My own Nursery
While I was waiting for my National Service to start, I decided to venture more into Horticulture and Nursery Management on my own. I wanted to attempt starting my own plant nursery and put the plants I propagated up for sale online. This is how it went...
I started my nursery by doing market research, identifying popular plants that Singaporeans liked. I did this by talking to seniors, nursery workers and looking at what plants were given high ratings on selling apps under their gardening section. I realised that most plants that were easily sold were mostly indoor or partial shade plants, obviously due to more than 80% of Singaporeans living in flats. Most Singaporeans require plants that could survive indoors or with partial sun in HDB corridors or windows. Edible plants or fruiting plants were also quite popular.
I went to a trusted nursery that I usually get plants for my projects from and started picking out plants that were popular and also easy to propagate. I used my experience propagating plants for my Butterfly Garden and knowledge from my Nursery & Nursery Management modules in school to pick out the plants and propagate them. A nice scenic drive in a buggy and I picked up everything I need. Bags of potting mix, hundreds of pots and plants. I started propagating and started to post them online, and with much surprise, I got a good amount of customers even though I couldn't propagate too many plants all by myself. I priced the plants according to regular retail prices from my experience visiting nurseries for my projects. I even used some of the plants I propagated for my own projects. To encourage bulk orders, I offered a free maintenance session for the clients garden if the order was over $300.
Sansevieria
During my market research, I realized many plant enthusiasts loved Sansevieria due to several factors. Sansevieria was famous for its air purifying properties, and it was a flexible plant that could survive with minimal light and also under strong sunlight. It's also a good addition for indoor plant enthusiasts as it comes in many variegations and adds aesthetic value to the plant collection and room. Due to all these reasons, I decided to plant it in an aesthetic white pot. I got a buyer after a few days and sold it to her at $15.
Episcia
Episcia was a good seller as well, with many buyers wanting it for their offices and rooms since episcia does great indoors. It also is easy to propagate through stem cutting, allowing me to produce many pots of Episcia.
Ficus triangularis
In general most Ficus plants are easy to maintain and can grow in varied sunlight conditions making it an attractive plant for plant enthusiasts. To top it off it has beautiful variations. I made several stem cuttings and sold all of them in a month.
Morus plant (Mulberry)
Mulberry was the best seller. I made over 4o stem cuttings and all of them were sold. My customers bought them for several reasons. Some bought them for their fruit, can be used to flavour tea or eaten while others bought them for their leaves as their leaves are a good food source for stick insects for those wanting to attract stick insects into their garden or to feed them to their pet stick insects.
Other plants
