail nurseries often refer to Japanese maples as a 'collector's tree,' as collectors are ready to pay high prices. As a good example, a local nursery that specializes in larger sized trees charges $ 200 to $ 2,000 for "specimen" Japanese maples with a minimum of a 2" diameter trunk. Landscapers often use these stunning trees as portion of an arrangement or as a stand-alone specimen tree. The Japanese maple is a solid choice for a tree nursery with modest space.
LANDSCAPE TREES-- A backyard tree nursery is a perfect business for anyone who wants to earn an income from a 'green' business that may be launched on a shoestring. From apple trees to yews, there are hundreds of popular trees which can be grown and sold to property owners, landscapers and retail nurseries.
NUT TREES-- A five-acre parcel of full-grown nut trees can yield a full-time salary when well managed. The newest method is using permaculture to set up a natural forest, with taller nut trees, like walnuts and chestnuts for the upper story and shade-tolerant nuts, such as filberts, for the under story. Growing nut tree seedlings to sell on a piece of the acreage can produce added income. When the large trees are full-grown, they can be selectively harvested for their valued timber, which can fetch several thousand dollars for just one tree. Growing walnut trees can be particularly profitable, as the timber is extremely valuable.
Nut breeders have developed new cultivars that yield younger and are hardier. Best of all, these new cultivars produce bigger, tastier nuts that are very easy to crack. These improved trees have meant improved popularity, so tree nurseries have seen strong sales from homeowners who want to be able to collect their own nuts.
TREE FARMING-- Old-fashioned 'monocrop' tree farms, with row after row of tree trunks with little on the ground between trunks is quickly being replaced by a 'greener' and more profitable system called agroforestry. Agroforestry is a system that combines crops, or livestock, or both, with tree farming to provide diversified income, greater water retention and greatly improved habitat for livestock and wildlife. Done right, it can provide much higher income, food for grazing animals, erosion control, shelter for the animals from sun and wind, even fix nitrogen in the soil! Setting up a tree farm, if you have the acreage, can be a profitable business.
WILLOW TREES-- If you do an internet search of the term 'willow basket weaving,' you will find about 250,000 links. Basket weaving is enjoying a renewal of interest, as both serious artists and hobbyists discover this extremely versatile plant material. That has created a market for willow cuttings in a rainbow of colors. Also, there is strong demand for potted willow trees. Willow cuttings, taken from existing trees, can be sold for stewardship and biomass projects.
CHRISTMAS TREES-- Growing Christmas trees is a well known and profitable tree crop for over 20,000 growers in the United States. Most growers plant over 2,000 trees per acre, so if you own or can lease as little as an acre of land, you can begin Christmas tree farming. As the number of city dwellers increases, smaller sized tabletop trees have become more popular, even at prices of $ 30 - $ 50 per tree. Many buyers like to purchase living uncut Christmas trees that may be kept in a pot or the yard until the next holiday season. Some growers have noticed they can make as much money each holiday season from 'greens' like decorative boughs, garlands and wreaths, as from their cut tree sales.
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