Was hoping to get some input from you guys on what products you would want to see an organic hydro/soils store carry? Any recommendations? I'd love to hear on anything from soils to nutrients and lighting equipment.
Bins of by the pound organic dry ferts and amendments would be cool. BioAg products. Selection of fabric pots. For a start. You opening a shop?
If I never had to go into a hydro store again I would be a happy man...*lol* - BUT... I like Organicterra's idea of "by the pound" seed meals. How about "by the pound" accumulator plant matter? ie: comfrey, alfalfa, dandelion, watercress, nettles, etc. Alot of people just dont have access to these items and would love to use them for thier worm bins or botanical nutrient teas. I'm going to start growing a small garden just for these plants, but alot cannot, and I bet would love to have access to them. Aloe Vera, Yucca, Blue Agave, etc. We end up having to go to healtth food stores for those. I personally have to go to many different places to round up everything neccessary for a soil mix. To have it all in one place would be ideal. Books. Too many places dont sell books. I like books. QUALITY EWC. Too many places only sell, cheap "wiggle worm", or similar low quality castings. jerry.
I like this idea, but I worry about issues in regards to inventory space. I think the $ is in the lighting/ballasts and nutrients. I hate bottled nutrients as well, so I'd water to offer a water-only soil mix and a variety of "feed store" style nutrients (kelp meal, neem cake, a mineral mix, etc..). However, I don't think there would be enough demand to have FPEs and comfrey/nettles. I was thinking that in the store I could grow comfrey under the lights, as it would give me a demonstration garden and allow for me to use the comfrey for personal use.
I've already gotten tentative approval from sunlight supply for their product line, which would be a sort of one stop shop on the lighting and ballasts and reflectors. Sunlight Supply - Indoor Gardening Supplies, Grow Lights, Hydroponics, and Lighting I was thinking one cheap soil that's popular (help here would be great), and then the KIS soil as a fancier option (Keep It Simple Compost Tea Brewers and Composts). And I would offer the Bio-Ag and Tera Vita products, along with worm bins and other similar products. I think I would just carry the Smart Pots and then regular containers. I am limited on space a bit indoors. The location would also have a small retail nursery (the location is 5 acres and has had a nursery for 25 years and has a salmon spawning stream in the back with an award winning environmental trail and non-profit that gives tours on native habitat.)
It would be a good thing to expand the list to include some of the following perhaps: Quality Sphagnum peat moss (Alaska Peat, Premier Peat, the various offerings from Sun Gro Horticulture. Liquid products in bulk like liquid silica, spinosad, neem oil, etc. Rock dusts selection like the Canadian glacial product, oyster shell powder, soft rock phosphate, etc. and custom mixes like the former "Naomi's Mineral Mix" (not the actually ingredients perhaps but the overall concept) Viable, legitimate thermal compost and especially vermicompost since we are talking horticulture. Legitimate equipment choices like say drip systems - something better than Rain Bird. I can get those toys at Home Depot or Lowe's. Have a store staffed with people that can give genuine help & information to gardeners of all stripes. A staff that has more of a track record than simply running scams on people. And most important would be to have the books, reprints, DVD, information sheets in general available for purchase or viewing. The type of information that is challenging for a new gardener to begin looking. If a person can be shown the benefit of using organic neem oil vs. Einstein Oil (for example) then this would drive sales. Then again some people like being slapped around by sales people and treated like a moron - especially stoners it would appear. Not exactly the intellectual capacity of The Algonquin Round Table members. What was nice about Naomi's Organic Farm Supply when it was open is that there weren't bags of FFOF, Roots Organic, Botanicare or the other bags of dirt. They carried the base materials so that you could mix your own. She also carried retail products that have been shown to be made from good materials - Gardener & Bloome's for example. It can be done - Portland Nursery (established 1909) would be the business model I would study in great detail - both locations. HTH LD
The dude here has a huge ass vortex brewer running all day that he fills gallon water bottles with a charges an arm and a leg for it. I wonder if anyone has taken him up on that. I can see how storing lots of accumulator plants could be a problem. Perhaps a seed rack and a few cuttings?
I'll have to make a trip to visit those nurseries. I'll have the rock dusts, oyster shell, premier peat, and all those ingredients already for the soil and mineral mixes we'll be selling. I'd like to setup a commercial vermicomposting facility (small). Tim had talked about how he could set one up in one of those shipping containers. Not sure if there's any $ in the drip systems. Is my market more of an indoor gardening crowd or outdoor? I'm thinking the primary revenue would come from indoor or container gardeners. Ultimately I have to generate some $. I think that by saving growers money on their products and providing a quality soil, this would be a win-win situation. I am a little limited on initial capital, so I want to choose my inventory wisely. As for staffing, initially it would be me for the most part. I'd like to talk people into an all-in-one soil and promote biological horticulture. ACT would sell for $3-5/gal (microscope and lab tested from Tim's Microbulator or a KIS brewer). I'm not trying to get rich or rip anybody off. We would offer different horticulture classes on a variety or subjects as well, maybe even offer microscope classes. We would offer all of the microbeorganic products, like the microscopes and 50 gallon brewer. Spinosad is something I hadn't thought of (or tried yet). Thanks! I will definitely have a few organic options for dealing with PM and fungus gnats and mites (the big 3 in the Pacific NW).
This is what I was hoping for! So you think that this is a good "bottled nute" brand? I realize that some people will want stuff in bottles, no matter what advice they get. I refuse to deal with Advanced Nutrients or Humboldt. I wasn't sure about General Organics or Botanicare. I'd like to maybe just have 1 or 2 lines available, based on popularity (and frankly they're money makers for hydro shops).
All of the above ideas are good.....just a thought however........I believe there are a lot more legitimate outdoor gardeners than indoor gardeners but it limits seasonal sales. I've been to Naomi's myself before it was closed down and they had a bit of everything for everybody. Opening a grow store in this economic climate will be challenging. Setting it up to be different than the rest of the standard "hydro stores"would be a key point to success IMO. I wish you all the best and if I can think of anything else I'll be sure to chime in. chunk
Wet Betty, joking, kind of. Hydro stores seemed cool at first cause there edgy anti establishment head shop stores. Then that wore off. Are people ready for great organic products at good prices? Perhaps have a scantly clad starlet spokesperson, who left jaded hollyweird for the holistic life. or free tattoos on full moon nights,yup that's the ticket, tats......MIW
Jeez, eco, you started a hell of a thread. Perhaps a seed rack and a few cuttings? Great idea. None of the hydro stores around here even have seeds. jerry.
Wish I could, but I don't think our State Law is that open-minded and I'm not ready to put myself out there that much. Too bad though, cause LDs "The One" would be a killer plant to sell cuttings of in a store. I still need to look up the law to find out what I can legally discuss with a medical patient.
Eco12, Maybe being different would be that your store would offer it's customers the knowledge and products to transition to the organic way. I know there is a movement towards organics, and if you were paving the way with your experience as well as the proper products, you might even create a franchiseable business model......... chunk
If it were me and in light of what's been going on in the less couple of months, I wouldn't utter a word about medical cannabis. Period. chunk