What does a nursery manager do?
Nursery manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real nursery manager resumes:
- Develop and manage plant propagation using hydroponic and soil systems at the college greenhouse.
- Manage and maintain permaculture gardens and environmental educator.
- Leaf blowers, sidewalk sweepers, and bushhogs.
- Direct liaison for state, USDA, and county inspectors.
- Provide training in sales, customer service, promotions and POS merchandising.
- Develop IPM techniques including: mechanical, biological, and chemical control.
- Operate vehicles or power equipment, such as mowers, tractors, electric clippers, or sod cutters.
- Operate and maintain nursery machinery and equipment such as ditch witch, mowers, trimmers, blowers, and tractors.
- Train new employees, make work schedules, order plants for the nursery, and order product for indoor garden section.
- Implement sustainable practices including composting and rain collecting.
- Research and source hydroponic growing equipment for winter installation.
- Start dormitory recycling, cafeteria composting programs, conduct waste audits.
- Enhance environmental sustainability of the garden by applying numerous Permaculture principles to the design.
- Garden and nursery manager/sales specialist, possessing a keen understanding of consumer trends and experience in product merchandising.
- Control application of irrigation, fertilizers, growth regulators and pesticides to follow a conservative IPM strategy that supports beneficial insects.
Nursery manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 20% of Nursery Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Greenhouse, and Nursery Stock. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Mechanical skills, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Nursery Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 20%
Coordinate clerical, record-keeping, inventory, requisitioning and marketing activities with strong focus on customer service.
- Greenhouse, 12%
Improved energy displacement which reduced monthly expenditures in greenhouse environment.
- Nursery Stock, 7%
Gained further knowledge of all local Nursery Stock.
- Plant Care, 4%
Give advice on plant diseases and other areas of plant care like how to use fertilizers, weed control etc.
- Plant Material, 4%
Maintained and preserved health of plant materials in 4 large tree fields as well as eight large hoop houses.
- Pest Management, 4%
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Common skills that a nursery manager uses to do their job include "customer service," "greenhouse," and "nursery stock." You can find details on the most important nursery manager responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a nursery manager to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers monitor and assess the quality of their land or livestock." Nursery managers often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "installed plant material and gained a very knowledgeable data base of plant material. "
Mechanical skills. Another essential skill to perform nursery manager duties is mechanical skills. Nursery managers responsibilities require that "farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers operate complex machinery and occasionally perform routine maintenance." Nursery managers also use mechanical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "developed ipm techniques including: mechanical, biological, and chemical control. "
The three companies that hire the most nursery managers are:
- Speedling Incorporated2 nursery managers jobs
- University of Colorado2 nursery managers jobs
- Univ Of Colorado-Colorado Spgs
1 nursery managers jobs
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Compare different nursery managers
Nursery manager vs. Greenhouse assistant
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nursery manager responsibilities require skills like "greenhouse," "nursery operations," "payroll," and "delivery truck." Meanwhile a typical greenhouse assistant has skills in areas such as "general upkeep," "greenhouse facility," "plant growth," and "seasonal position." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Greenhouse assistants tend to reach similar levels of education than nursery managers. In fact, greenhouse assistants are 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Nursery manager vs. Seed cleaning manager
Each career also uses different skills, according to real nursery manager resumes. While nursery manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer service," "greenhouse," "nursery stock," and "plant care," seed cleaning managers use skills like "cleanliness," "clean carpets," "office buildings," and "overseer."
Seed cleaning managers earn similar levels of education than nursery managers in general. They're 2.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for nursery managers in the next 3-5 years?
Dr. Helen Kraus
Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Alumni Association Distinguished Undergraduate Professor, North Carolina State University
Nursery manager vs. Plant health manager
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from nursery manager resumes include skills like "customer service," "greenhouse," "nursery stock," and "plant care," whereas a plant health manager is more likely to list skills in "dot," "safety program," "cal," and "osha. "
When it comes to education, plant health managers tend to earn higher degree levels compared to nursery managers. In fact, they're 6.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Nursery manager vs. Horticultural manager
Even though a few skill sets overlap between nursery managers and horticultural managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a nursery manager might have more use for skills like "customer service," "greenhouse," "nursery stock," and "plant care." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of horticultural managers require skills like "landscape maintenance," "greenhouse production," "soil amendments," and "vendor contracts. "
Horticultural managers reach similar levels of education compared to nursery managers, in general. The difference is that they're 3.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of nursery manager
Updated January 8, 2025
