FAQ’s

Plants and Nursery

Sure! Tell us about your site and existing plants and we will do our best to offer advice.

We are always interested to hear about new useful plants. If the plant you are after is a good fit with our nursery range and it is listed on the MPI Biosecurity Index as ‘Basic’, then we may be able to try and source it for you. Please contact us with your query.

At this time the nursery is not open to the public, except by prior arrangement to collect pre-paid orders. Also, our scheduled tours and courses all include a tour of the nursery.

All of our nursery stock is certified organic with Organic Farm New Zealand (Producer number 1360) apart from a few of our microgreens. These few exceptions are due to not being able to source organic seed, however the plants are still grown in organic media and subject to all our other usual procedures so you can rest assured they are just as healthy and do not contain any ‘nasties’!

Of course we are more than happy to help you make the right choices for your site!

Yes we can supply bulk orders in small grades of some species, particularly those which are suited to mass plantings such as the groundcover species and some companion plants. Usually these are grown to order although occasionally we may carry spares. Minimum orders of any one species apply.  Please contact us with your query.

Sorry no, we don’t sell any harvested products, fresh or dried.

Many of our plants are grown from seed, some of which we harvest ourselves from the farm, and some of which we buy in either from within New Zealand or from overseas. Other plants are grown by various methods of vegetative propagation from our own plant material.   We are in the process of setting up new mother herb gardens to increase the number of our stock plants for plant material including seed. Finally there are a number of species which we buy in from other nurseries and and grow on here until they are a plantable size and have gained organic certification with us.

No do we not sell seeds of any product, only plants. Sorry but we cannot make any exceptions.

The Farm

The farm is not open to the public except for scheduled tours and courses. Other tours can be arranged for private groups, please contact us for more information.

We are grateful to the many ‘wwoofers’ and volunteers who have helped over the years to make the farm what it is today. We are no longer members of the formal WWOOF scheme but we do occasionally take people on a wwoofing basis, and we are always keen to hear from potential volunteers who live locally. Please see our Volunteering page for more information.

No, we are a certified organic nursery and permaculture farm in Hawke’s Bay. There is another Kahikatea Farm near Whakatane which offers glamping.

Permaculture

Permaculture comes from the words ‘permanent’ and ‘agriculture’ and was devised by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s as a way to grow food in a sustainable way. It has broadened to encompass all aspects of holistic design as applied to growing food, utilising water in the landscape, building shelter, resilience and disaster planning, re-invigorating community, ethical economics and more. It is based on a set of ethics – Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share, and a set of principles. The principles come from a keen observation of nature, and seek to mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature. When we are designing something we always ask ‘How does nature do it?’ Does nature leave the soil bare? No. Does nature require outside inputs? No. Is nature based on biological resources? Yes. I highly recommend the website Permaculture Principles, and of course we’d love to welcome you on one of our own Introduction to Permaculture courses here at Kahikatea Farm – see our courses page for more info.

Ordering and Freighting

No, there is no minimum order, we can still send one plant, but of course the freight costs are proportionally higher.

We can freight our plants to any address in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Different rates apply depending on how many plants you order, the type of plants, and whether you are urban or rural. Freight rates will be applied once you have placed an order but before invoicing.  We cannot ship overseas.

Browse through our selection of plants in the ‘shop’ and add the items you want to your cart. 

Complete the checkout process. This will show your cart total (without shipping costs).

We will review your order and once confirmed you will be emailed an invoice with shipping costs added. 

You can pay the invoice by online bank deposit. Once your payment has cleared we will send your order the Monday or Tuesday following receipt or proof of payment (or once the plants are ready for shipping as advised on your invoice).

Our courier days for sending parcels are Monday and Tuesday. Items will not be posted until payment has been received. If you are local you may prefer to collect and pay for your plants at Cornucopia in Hastings where we deliver once a week or once a fortnight depending on the season.

Delivery: We can freight all over the country – our plants have gone to the far south, the far north and offshore to Great Barrier, Waiheke and Kawau Islands!  Please note we cannot send to a PO Box, we require a physical address.  Our courier days for sending parcels are generally Monday and Tuesday. Items will not be posted until payment has been received. If you are local you may prefer to collect and pay for your plants at Cornucopia Organics in Hastings or The Organic Grocer in Waipawa.

Basic guidelines for freight and packing charges are as follows, but sometimes we can get more or less in a box depending on the size of the plants.

Hastings/Havelock North/Napier area (non-rural):
Small box (up to 9 x 9cm pots) $10.00
Large box (trees, or up to  24 x 9cm pots, ) $12.00

North Island:
Small box (up to 9 x 9cm pots) $13.50
Large box (up to  24 x 9cm pots) $24.00
Excess freight for trees and shrubs $11.20 – $19.20 depending on height

South Island:
Small box (up to 9 x 9cm pots) $13.50
Large box (up to 24 x 9cm pots) $41.00
Excess freight for trees and shrubs $11.20 – $19.20 depending on height

Rural Delivery:
Add $7.80 per box