Skip to main content
A-Z Index Calendar Directory Portal Shop
Home / Academics / Careers / Nursery Workers Career

Example Career: Nursery Workers

Career Description

Work in nursery facilities or at customer location planting, cultivating, harvesting, and transplanting trees, shrubs, or plants.

What Job Titles Nursery Workers Might Have

  • Gardener
  • Greenhouse Worker
  • Grower
  • Nursery Worker

What Nursery Workers Do

  • Plant, spray, weed, fertilize, and water plants, shrubs, and trees, using hand tools and gardening tools.
  • Harvest plants, and transplant or pot and label them.
  • Clean work areas, and maintain grounds and landscaping.
  • Sell and deliver plants and flowers to customers.
  • Sow grass seed, or plant plugs of grass.
  • Regulate greenhouse conditions, and indoor and outdoor irrigation systems.
  • Cut, roll, and stack sod.
  • Feel plants' leaves and note their coloring to detect the presence of insects or disease.
  • Provide information and advice to the public regarding the selection, purchase, and care of products.
  • Maintain and repair irrigation and climate control systems.
  • Dig, cut, and transplant seedlings, cuttings, trees, and shrubs.
  • Fill growing tanks with water.
  • Record information about plants and plant growth.
  • Maintain inventory, ordering materials as required.
  • Dig, rake, and screen soil, filling cold frames and hot beds in preparation for planting.
  • Inspect plants and bud ties to assess quality.
  • Trap and destroy pests, such as moles, gophers, and mice, using pesticides.
  • Move containerized shrubs, plants, and trees, using wheelbarrows or tractors.
  • Tie and bunch flowers, plants, shrubs, and trees, wrap their roots, and pack them into boxes to fill orders.
  • Haul and spread topsoil, fertilizer, peat moss, and other materials to condition soil, using wheelbarrows or carts and shovels.
  • Operate tractors and other machinery and equipment to fertilize, cultivate, harvest, and spray fields and plants.

What Nursery Workers Should Be Good At

  • Static Strength - The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing.

What Nursery Workers Should Be Interested In

  • Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Sun iconThis career has a bright outlook.
Median Salary: $22,000

This page includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.