.jpg) Todd Davis |
No doubt, American consumers like things big. Yesterday I bought a medium drink at a drive through and it barely fit in my cup holder. A large popcorn at the movies could feed the populace of Uganda. My wife came home from Sam’s Club with a package of paper towels so large we’re using it as furniture in the game room. In years past, nursery products followed this same trend. If your market typically used 3-gallon shrubs, you were looking at growing 5s and 7s. If you resided in a 2-inch tree market, you were getting more requests for 3-inch and 4-inch. If you had 5- to 6-foot ‘Nellie R. Stevens’ hollies in your fields, customers needed 6- to 8-footers. The bigger the better, and there was no end to this upward curve in sight. But Mr. Recession has stepped in and changed all that (much to the delight of nursery workers around the country that have to lift, load and stack these things). Stepping back Developers are trying to keep costs down, so smaller trees and shrubs are being specified on commercial jobs. Contractors are having a hard time getting homeowner clients to go big on their projects, so plant materials are scaled back. Consumers are being more thrifty at the garden center, opting for 4-inch perennials when, in the past they’d go for 1 gallons or even 3 gallons. I spoke with Greenleaf Nursery Co. president Randy Davis (no relation, and he’s thankful) and he agrees. “We actually monitor the size of product we sell so we can track that. A few years ago larger sized containers were selling at a higher level than they are today. It’s actually going the other way now and I think consumers have less money to spend,” Davis said. 
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!
Sponsored Content Screen Smarter with GK’s FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™!Upgrade to the next level of material separation with the FINGER-SCREEN FreeFlow™—built for efficiency, durability, and maximum throughput. With no bottom pan to clog and industry-leading vibratory stroke, it handles bulky and wet materials effortlessly. Minimize jams, maximize uptime, and boost productivity. Optimize your operation today!  Micro marketThe class of trees in shortest supply right now is 2 inches. Why? At the start of the recession, growers backed off planting, and that’s the size many markets have returned to. So if you’re sitting on 2-inch trees with thoughts of digging them at 3 inches, you might want to rethink that. We’re operating in a different world these days. But here’s something else to consider: With smaller products, you can fit more units per truckload. That can mean more dollars per delivery. Smaller products also mean fewer hassles during loading, unloading, etc., and fewer accidents and workers compensation claims. So this trend isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, the bigger they are, the harder they haul. |
Get curated news on YOUR industry.
Enter your email to receive our newsletters.
Explore the August 2011 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
Latest from Nursery Management
- The Growth Industry Episode 3: Across the Pond with Neville Stein
- Trends: Proven Winners 2025 perennial survey shows strong demand
- Online registration opens for the 2025 Farwest Show
- Sustainabloom launches Wholesale Nickel Program to support floriculture sustainability
- Plant breeding as an art
- Society of American Florists accepting entries for 2025 Marketer of the Year Contest
- American Horticultural Society welcomes five new board members
- Get to know Christopher Brown Jr. of Lancaster Farms
