First you can go to www.greenhousegrower.com and see if you can access their "Help
Wanted" information. This is a trade magazine for the floriculturist industry, which
includes foliage plants.

I can tell you one thing, if you don't have a degree in horticulture you will have to
come up in the ranks very slowly. That means working long hours for little money and
barely having any time to yourself from about October till about March. That's if
you work in a commercial growing operation.

You can probably learn more working in a garden center, but you could learn a lot of
really bad information as well.

The horticulture industry as a whole does not pay a lot of money unless you are the
owner (they sometimes don't make much either) or a grower (which requires botany
and/or other horticultural knowledge.

Garden center managers can make a decent living, but that's all relative. You have
a ton of commercial greenhouse operations everywhere in N.Carolina. Do what I did
when I first got into horticulture. I went to these places and just showed up asking
for a job. My first job was a plug transporter. I'd go out into the greenhouse,
water plug trays, load up 5 tier carts and bring them back to the head house for the
transplant line to put into flats...at 100 miles an hour! You have to walk about 500
miles a day, at 100 miles an hour to keep up with a job like that.

First take a gander at Greenhouse Grower magazine, then consider going to college for
a degree.


On 21 Mar 2003 23:49:20 GMT, (Joel Jac0b) wrote:

I recently sent this note to the NCAN (North Carolina Association of
Nuryserymen) they didn't really supply me with advice or information, so I
figured I would post the note here in the hope of getting some. Thanks for
your time!

Hello, I've had an interest in Horticulture since I was very small. I'm now
22-years-old and would like to find a job in relation to this field. I don't
hold a degree, and in all honesty don't know much about Horticulture, but I
have a strong desire to learn. I recently contacted a Director of Horticulture
at a college in Ohio in order to gain some knowledge as to how to obtain a job
in this field. My main question to him concerned whether or not it would be
possible to secure a job in relation to Horticulture without holding a degree.
He suggested that I contact nurseries in my state that grow plants/trees, and
to inquire about job positions available. I'm writing you in the hope that
you'll be able to make me aware of such nurseries in the state of North
Carolina. I currently live in Charlotte, but I'm willing to commute if it would
bring me closer to the goal at hand. Do you think a grower in the area would be
willing to train someone? I would like to thank you in advance for taking the
time to read this note. I appreciate it very much! Sincerely, Joel Howery