A plant nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired age until it can be transplanted or sold. For a family in Northern Mindanao, a plant nursery is their primary source of income that has gotten them through life and trying times.
Located in Don Carlos Norte, Bukidnon, the Badion Plant Nursery has been operating since 1980 as one of the pioneer propagators in the region.
“We sell a wide range of fruit-bearing tree seedlings, forest tree seedlings, flowering tree seedlings, and seeds. Our services have reached Luzon, Visayas, and, of course, Mindanao,” said Aluestra Bagas Badion, the current owner and proprietor of Badion Plant Nursery.
Sprouted from her parents’ hard work
According to Badion, grafting seedlings was first introduced by Segundino P. Violon, the late founder of God’s Universal Brotherhood, Inc.
“Only a few were given the chance and opportunity to be taught about seedlings preparation and luckily one of them was my beloved father: Cleto Badion,” the nursery’s current proprietor said.
She also said that her late father started to grow mango seeds via trial and error. He first placed them in seedbeds while waiting for months for their stems to be ready for grafting.
“After six months, he grafted the mango seedlings (with now developed stems) with another mango variety, the carabao mango. Luckily, it grew healthily and since then, he decided to grow other kinds of fruit-bearing trees,” Badion said.
With his wife, Elvira Badion, the patriarch began marketing their seedlings by “suroy-suroy” or peddling.
“Our nursery became the bread and butter of the family. When there is a sale, there is food to eat. When there are extra sales, that would be allocated for clothing and other necessities. Our parents managed to send us to school and we thankfully finished our college degree relying only on selling seedlings,” Badion said.
Continuing the legacy
Despite having earned so much from their plant nursery, the current proprietor expressed that the family has encountered obstacles and challenges when the family patriarch passed away.
“ a failure in the propagation, diseases attacked our seedlings, the demand of seedlings became low, and the rising numbers of competitors. But with the ‘never say die’ attitude of the Badion family, we overcame all of it with smiles on our faces,” Badion said.
She added that perseverance, hard work, patience, and teamwork are the main factors that kept their nursery afloat throughout the years.
“ siblings, alongside our mother, continued our nursery. My brothers Sourieto, Soulieto and Junos are the ones in charge of the seeds and seedlings preparation while I’m on the marketing side,” Badion said.
At present the main branch of the family’s nursery is situated in Don Carlos Norte, Bukidnon where the propagation and preparation takes place. But two years ago, the family successfully opened their first branch in Diversion Road, Zone 1, Bayabas, Cagayan de Oro City.
Their second branch opened only last year at Sinai, Laguindingan in Misamis Oriental.
“For now, we are preparing to open our third branch at Balingasag, Misamis Oriental fairly soon,” Badion said.
She shared that the keys to making a nursery grow is through perseverance, motivation, hard work, patience, and a positive attitude.
“In doing business, it’s a give and take relationship where if you do good things, then good things also await you,” the plant nursery proprietor said.
For more information, visit Badion Plant Nursery on Facebook.