I think at one point I had about 2,000 species of herbs/entheogenic plants.
Big 8 year old caapi, thousands of Salvia divinorum, dozens and dozens of Trichocereus and "other" cacti genus, Psychotria shrubs etc.

I sold these and many other plants for for many years. It was a good life, but I simply could not force myself to make money on certain plant species and sadly I preferred getting a good paying job to trying to profit on certain plant species.
Anyway, this thread is just to show off (just kidding). I have had many of these pictures elsewhere on the net in the past, but ya know, I forget where I left them.

This is some of my plant growing resume:
Psychotria viridis mother plants in the foreground


Caapi climbing the rafters


500 Salvia d ready for shipment to a plantation in the carribean :-)


a few other random shots of Salvia d. I was one of the first to really push the "Luna Clone" which I found to be a VERY aggresive grower.




The farm was in operation from 2001-2007 or so. I drove by recently, my sign still hangs at the end of the road but the greenhouses are gone and everything has all been plowed into a field... the endless birth/death cycle spins on.

Well I guess that is all for now, I'll add some more some other day.
Ringworm

Wow Ringworm! I am so impressed! When you said you had a farm in your introduction essay, I did not imagine anything on such a large scale. Just out of curiosity (if you don't mind me asking) how much does an operation like this cost to get up and running?

that is hard to say.
I had many acres, a house, 7 greenhouses that were in the area of 30ft by 100ft each.
figure one greenhouse with a heater, plastic, shade cloth, the wood for end walls etc would be $6000-$8000 at least brand new. Cheaper if you found a guy like me that walked away from it :-) I'm sure when I left the farm the houses sold for much much cheaper.
If you were to build something like this from scratch it'd easily be 1/4million. Course find a rotten old farm with some existing structures and it could be worth anything.

Anyhow, it was fun... I'd spent many many years working at various plant growing industries.

Wow ringworm, respect!

I will come back to this to ask you some questions!

Some year ago I also lived in a nice farm and worked the land but mostly fruit trees/olives and small vegetable garden... I only had a couple of ethnobotanicals, nothing even remotely close to what you had, so I think you'll be able to give us some nice tips!

Thanks for sharing the pics btw!

yeah brother, ask away, I've got all this botanical knowledge stashed and I don't really use it anymore.
My mind is focus'd on metal working and engines these days, but it is REALLY nice to remember a time when I grew plants and things.

WoWzwer!

I'm honored!

Really glad to have you aboard ringworm!

I grow allot of plants also, but nothing on that scale.

What part orf the world were you doing this wonderful gardening?

Thank you so very much for sharing!

I look forward to seeing allot more out of you.

Regards,

Ice House

I've started growing some non-exotics, it is nice to be growing some plants again. I've always been envious of your green thumbs!!

wow man its beautiful I wish I could at least work for you in those days

thank you for sharing your knowledge with us

oh yes and when I saw all those salvia out there I almost cried I have tree plants now and they are not doing well

God, alot of those pics have been like the go-to imagine of what my dream grow is for years every since I saw them on the ayahuasca forums a few years ago or something.

Wow.

Shoot Dozuki.... better you have my green thumb than I have your chemistry skills.... I'd have been dead a decade ago
we both know that!!!!

ohh cool Jamie, I'm happy you were on the Ayahuasca forums, that used to be a really active place, it has kinda been stagnant for a bit tho, might need to *spice* it up eh?

Smoker, I wish I coulda afforded you in those days! sadly, I could barely feed my family, which was obviously why I moved up and on. At least I got to raise my kids there for the first many years. I remember a college class came to study the ferns I was growing and I sent my 5 year old to get a Pteris vittata out of the one house. She explained to them that Pteris was greek for "winged" and thus "fern" you can't put a value on that.

Ice house, not so comfortable with actual locations, but "the deepest redneck infested south" will have to do... I gotta shave my head and everything. I don't know how much more I've actually got to add... the rest of my experience is more based on "the places I've been" and that is obviously subject to debate as all religious theorems are.

That is really awesome. Definitely something that i aspire to achieve someday. Maybe not on a commercial scale, but i would love to have my own greenhouse or two. Glad to have you on board!

I have a vegetable garden somewhere with s mall old greenhouse. I use that for tomatoes, paprika and such things. This makes me want to expand with another greenhouse and start a small ethnobotanical garden. But climate would limit my options considerably I suppose. Many people who live in warmer climates should set something up. It doesn't have to be very big. But it is always wise to prepare for bad times. What if the man decides to prohibit all kinds of species? At least you will have already an underground in place.

Thanks for sharing the inspirational pics Ringworm! I'm currently working on a Master's degree in Social Anthropology but I've been thinking lately about pursuing a marketable skill-set that would allow me to generate income and self-fulfillment outside the domain of academia. With that in mind, and considering your experience, I was wondering if you could possibly offer me some suggestions for getting into the plant industry? I'd be more interested in propagation/cultivation than research or landscaping but am really open to anything at this point. I thought that pursuing a horticulture diploma might be a good start, your thoughts? Also, if anyone else has anything to say on this topic I'd really appreciate it! (P.S. Please excuse my hijacking of your thread)

xanthos, not to be negative about the situation, but unless you go huge, there isn't a huge amount of money in the plant business.

If I was in your situation, I'd probably get a part time (weekend?) job at a local nursery during the busy season. Most places are dying to hire someone who doesn't need year round work.
I'd learn as much as a could and maybe grow some plants for resale on ebay, maybe later develop a webpage.
However, I would not quit your dayjob, the easiest way to ruin a hobby is to make it pay the bills.

Good luck, and if you ever need any help lemme know, I've worked in all aspects of this field.
Rw

This looks like the dreamfarm.. well from a hyperspiced point of view of course.
Wish you good luck in your future endeavors !

Sound advice from a master grower.

Not to pry, but how did come about that you're into metal working and engines?

Was always an interest. I just never had the chance to do it very profitably until recently. It ended up being VERY profitable, so I'm slowly working back into getting to plants as a hobby.

I do not ever want to look at a plant and *need it to grow* so I could sell it. A hobby becomes a prison very quickly in that situation.

"I do not ever want to look at a plant and *need it to grow* so I could sell it. "

That possibility has never entered my mind before. I work in auto now. It pays OK now but I am losing ground.
When I saw this post I went "Bong! I can do that! It be fun!!!"
And I want it to continue to be fun.
Thanks for the perspective.

Yeah, it was a major problem I ran myself into.

I enjoyed growing plants for many years, but *using* them to pay the bills, and being tied down to a place wasn't something I figured.
I would have to choose very hard things like: "do I go to grandma's funeral 1000miles away and loose 2,000plants or do I stay here?"

Best bet is to keep it a hobby until you are unable to. Of course everyone's lessons come differently and everyone's experience is different as well.

good luck!
Rw