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persiancowboy

what can I plant in 2 acre to profit from?

persiancowboy
12 years ago

I have approximately 2 acres next to my house that i like to use to make some profit. I have a well water and gray water that can be used. I like to either grow plants, flower, trees or fruit or other produce to resell. I am a retired engineer who love to learn more about growing plants & trees (hopefully organic way). I love to hear your recommendation.

Comments (20)

  • hellbound
    12 years ago

    how do you plan to sell it and i wish i had ur problem maybe try tomatoes and peppers and a mixture of other veggies in the spring maybe eggplants and okra and melons in the summertime. i'd try and contact some of the local small grow farmers at the farmers markets and see what they have and how they do it. summer squash can be a huge producer here in the spring as well....

  • fabaceae_native
    12 years ago

    Definitely go to some of the local farmers markets and see what is missing, then try to provide those unique items that appeal to you. Maybe it's cut flowers, dried herbs, or some non-standard fruits like pomegranate, mulberry, jujube, or prickly pear.

    At the following website I counted 10 such markets in the Phoenix area:
    http://www.arizonafarmersmarkets.com/

    I happen to have one of the best farmers markets in the country where I live, where you can find everything from honey, goat milk products, worm castings, buffalo meat and hides, home-baked breads, mushrooms, and willow baskets in addition to all the usual greens and everyday fruits and vegetables. I think the folks who do the best (some of them make their entire living off of this one market) are those who provide a consistent diversity of vegetables, or a large supply of one or two big items (apples or chiles, for example).

    Hope this was helpful...

  • lazy_gardens
    12 years ago

    Forget farmer's markets ... go talk to some Indian restaurants about OKRA. They can't get enough of it! Grow it and sell it direct to them.

    It's tough as nails, loves heat, and doesn't ship well. That makes it perfect for a local specialty crop.

    I wouldn't plant two acres of it unless you have backup pickers, because it needs picking every day or at least every other day. But if you had 4 50-foot rows and picked two rows each day you could keep up with the production.

  • MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
    12 years ago

    How does one figure pricing? What would they pay per pound?

  • greeneater
    12 years ago

    I would contact the guy that sells unusual and exotic fruit trees up at 36 ave and Bell. I would think customers would pay alot more for fruits such as loquat, mango , longan, and guava than they would common stuff like apple, peach, and citrus.

  • greeneater
    12 years ago

    I have those plus curry, sapote, mulberry, cherry and others planted in my yard and am always getting asked where can a person find those fruit for sale after tasting mine. people will pay for something different.

  • tracydr
    12 years ago

    Have you seen the prices on herbs? Imagine what you could make selling dehydrate rosemary, oregano, lemon grass.
    Lemon grass, btw, grows fabulous here, and is very expensive at the Asian stores fresh.
    Basil, in the summer, along with okra. Mint, cilantro, in cooler seasons. Lettuce also grows great here.
    There is a giant field of what looks to be Swiss chard near my house.
    Citrus, of course, would probably be less everyday work. Or any other fruit tree. But, with two acres, you could branch out and do produce plus a small orchard.
    Figs and pomegranates do great here and are expensive at the stores.

  • tracydr
    12 years ago

    Lavender would be another easy plant to consider. Lavender, sage and rosemary could be easily grown and high dollar both fresh and dry. Basil and oregano, as well.
    What about hibiscus? The dried flowers for tea are very expensive, not sure what variety they use.
    2acres, be careful you don't plant something that is so labor intensive that you can't handle it or that the labor eats into all your profits.

  • waterbug_guy
    12 years ago

    When starting a business my first question is "how am I going to sell this". Kidding myself has always lead to failure. For example, contact a restaurant who wants to buy organic produce they'll tell you exactly what they'd like and what they'd be willing to spend.

    Raising Tilapia and freshwater shrimp are good high value products for this area. In combination with a garden you can run fresh water into the fish tanks/ponds and drain waste water from the ponds to the garden plants. So you get to use the water twice. There also a system called aquaponics which is hot right now. I don't think it works as there the water put on the plants drains back into the pond, but there's issues with that. Great hobby, not so great money maker. There's a company in western AZ I think raising Tilapia and using the waste water to irrigate plants they sell. That works well.

  • hellbound
    12 years ago

    i know the okra might be a great idea its about $5 a pound at the asian markets its drought tolerant and a huge producer chile might be another great cash crop

  • lazy_gardens
    12 years ago

    Mexico will kick your butt on chilis ... but okra can be sold for $2-3 a pound straight to restaurants. The SO was taking in 5-10 pounds every few days from my 10 plants.

    I'd hold off on fruit trees ... they are hard to establish and prone to dying.

  • fabaceae_native
    12 years ago

    Selling directly to restaurants will work if you're willing to do the legwork getting the accounts (and of course, they want what you have).

    I still say farmers markets are great because you're not competing with Mexican produce or anything else, you just show up, and can charge a premium... way more than the grocery store if it's quality stuff. I'm really not sure how much okra goes for in season at my local farmers market, but I'd be surprised if it were less than $5-10 per pound. Eggs go for $5/dozen, and honey $10/lb. A whole chicken can cost you $30! People are willing to pay because it's local, high quality food.

  • phxplantaddict
    12 years ago

    Stick with the fruit trees. What the heck is a okra anyway?

  • hellbound
    12 years ago

    fruit tree's would have a huge start up cost and like stated above are prone to dying, frost, sunburn i'd rather try and tape advantage of the huge enthnic market here with seasonal crops like okra which is like a weed here in the summer different varieties of eggplants, and peppers in the fall which you can sell fresh green or dried into decorative ristras, maybe even yardlong beans and armanian cucumbers too. here in phx if you plan it all out you can have a continual year round harvest and i think maybe a blend of farmers market and some steady local costomers would be a good idea also maybe a co-op system where people pay you an anual fee and you give then a box/bag of whatever it is you have in season every week. another good option for this land is to lease out small parcells as a comunity garden this way it'd be less labor intensive on your part and you could still make a little money and enjoy the gardening experience for yourself. also as a community garden you could approach local growers and greenhouses for discounts for your members lots of landscapers and city organizations are willing to give free mulch and compost and stuff like that too.

  • lazy_gardens
    12 years ago

    One of my SO's co-workers decided to try selling Armenian cucumbers and okra. He has a huge horse-sized property and likes to garden.

    He walked some nearby Indian restaurants with samples of the early harvest and asked to talk to the manager. He walked out with an account. They were taking all he could produce so he had no farmers market time involved. It was just walk in, weigh the stuff and collect the money. I don't know what he was getting per pound ... if you see it at asian markets for $6, wholesale is about $2.50 to $3.

    He sold over 900lbs of Armenian cukes before his trellis collapsed ... dunno how much okra.

    The cukes stay firm in curries, unlike squash and normal cukes and okra is like the Indian national vegetable.

  • MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
    12 years ago

    Wow, that's a good story lazy.....as I recall both Arm cukes and okra love the heat and are easy to grow. I'm going to give this some serious thought! Thanks for posting.

  • hellbound
    12 years ago

    the great thing about the armanian cukes is no bitterness no matter how big u let them get and you never have to peel them.

  • MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
    12 years ago

    lazygardens, what size was this guy's bed that he grew the 900 lbs of cukes?

  • lazy_gardens
    12 years ago

    Mary - his trellis was only about 15 feet long, 6 feet high. Planted 12-18 inches apart.

    Well-watered, in a sunny location, those things are prolific. I had one plant growing on a 6-foot fence that was producing about 10 cukes a week, of the foot-long size.

    Even with my less favorable conditions - less water early in the season, off to a bad start, fewer plants - my SO was hauling 5-10 lbs to his co-workers every two or three day during hot weather.

    We're going to try for high production this year: more plants, more water, fertilizer and a bigger trellis.

    I'll keep records

  • MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
    12 years ago

    We'll do it together.....this idea has me very interested.