Question to folks running a backyard nursery

@don1357

Don’t do this myself but yes have friends that do. Frequently they are to busy to propagate trees themselves so they deal with a 3rd party for rootstock eg. Copenhaven or Williamette. There are less wholesalers every year. One of the reasons I do what I do with encouraging people to use callery as rootstock is I want everyone to be self sufficient. If you grow your own food your not subject to shortages like other people. In addition to your business being independent it’s much more profitable. My entire life all my farmer friends have a recurring theme of losing everything. Let me explain how it happens they count on other people. Imagine raising pigs life is good you calculate costs and set up your buyers. Your corn supplier raises their rates. Your raising beef and your supplier says I shipped all my hay to Texas where I got $100 a bail during the drought. Same thing for fruit trees you take your orders and a quarantine happens in Oregon so your shut down ! This really happened a few years ago Why are pear scions and rootstocks so hard to get this year? Quarantine is not just Corvallis . Do not fall into these business practices and lose your independence. I’m not suggesting you don’t deal with the above nurseries they are great I’m saying have a backup plan and 6 or 7 years cash on hand if not 10. Your not ready to run a farm until you can weather a 5 or 10 year drought.

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