15 Types of Nursery in Agriculture and Horticulture

A nursery is a portion of land dedicated to propagating plants, providing nourishment for initial times, growing young seedlings, and finally selling out for transplanting for commercial agriculture, horticulture, or hobby gardening like Kitchen Gardening, etc. The final step (selling) might differ depending on the type of nursery.

The nurseries are grown in favorable conditions until the plant reaches a usable and comparatively robust growth to face adverse climatic conditions like winds, heavy rain, scorching sunlight, etc. It is easy to take care of these seedlings in a small area in soil beds or small containers.

Types of Nursery in Agriculture

There are many types of nurseries based on different needs and possibilities. For convenience, we will divide them.

1. Based on the time duration
2. Based on Plants grown.
3. Based on structure
4. Based on landscape
5. Based on sale.

Based on the time duration of usage

A nursery can be designed for a temporary basis and for permanent use.

Temporary Nursery

The Temporary Nurseries are season based. The nursery stock is supplied for a certain period. The production is stopped when the requirement is fulfilled.

Example: Rice seedling nursery, vegetable nursery

Permanent nursery

This is a nursery that does not depend on the season, and the owner uses it for commercial purposes. This is why this land could be of any dimensions required by the owner, relatively larger than a temporary nursery. This type of nursery has all the structures like a selling point, compost pit, nursery beds, office, guard room, etc., as permanent structures to facilitate the propagation in a regular manner.

Example: Nursery of Forest plants, the nursery of fruit plants

These planting materials can be seeds or vegetative parts of the plant (asexual propagation methods like air-layering, grafting, and budding can also be used). Nursery management is a very labor-intensive job.

Types of nursery based on Plants Grown.

1. Fruit Plant nursery

It is an example of a permanent type of nursery as these plants’ living period is large. Since vegetative propagation is easier and takes less time to provide true-to-type plants as in comparison with sexual propagation, it is preferred for fruit plants. One can also produce grafts (for example., sapodilla) to sell, as well as the permanent mother plants are there (e.g., Guava for Inarching), which provide scion and root-stock are also. Air layering (rooting in Citrus) is also common in fruit plant nurseries. Nurseries of Apple, Walnut, Peach, etc., are highly grown businesses and have wide scope for temperate area entrepreneurs.

2. Vegetable plant nursery

Vegetable crops vary from seasonal and annual to perennial crops. Brinjal, Tomato, Gourds, Onions, and most vegetables are grown by seedlings. It is a widespread practice in Kitchen Gardening. With the decreasing faith in market vegetables due to the application of chemicals, people prefer homegrown vegetables; hence, these nurseries’ market is continuously rising. Vertical Gardening is a fashionable idea to grow gourds, flat beans, etc., in urban houses with less space.

3. Ornamental plant nursery

This type of nursery is very popular and can do international business.

The aesthetic use of flowers, succulents, and other ornamental plants makes the market a bigger place.

With increasing day-to-day stress, people have become aware of the importance of ornamental plants in the home; hence the various types of plants with different varieties have appeared on the market.

This is an ever-rising business because of its use in various types of occasions.

Florists are even preparing new kinds of flowers, and when gifting, these plants add meaning to the purpose by becoming their representation. (Bougainvillea)

As mentioned earlier, Vertical Gardening has provided a new arena for plants to be kept around us in a more beautiful and manageable way.

4. Medicinal and Aromatic plant nursery

The increasing awareness of the use of ancient practices has increased the scope of this kind of nursery as a business. People have started to adopt rearing these plants and use them daily in one way or another instead of depending upon allopathic medicines only. The essential oils in these plants and their aroma provide health value and aesthetic sense.

These plants can be grown in the period after Wheat harvest and till Rice sowing to make an extra income source for farmers.

5. Forest plant nursery

Not just individuals but the whole world knows the importance of a forest. After the Arrey Forest cut and Amazon Rain-Forest Fire, saving trees has become a more prominent objective. People who think the road to development goes from between the forest keep destroying it in the name of planting new trees on similar size of land. In fact, many industries like timber, gum, and fuel work only because there is a forest. It is essential to save these valuable trees and also the species that are about to be extinct. Forest plant nurseries can be invested privately and in collaboration with the Forest department. Some medicinal purposes also get fulfilled with this work.

6. Hi-tech Nursery

These nurseries are often maintained under shade nets, glasshouses, greenhouses, and other protected structures. All other plantations are maintained in the open or can be grown with these protective structures. One can also have a Tissue Culture Laboratory along with it if he can afford its maintenance. It has grown as a future of the nursery. Some plants in fashion in these labs are Gerbera, Syngonium, Orchards, Calla Lily, etc. One might also need scientifically managed Storage rooms to facilitate winter plant nurseries like Walnut, Apple, etc.

7. Agricultural crop Nursery

These nurseries are temporary in nature, and the land area used for these is later added to the land for cultivation. This is done to reduce the workload and time required to handle large areas under cultivation and make fertilizers available better. It’s not for business purposes but solely for the seasonal crop.

Example: Rice Nursery, Pearl millet

According to the structure of the nursery

1. Open nursery

This type of nursery is a low-cost and low-maintenance nursery. No special overhead structure like a greenhouse, glasshouse, etc., is there except for some shade nets or normal room/ office present.

2. Closed nursery

This type of nursery has special overhead structures to provide a definite amount of sunlight for plants like greenhouse, glasshouse, and shade nets. These structures, in some cases, are scientifically facilitated with room temperature and humidity control.

In both cases, modern irrigation systems can be installed like the ground and overhead sprinklers, drip irrigation, irrigation misters, foggers, etc.

According to the landscape

1. Horizontal nursery

Almost all the nurseries are horizontal in nature, i.e., they spread through the land area, covering it as a whole. The people owning optimum or large land area and the people requiring small nurseries as part-time hobbies or Kitchen Garden find it best.

2. Vertical nursery

With the increasingly urban and multi-story building culture, space has reduced too many folds for people staying in cities. The people who still want to stay near nature and wish to develop a nursery, which is space-effective, can go for Vertical Nursery. It holds a bright scope in the future.

According to the Type of Sale

1. Retail Nursery

These nurseries do sell directly to the people to grow them at home or in home gardens. These are run locally to sell seasonal and ornamental plants and plants for decoration purposes and for humidity maintenance. These may also sell their plants to clients who require a specific type of plant.

2. Wholesale nursery

These nurseries grow their plants in bulk to cater to the needs of big clients like florists, companies, commercial farmers, other small nurseries, for environmental landscaping purposes, etc.

3. Private nursery

These nurseries generally are one customer nursery and provide the batches for a single customer or the owner. These clients could have large estates or someone who has a requirement to document historical tree preservation.

4. Mail Order

All the nurseries mentioned above can be a part of this type of nursery. These days online shopping has become a natural trend and is an ever-rising business. One can make an online portal like other goods and services to sell; just the additional requirement is of shipping facility, i.e., by courier or delivery man.