Boring stuff - no need to read

The reason I started messing around with HP trees was for the great energy crisis of the 70's. The idea was to grow the trees for firewood. After 4 years I had trees all over the place and decided to help other people get these trees cheap, and to make some money.

I placed several classified ads on the Philadelphia Inquirer which brought me about 7 customers who paid $5 each. The cost of the ads was only about $300, so I lost only $265.

 The year after, I was smarter, and went for grocery stores to take advantage of their refrigeration. I had not only HP cuttings, I also had Forsythia, Pussy Willow, Japanese Willow, American Hedge, and others.

 Unfortunately, I did not count with the fact that in February and March everyone is thinking WINTER... and no one is thinking GARDEN. By the beginning of April, all the cuttings had already started to grow... a total loss. Expense with all the packaging, gas and time... about $2500. Income from sales about $ 85. Not bad for 2 months of solid work.

 I learned a lot from this.

  On february'99, after my heart attack, I received a phone call from a gentleman in Washington State who is a grower of hybrid poplars and has been doing that for the last 10 years to supply the large pulp and paper companies in the West. After finding out about my problems he suggested shipping cuttings for me, I would get a commission, he would do the shipping. That is how it started. Since the middle of February '99, I have been sending cuttings, of a quality far superior to anything I could ever grow, and they are guaranteed to grow... not only that, you have plenty of choices. I chuck this to experience, some day I will start making money on this business yet.. not this year.

1999 - April - I guess I have not learned enough yet. From December'98 to February'99 I shipped cuttings I took at my place here in PA to people who ordered from me. I shipped quite a few of them. As part of the instructions I put together I indicated that the cuttings should be kept in a freezer. I received this information from the USDA who assured me cuttings would survive even at 40 degrees below 0. They were not entirely accurate. I planted (2 weeks ago) over 400 of the cuttings that were kept in my freezer for 4 months at 10 degrees, and my expectations of those cuttings are not what I hoped. Very few grew.

1999 - April 18 - I just finished shipping quite a few packages of replacement cuttings to people who purchased cuttings that did not grow. They were replaced (May 18, 1999) with cuttings from the Segal Ranch.

1999 - End of June - All the cuttings I sold last year were replaced at no charge. Now I am worse than broke, but I have made an alliance with the Segal Ranch in Washington State. I place orders, they ship them and I get a commission. This is the best I have done yet, their cuttings are taken for industrial use (paper companies) and they have 29 different clones to choose from.

2000 -March 29 - We are shipping trees and cuttings like crazy. I have no idea if I am making money or not, everybody in the Internet must have a piece of my action, and the money from the credit cards is very hard to figure out. Money goes in and out of my account at lightning speed. I may not be making money but I am very busy... and happy to be able to sell inexpensive trees to people who really need them.

We must have shipped 30,000 trees and about 120,000 cuttings from my site alone this year!

Sept 23,2000 - This year I started my garden at home. Some Hp trees to sell or give away to my neighbors, some maples I found around my property, and other perennials I had here.
a week ago I was wondering how I was going to sell all those hybrid poplar trees I had. Next day a contractor came and took even the smallest HP tree I had. He wants many more next year! I am growing every tree seed I can get my hands on. Next year this time my garden will look nice and full of trees.

February 2001. A new greenhouse keeps me busy, I have planted many kinds of trees and hedges. Things are looking up.

July, 2001 - Have plenty of trees in my garden now, people come from as far as New Jersey and Delaware to pick up some of my hybrid poplars and other trees. I am growing over 3000 trees in 900 square feet... and there are another 1500 trees in the greenhouse waiting to be moved to the garden.

The rest is history!