Salary
Average Salary: $40,470
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $1,689,000
Like almost all other horticultural industries, wholesale nurseries aren't very lucrative for those who do all the hard work there. Those who own the nurseries may earn a good living, but most typically earn less than what other business people in other industries earn. Sadly, the less reputable factory growers are more lucrative and can offer better benefits.
Wholesale nurseries with slower turnover have more automated irrigation systems. (The plant material doesn't come and go quite as actively as it does in retail nurseries. It sits around long enough to be plugged into irrigation systems.) Consequently, there are fewer jobs for "hosers," those quiet high school kids who keep everything watered through the heat of summer.
However, there are probably as many comparably tedious jobs for newcomers to start out with at not much more than minimum wage. An abundance of cheap labor keeps wages about as low as they can be for a few years afterward.
After a few years of low-paying, unglamorous work, there's plenty of other nearly as low-paying and comparably unglamorous work that might pay enough to justify such a job. Annual income may be from $25,000 to $30,000 for a few years after getting this far (source). Yeah, it's not much, but at least you're surrounded by greenery.
Good, loyal employees eventually get small raises until they might be earning $40,000 annually. It's not a terrible salary for one person, but if you're trying to feed a family, you might have to start pinching some pennies.
Even the more indispensable employees don't earn much, and might max out at $50,000 (source). (You might just hit a ceiling, not unlike the tallest trees in the nursery.) Because the work is so demanding and involves working long hours, there's not much opportunity to earn more income from other side jobs or part time work.
Those who own wholesale nurseries often earn about the same as the employees who work there. Their only advantage is that there's a bit of security in their capital investment. Exceptional businessmen can easily earn more than $50,000, and some make two or three times as much (source).
Factory-type wholesale nurseries are typically much more lucrative, but only for the corporation that owns them. Those who work there can snag some sweet benefits, but suffer from a lousy salary.
To make matters worse, nurseries both wholesale and retail take a serious blow when the economy goes bad. Since most grow and market plants that are merely luxury items, their business slows down when money needs to be spent on more important commodities. Like movie tickets and home entertainment systems.
Then, there are the environmental regulations. Not using crazy poisons that could contaminate groundwater is great, but going au naturale can make it harder to control infections and infestations.
Laws restrict the chemicals that nurseries can use, where and how they can get their water, and even the places they can sell their commodities to. If there's some nasty bug devastating a plant population, the region might be put under quarantine to prevent it from spreading. That's good news for all the other growers, but terrible news for you.
Most wholesale nurserymen enjoy their work too much to complain about how little money they earn. This is a lifestyle, not just a career. Maybe it doesn't finance many fancy vacations or expensive psychotherapy, but who needs those when you're working a low-stress job that you love?