Commercial growing of iris - DON'T DO IT!!!

Linda wanted to know about what it is like to have a commercial nursery -
well here is a little of my experience:

a. the public generally choose a variety according to its flower (hence the
reason so many dud growers are introduced). They rely on growers and breeders
to select vigour and disease resistance. Unfortunately, breeders are human
too, and love new colours and stunning flowers. Therefore, the most popular
varieties are always those that rot most and increase least (Dusky Challenger
is a prime example - I've never seen it rot here, but it is slow to increase
and the punters love it!). As a result you never have enough of the most
popular vaieties. This has to be reflected in the price charged.

b. commercial growers of any type of plant are at the mercy of changing
fashions. As a result, it is difficult to predict how many of any particular
varieity to grow - we get round this (see c below). For years we have found
plicatas to be popular - not this year though. In the US, it seems to me that
purple-blues have been popular - have people stopped breeding good pure white
selfs? (We love Immortality, but that's 15 years old!). Every year "they"
want a different colour, although it seems to me that a good plant in the
traditional colours is sure to be popular. Do not expect the plant that was
popular this year to be equally popular next year - they'll all want the one
that is blooming profusely on the compost heap! You will spot a few perennial
favorites though - Dusky Challenger, Brindisi, Superstition, Az Ap are good
for us. Also scent is popular.

c. Spectacle sells plants. We do not sell 27000 per year. We sell nearer 5000
plants (although this figure is increasing rapidly). We grow the rest to
provide a spectacular display which attracts visitors from all over the UK
and northern Europe. The growing field also provides a place for our Iris
Picnic Weekend (31st May/1st June 1997) which is good fun and good publicity.
Also, by growing in quantity, it is possible to get round some of the
problems in a and b above - i.e. there is usually a substitute variety if
something has sold out or rotted, and a big quantity of a good variety will
attract lots of customers, regardless of fashion.

d. field scale growing is very different to garden scale growing. You can not
reasonably hand weed two acres of irises, so you have to use a chemical weed
and disease control regime (hence my question on large scale chemical control
of Erwinia a little while ago). We are very careful about what we use - we
have to be sensitive to the environment. Also the plants are planted and dug
mechanically.
We dig in August and replant only the strongest plants, discarding all weak
plants. Orders are dug by hand before the main transplanting. Over the last
few years we have steadily increased the amount of plants that we grow - last
year 22000, this year 27000, next year - who knows? Depends how many we sell.

e. everything goes wrong - but then that's common to all gardens and plants!

Remember that you must be constantly assessing new varieties for adding to
your commercial range - we currently have around 150 varieties for sale and
about 180 under trial. Then you can reduce or stop growing less popular
varieties and add in new ones to the range. Regular customers get bored if
they see the same thing in your list year after year.
Pricing is a difficult and thorny issue. We base our prices on the amount of
stock that we have. If we only have a few (say less than 50) of a variety,
that will be the most expensive (up to #10 = US$16?). Varieties in large
quantity (500+) will be cheapest (about #3 = US$4?). Then we offer bonus
plants and special collections. Then there is a carriage charge on top of
each order (#5 for UK).
One problem we constantly face is that the general public want their plants
NOW and it takes a fair bit of explaining to tell them that they have to wait
until August before we dig them from the fields. Plus the mail order
customers who do not visit the nursery expect lots of pictures in the
catalogue, and do not realise how much that costs!
Try to have other plants - Siberians are good because you can deal with those
when the beardeds are pretty much looking after themselves. We grow lots of
Geraniums (Cranesbills) - these are grown in pots for visitors to the nursery
plus Europe-wide mail order service. Hemerocallis seem popular in the US, but
not so much over here.
Don't expect to make much money (if any). You need a fair bit of capital to
invest initially (to buy/rent land, machinery, plants, herbicides,
fungicides, catalogues, valium, etc.).
Decide early on if you want to get involved in breeding iris. It is very time
consuming but equally fun. Our view however is that there are so many good
varieties coming out of established breeders that we do not feel the need to
do any work ourselves (equally we do not have the time).
Do not take it too seriously - it should be fun if hard work.

I hope that this is of interest. Lets hear from one or two others (Rick,
Lloyd) who have or have had commercial experience. What scale do you guys
work on? I know that Schreiners and Cooleys grow enormous numbers but they
must be the exceptions.

Graham Spencer
Croftway Nursery, UK
croftway@aol.com
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