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Nursery Manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted Experts
Bradley Rowe Ph.D.,
Kamel Didan Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical nursery manager skills. We ranked the top skills for nursery managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 20.0% of nursery manager resumes contained customer service as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a nursery manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 nursery manager skills for your resume and career

1. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how nursery managers use customer service:
  • Coordinate clerical, record-keeping, inventory, requisitioning and marketing activities with strong focus on customer service.
  • Coordinate merchandise transactions within the Nursery and supervise/train four employees on customer service and nursery operations.

2. Greenhouse

A greenhouse is an enclosed structure - a wall and a roof, generally covered mainly with glass, plastic, or fiberglass, and provides regulated climatic conditions - temperature, humidity, ventilation to protect tender plants or out-of-season plants against heat or cold.

Here's how nursery managers use greenhouse:
  • Improved energy displacement which reduced monthly expenditures in greenhouse environment.
  • Headed the germination and raising of annuals and perennials from seed/root stock to adult plants within greenhouse and outside for sale.

3. Nursery Stock

Here's how nursery managers use nursery stock:
  • Gained further knowledge of all local Nursery Stock.
  • Maintained 13 irrigated rows of nursery stock.

4. Plant Care

Here's how nursery managers use plant care:
  • Give advice on plant diseases and other areas of plant care like how to use fertilizers, weed control etc.
  • Performed General maintenance and plant care duties, and worked as a team to ensure they are completed.

5. Plant Material

Here's how nursery managers use plant material:
  • Maintained and preserved health of plant materials in 4 large tree fields as well as eight large hoop houses.
  • Managed sales staff, landscape foremen and yard crew, assisted designers in site work and plant material selection.

6. Pest Management

Here's how nursery managers use pest management:
  • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
  • Developed first Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for all city greenhouses (covering 45,000 sq.

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7. Pest Control

Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest, a member of the animal kingdom that impacts human activities adversely. Pest control specialists go to client's homes and businesses to inspect for insects or rodents. They then use the appropriate method to remove or terminate the pest, whether that requires a pesticide, trap, or another technique.

Here's how nursery managers use pest control:
  • Applied modern chemical and biological methods of pest control and plant diseases.
  • Perform all aspects of fine gardening including pruning, irrigation, fertilizing, pest control and general plant care and gardening.
Select Skills To Add To Your Resume

8. Retail Sales

Retail sales are the method to track consumer demand for finished goods by assessing the purchases of durable and non-durable products over a definite period. Data on retail sales is accumulated monthly by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

Here's how nursery managers use retail sales:
  • Supervised and participated in nursery retail sales.
  • Retail sales of a broad spectrum of tropical and subtropical plants, fertilizers, soil amendments, and ornamental garden fixtures.

9. Nursery Operations

Here's how nursery managers use nursery operations:
  • Prioritized and organized daily nursery operations
  • Coordinated all retail nursery operations Established and maintained an exceptional customer base in a new facility

10. Payroll

Payroll is the sum of all the compensation that an organization has to pay to employees at a specified time. Payroll is managed by the finance or HR department while small business owners may handle it themselves. Payroll isn't fixed as it varies every month due to sick leaves, overtime, etc.

Here's how nursery managers use payroll:
  • Coordinated staff payroll, scheduling and training.
  • Performed payroll filings, state and federal.

11. Irrigation Systems

Irrigation is the process of providing water to the soil through artificial means using pumps, tubes, and sprays. It is common in areas where rainfall is irregular, weather is dry, or land is prone to droughts. Irrigation helps to maintain landscapes, grow crops, and revegetate land in dry areas. It is not uncommon to see irrigation used for dust suppression, cooling livestock, disposal of sewage, and mining.

Here's how nursery managers use irrigation systems:
  • Maintain irrigation systems including irrigation pond and wells.
  • Repair irrigation systems and landscaped nursery.

12. Delivery Truck

Here's how nursery managers use delivery truck:
  • Assist in the harvesting and packing of products and loading of delivery truck.
  • Operated three delivery trucks, 2 skid steers, a front-end loader, topsoil screener, and track hoe.

13. Landscape Design

Landscape Design refers to the planning of how a lawn or yard will be designed. This may include what shrubbery and plants will be planted at different areas in the garden or yard in addition to any designs to the grass itself. Regardless of the exterior surface, landscape designers must consider how the yard is designed through elements of simplicity, emphasis, balance, variety, and others.

Here's how nursery managers use landscape design:
  • Gather customer information/telephone/name to follow up for a free estimated Landscape Design.
  • Collaborated with customers on landscape designs and placement.

14. Inventory Control

Here's how nursery managers use inventory control:
  • Maintain quality and inventory control.
  • Created purchase orders, submitted for payment, posted P.O.s to Point of Sale system and inventory control ledger.

15. Blowers

Here's how nursery managers use blowers:
  • Operated and maintained nursery machinery and equipment such as ditch witch, mowers, trimmers, blowers, and tractors.
  • Leaf blowers, sidewalk sweepers, and bushhogs.
top-skills

What skills help Nursery Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on Nursery Manager resumes?

B

Bradley Rowe Ph.D.

Professor, Michigan State University

The skills they are looking for are teachable, enthusiastic, and dedicated to the job. Knowledge of landscape design and installation or how to grow a plant is a bonus. There aren't enough qualified people to fill the needs of the industry. NALP (National Association of Landscaper Professionals) considers it their biggest problem.

What Nursery Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

K

Kamel Didan Ph.D.Kamel Didan Ph.D. LinkedIn Profile

Associate Professor, Director - Vegetation Index and Phenology Lab, The University of Arizona

In the engineering field and Ag, in particular, we are moving to a more complex 'sensors and data' driven world where workers (graduates) are expected to manage and work on more than the traditional this is my "specialty and field of expertise." So the recommendation would be to get exposed to and acquire more skills and knowledge around sensors, data, intelligent systems, robotics, etc. These could either be acquired with self-paced open-access learning, via traditional education, but more importantly, through hands-on internships, and summer and research jobs.

What type of skills will young Nursery Managers need?

J
Over the last decade or so, the field of soil sciences has gotten really competitive. The good news is that it's also broadened in its scope, particularly in applied fields. A budding graduate student in the field of soil sciences should constantly be asking the question, "how is my research going to help humanity"? Is it going to improve the environment? is it going to feed millions more? Is it going to mitigate climate change? A young graduate will be improving their chances if they have been able to demonstrate the applied aspect of their research. Another key skill is to graduate with a minor or a specialized certificate in addition to their majors. This often gives an edge to candidates when applying for Ph.D. or postdoctoral positions. Finally, it is important that the student can look at the "big picture;" be able to connect their research and link it to another system. Taking a systems-approach from the start may sometimes help in achieving this. Be prepared to travel, explore, ask the tough questions, and strive to answer them. Don't be limited by the expertise and resources of your advisor. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate...

List of nursery manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a nursery manager resume and required skills for a nursery manager to have include:

  • Customer Service
  • Greenhouse
  • Nursery Stock
  • Plant Care
  • Plant Material
  • Pest Management
  • Pest Control
  • Retail Sales
  • Nursery Operations
  • Payroll
  • Irrigation Systems
  • Delivery Truck
  • Landscape Design
  • Inventory Control
  • Blowers
  • IPM
  • Plant Knowledge
  • Plant Identification
  • Pigs
  • Plant Selection
  • Cultural Practices
  • Plant Inventory
  • QuickBooks
  • Plant Health
  • Child Care
  • Customer Sales
  • Weed Control
  • Plant Production
  • Disease Control
  • Customer Relations
  • Trade Shows
  • Customer Complaints
  • Front Desk
  • Inventory Management
  • Hard Goods
  • Customer Inquiries
  • HR
  • Bank Deposits
  • Plant Stock
  • General Maintenance
  • Facebook
  • Children Ages
  • Landscape Plants
  • Repeat Business
  • Wholesale Sales

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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