Growers perspective Growers need to grow more species and cultivars. Sure growers just need to plant more species and grow plenty of them. This isn t a realistic business plan because growers don t decide what trees will be planted in Florida s landscapes or specify trees on landscape plans. Sure the grower has some responsibility to do their part but they must work hand in hand with those specifying material and planting trees. The consumer drives the market.
Buyers perspective One solution from the tree buyers perspective is the use of contract growing.
Contract growing means the grower comes to an agreement with the buyer to grow and supply trees at some future date. This is becoming more popular with larger development projects but is limited in its use because often the tree buyer does not have the 3 to 4 years lead-time on a project necessary to arrange contract growing of larger trees. Another solution for the buyer is simply communication with the grower to let them know what they think would be a good tree for the market. This goes back to the consumer drives the market theory. If fifty people tell a grower there is a species or cultivar they would like to buy that is currently unavailable the grower would certainly strongly consider growing that species.