Growing plants for profit is a terrific way to make some serious money with your gardening talents. While most of us think of tomatoes or salad greens when we think of successful plants, speciality crops that aren’t often found in a home vegetable garden are the most profitable crops.
Most specialized crops can also be grown without requiring a full-time commitment.
You can be a speciality crop grower if you have a few additional hours every week.
Here are eight speciality crops that are worth cultivating.
1. Lavender
You won’t find a better plant than lavender if you want a versatile, drought-tolerant, and high-yielding crop. It has a lot of commercial value because it can be sold as both an edible herb and an ornamental one. It also works as a natural insect repellent!
Lavender is easy to grow and spreads swiftly with little effort on your side. It thrives in almost every climate and can withstand extreme temperatures. Although it requires well-draining soil, it grows quickly and is usually disease-resistant. Plus, once you start, it’ll be difficult to stop — lavender flowers for more than ten years after it’s been planted.
A single acre of lavender may generate over 10,000 bouquets in a single year.
2. Bamboo
Landscapers and homeowners are paying upwards of $150 per potted bamboo plant, and many producers are struggling to keep up with demand. What is it about bamboo that makes it so popular?
It’s a landscape plant that can be utilised for hedges, screens, or as a stand-alone “specimen” plant. Many cold-hardy types of bamboo can withstand sub-zero temperatures, making it more than just a tropical plant. It’s feasible to cultivate thousands of dollars worth of profitable plants in a backyard nursery by using pots in a bamboo company.
3. Basil
If you’re new to gardening and want to generate money, basil is a good place to start. Basil is a simple plant to grow and is a popular culinary herb, so you won’t have any trouble selling it afterwards.
It’s a high-yielding plant that can produce numerous cuttings per year. It’s very simple to cultivate indoors and matures quickly. The better suitable your location is for producing this aromatic herb, the warmer and more humid it is.
4. Ginseng
The value of this plant, dubbed “green gold,” lies in its slow-growing roots. For thousands of years, Asians have prized ginseng as a healing herb and tonic. Even though mature ginseng roots take six years to harvest, most producers supplement their income by selling young “rootlets” and seeds while they wait for the roots to mature.
Growers can earn up to $100,000 from seeds, rootlets, and mature roots over the course of six years on a half-acre plot. That’s why ginseng has been treasured as a specialist crop since George Washington’s time when proceeds from the sale of ginseng helped fund the Revolutionary War against the British. Ginseng can only be grown in regions where the winters are chilly.
5. Herbs
Growing the most popular culinary and medicinal herbs is a terrific way to get your herb company off the ground. Basil, chives, cilantro, and oregano are among the most popular culinary herbs. Medicinal herbs have been utilised for thousands of years, and their popularity is growing as more people seek natural solutions to their health problems.
Lavender, for example, is a source of essential oils and has a plethora of medicinal properties. Lavender is so popular that hundreds of tiny nurseries specialise in it. So, to begin your herb business, concentrate on well-known plants.
6. Garlic
Any type of garlic will be profitable, but if you truly want to make a significant profit, you should consider producing gourmet garlic. Garlic is utilised by people all over the world, and if you cultivate hard-neck garlic, you’ll be able to sell it for a better price when it comes time to harvest.
Garlic costs around $10 per pound on average. A single acre of garlic can yield over 15,000 pounds of garlic each year. It’s simple to harvest and thrives in the dormant seasons of fall and winter. Garlic is a food that grows year after year!
7. Mushrooms
Growing mushrooms for profit can provide a high return in a little space for those who don’t have the space to cultivate. Exotic mushrooms like oysters and shiitake make sense because they can be cultivated without soil indoors. In a year’s time, oyster mushrooms, for example, yield roughly 25 pounds per square foot of growing space.
That’s $17,000 worth of mushrooms from a 10’x10′ space at the current wholesale price of $7 per pound! Because exotic mushrooms do not move well, tiny local growers will always have a competitive advantage over faraway producers. The oyster mushrooms are also the first items to sell out at our local Saturday market.
8. Cut Flowers
Almost every family in North America will occasionally purchase cut or decorative flowers. Fortunately, one of the simplest ways to make money on your small farm or garden is to grow flowers.
You can grow bulbs, cut flowers, dried flowers, and a variety of other things. In a single season, a small greenhouse can produce more than $100,000 worth of flowers. They grow swiftly, allowing you to generate a profit soon as well.
Snapdragons, zinnias, salvia, sunflowers, and peonies are some of the most popular and profitable flowers to grow. To save money on annual plants, try incorporating attractive perennial flowers.
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