mf148954

Hello i am extremely inlove with plant life and am hoping to make a career in a plant related field, however my knowledge as to possible career options is next to none.. any links or suggestions of how one would get started?

Mattbonsai

Best advice: Dont.

Only kidding, although Horticulture is a very difficult career to get established in (particularly if you are young), it is a very rewarding one in the end.

You need to start with learning the basics. Over here at least, all land based colleges offer a 1 - 2 year course in general horticulture. This is a must, once you have learnt the basics, then you can decide on which direction in the industry you want to go, Nursery, Retail, Amenity, Turf, Arboriculture, you name it, its an option. Doing courses at college will also introduce you to hundreds of contacts, people who you can ask advice from or ask for a job.

For example, I decided to go into horticulture after spending loads of time in my own garden and messing around in Bonsai. I signed up to a 1 year course at the local land-based college, the course was called the First Diploma in Horticulture and covered a little bit of everything (sort of like a taster session). During the year I found that I was far more interested in the Nursery side of the industry, particularly propagation, so after the year was done I signed up to a two year course called the National Diploma in Commercial Plant Production. I enjoyed it throroughly and afterwards, through the work experiance which was part of the course, I secured myself a student placement at one of the biggest names in Horticulture, Hillier Nurseries. Since then I went into another nursery, and now, I've made a career change and now work self employed as a gardener (although I still take an awful lot of cuttings in my own time).

Horticulture is a very inbred industry, everyone knows everyone, or is related to this person or knows someone who is related to someone who owns this nursery etc etc. As it is like that, its a very hard outer shell you have to break through to get accepted into it. You will need contacts, and qualifications to do so. A young, unqualified person would have better luck getting accepted onto the next NASA mission to mars.

In the end, learning about the plants is the easy bit, its getting others to notice you thats tough.

Cheers

-Matt-

P.S. Not trying to put you off or anything . The more people who come into the industry the better, just trying to prepare you for the difficulties you wil face.

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treebeard55

Here in the USA, too, I would start by getting a degree in horticulture. Most of our land-grant universities (like Purdue here in Indiana,) offer such degrees.

If I were 40 years younger, I just might be doing that myself ...

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Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

mf148954

thank you for all your insight, and im happy to report that im not deterred in any way. i want to work with bonsai and land scaping trees and shrubs (the growing and selling of). my major problem is that as far as bonsai clubs, schools, hell even enthusiasts go i believe there are none in lawton ok. none that i can locate at least. the closest i can come is norman which is about an hour and 15 minutes away, but i have sent them an email and am awaiting a reply. i have a bunch of cuttings and a few yamadori growing at the moment and am just in a waiting game till spring. there is an old asian man who sells bonsai trees out of a van here in town i wonder if it would be inappropriate to ask him if he would be willing to take me in as a student..

treebeard55

Harry Greer lives in Oklahoma City, I believe. He can usually be found prowling around one bonsai forum or another.

Harry's not a teacher, but he's quite knowledgeable about bonsai, especially Japanese black pines.

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Treebeard 55
Steve Moore
http://hoosierbonsai.blogspot.com

The most important bonsai tool is your brain.

mf148954

cool thank you very much. i have made contact

dick benbow

I think the advice to obtain a degree in horticulture is pretty sage.

If your interested in bonsai, you will need some land to begin growing stock.

what you want to create is what I call pre-bonsai. big enough and with enough movement to encourage the eventual owner to purchase and begin refining.

It's something you have to be passionate about as it takes lots of long hrs
and a minimum of five years investment in time before it starts paying you back. Best to have something to depend on and get your nursery started on the side.

I don't think you'll get rich doing it, but you might retain your health longer in a less stressful environment.

best of luck to you!