Advertise in trade publications. Offer an attractive position. If you can't afford professional-level compensation you will probably have to settle for less than a fully trained professional (or technician). There might also be someone on the market who you can start out with less pay etc. and train yourself to become your right hand, pay more as they generate production that provides the income needed.

I'm trying to decide what to go back to school for. I like to garden, and I'm close to NC State. Would I need a 4-year-degree or 2-year. Is it a problem if math isn't a strength? Latin terminology is right up my alley. What kind of person would enjoy this work? What are the problems?

Is there a future in this career, or will the work be sent overseas before I can retire? Can I make a decent living, bearing mind I'd be starting back to school at 45 years of age?

One of the best pluses about horticulture is that it's really hard to outsource. People offshore obviously can't care for gardens in your town, and plants don't enjoy lengthy shipping from overseas.

You mentioned cloning yourself. That sort of illustrates the problem in that a clone of you would also feel capable of having his own nursery. Then there are two of you both looking for the other and neither of you willing to be the employee of the other.

It is the same in the landscape business. Those that are very capable feel that it is better to be making the profit as well as the wage.

Ask yourself what it would take for you to go work for another nursery. Can you offer that situation to someone else?

"One of the best pluses about horticulture is that it's really hard to outsource. People offshore obviously can't care for gardens in your town, and plants don't enjoy lengthy shipping from overseas."

Oh boy, I am going to have to differ with you on this issue. Outsourcing has hit the floriculture industry with giant impacts. It has nearly anihilated the U.S. cut flower industry. The plants ship quite well, thanks to air freight and refrigeration. The American growers practically begged Uncle Sam to step in and regulate imports in this area, because we were getting dumped upon. They didn't and so our cut flower industry is history.

Now, plant propagation? Oh boy, yes it is becoming more and more outsourced. Major growers like Ecke headed to Guatemala and put their money there for growth and jobs......thank you very much. Stock plants are grown outside the US and shipped in to American Rooting stations. So, plant propagation is very much outsourced.

Even the plants in Middle America's supermarkets and boxes are likely to come from somewhere other than the United States. Over the last ten years Canadian imports of floriculture products (like potted plants) has DOUBLED whilst the U.S. imports of same has remained static. I still would like to know how Canada can grow those things more cheaply and compete, but they do.

I think we'll need to outsource the politicians' jobs before they will take notice of the problem.

calliope, thanks for the info - I had no idea! I had noticed that some retail plants have come from Canada, and I had the same thought - how DO they pay for heat and shipping???

Maybe it's just me, but it seems that any hort jobs I see advertised that sound halfway interesting offer a pay rate around $8-10 an hour. I'm not actively looking to be somebody's employee, but if I were, I'd look at the pay rate to figure out if the employer was seriously interested in finding a knowledgeable and/or experienced person vs. looking for unskilled labor. I wouldn't expect to get the $40-50 an hour I could make on my own, but maybe $20-30 an hour with benefits would make me give it a second glance.

If I were the person running the business and looking for employees, I'd call around to landscape contractors and designers and ask if they had any colleagues they could recommend, and also ask about the going rate of pay. If you're in a town with a botanical garden, perhaps some of the volunteer propagators there would be interested in a part-time (or more) paying job. Instead of calling, visit -- develop a relationship with people who can refer you to likely candidates. Are there native plant societies or garden clubs? Some of these people may have enough experience to make it worthwhile for you. Or you can post an ad at local plant nurseries, not the big-box or chain or boutique stores, but the ones that experienced gardeners would be likely to visit for tools, seeds, or garden talks.

I think you might do well looking for people with life experience who are looking for part-time work. Stay-at-home moms who are looking to re-enter the work force, especially if you can schedule their work hours so they match when the kids are in school, tend to be grateful to get out working again, and many of them have been garden hobbyists for years. Retirees who still have the physical stamina for the work are another good group to look for.

You can place a classified ad and mention that the above groups of people are encouraged to apply.

My experience has been in retail garden center and interior landscaping, not propagation, but starting salaries are at or only slightly above McDonald's, and I'm guessing the pay eventually maxes out at about $17 to $20, unless you are the owner or a high-level manager in a huge, affluent corporation. If you want more than that, be prepared to work for yourself, but when you get big enough to need to hire help, you're back in the sticky situation that started this whole discussion!

Most people who are experienced enough to do propagation work at least typically end up with year-round jobs. In my area, the pay is higher than the unskilled, but not by that much........we were just thankful to be working when everybody else was on lay-off. LOL.

I used to hedge my bets by getting every certification I could cram in, like pesticide applicator,certified nurseryman, etc. when everybody else I worked with went home and crashed, I was studying. Unless you are a major producer, with a big operation, there is no way you are going to get the kind of money in this industry you should be for your education and experience.

If I were you, I'd be looking for somebody who actually likes working the plants. Someone who knows enough to put the green side up and train them the way you want them to learn. Then treat them well. You may have to kiss a few toads before you find the prince, but there is usually somebody "right" for a job even if they don't get mega moolah, even if it's just for the stuff they'll learn and eventually move on. I don't resent hiring people part time knowing they'll leave me when they get out of the job the experience they need. You both benefit in the interim, if they're smart and a quick study. Heck, I write them letters of reference.

Laag nailed it. These jobs typically don't pay well, so workers have to scrabble to cobble together a living. (The local grower pays minimum wage to $8/hr, and while there are benefits including health coverage, the jobs here are seasonal for outdoor-plant species, and propagators get laid off in winter, losing their benefits as well as wage.)

Highly skilled propagators would want a bigger piece of the pie and an incentive to stay on instead of start their own business. Profit sharing and bonuses that reflect the success of the business would be a good incentive.

We are at a juncture where we can complain about a lack of qualified applicants, or we can get creative.

If you think this industry is alone about complaining about the dire shortage of qualified applicants, think again. Nearly every business in every industry has the same issue.

There is an essay in book called The Wizard of Ads (by Roy H. Williams) called "A Message to Garcia". Written shortly after the Spanish-American War, the message of this essay resonates perhaps more strongly today than when it was written. I encourage you to read this essay and the book.

Now as to your problem...

Start not only with the local state university with a hort program, but also every two and four year school, and high schools in larger communities with in a few hundred miles that have a hort program.

Next step, state nursery association.

Next step, newspapers and online job boards. Don't forget the state workforce development/unemployment offices/whatever it's called in your state. Also include monster.com, hortjobs.com, hotjobs.com, any others that seem to attract attention and traffic in your area.

Next step, the national publications, greenbeam (Nursery Manager and the like); greenbeam.com and seek what you want. American Nurseryman.

Don't forget to woo your prospective employee. Why should they work for you? What can you offer them that wouldn't find elsewhere? Challenges unique to the business, opportunities of growth, and don't fool yourself into believing that pay and benefits will not be a major issue.

The larger nursery companies in this country can easily absorb every single hort grad every single year. How can you hope to offer someone graduating with student loans, car payments, and rent, before you think about little things like food and insurance and maybe a new pair of boots once a year, a chance to make a living?

Tell me a little about your nursery. What is your current level and what is your next level? What areas of growth do you intend to pursue? What is your market? Do you see that changing, evolving, shrinking, growing? What are your ultimate goals?

Treat this like a date...you want to be impressed by them, but you also have to impress them.