tree farm

hello i have a passion for tropicals but i am also thinking about starting a tree farm.
I like the idea of the japanese maple because they are verry sought after in my neck of the woods.

so my question is if you were in my neck of the woods, had a decent sized piece of land, and had to turn a plant around in 5 years thats how long i can justify keeping the plant. this mainly is for cost to profit ratio but at that age id like to be clearing out and replanting.
so knowing all this what would be the varieties you would plant in my zone.
and where can i buy seed for them

thanks alot
JERRY

Jerry firstly seed is NOT gonna do it unless you are using for grafting stock.... If I were you I'd read each and every post on this site and it will give you a better idea what you need to do to know WHAT you are getting into.Also buy J.T. Vertrees book Japanese Maples... If you study this more you will find NO ONE agrees on zones (ask 10 folks which zone is ok for a specific jm variety and you'll get at least 5 differnt answers ) but most of the many (over 300 varieties) grow in zone 6 which is GOOD ( for you). If you just want to sell junk JM's with no pedigree like many on the net do ( hell until this year I didn't know there were more than the standered bloodgood type and a couple of cutleaf types since thats all you ever saw in stores or on the web labeled as just "japanese maple") then just buy a bunch of seeds and plant...Doesn't seem much "fun" though kind of like working in an outdoor factory ;>).... David Myers

Hi,

I am just about to start the same sort of business here in France. With a broad business plan I have estimated that it will cost me somewhere in the region of 10,000.00 euros "about 12,000.00dollars" just for parent plants and a similar amount for seed to grow rootstock, i havn't got as far as to work out the costs for pots, composts, tunnels etc but i would envisage it will end up costing me in the region of 35-40 thousand euros.

I would agree with myersphcf that there are a lot of rubbish plants in the market, however, quality will always shine through and in general people are willing to pay for quality.

I think that 5 years should be an adequate amount of time before you can recoup some of your money in the way of sales.

treemendous