Sales by Nurseries Wilt as County Roads Wash Out in the Rain

You would think the rain would bring mostly good news for Orange County’s largest agricultural industry, but no such luck. Nursery stock and cut flower growers, who generated revenue of $141 million in 1991--the most recent figure available from the Orange County Agricultural Commission--have had their share of problems.

The rain makes the ground soft and muddy. The 40-foot truck trailers that visit fields to collect the trees slip and slide. Also, the rain has washed out some roads.

Greg Applegate, a salesman at SeaTree Nurseries Inc. in Irvine, said the company will be lifting some large trees by crane today to get them past a washout near its 100-acre San Juan Capistrano lot. The trees are scheduled for delivery to Las Vegas.

But for the most part, the rain has slowed business to a standstill, said Joe Brosius, production manager for Magic Growers in Pasadena and an officer of the California Assn. of Nurserymen. “Nobody buys anything when it’s this wet,” he said.