Tom has been involved in the nursery business since 1973. At that time, he was a freshman in high school and rode his skateboard to work. Since then he has worked for several different nurseries including Nogales Nursery where he learned landscape design, installation, irrigation and construction. Armstrong Nurseries where he worked with hybridizers, growers and retail on the weekends. La Verne Nursery which specializes in Avocado, Citrus, Sub-Tropical fruit trees and grafted ornamentals, where he was general manager for 20 years. And currently southwestern sales manager for Dave Wilson Nursery.

Dave Wilson Nursery is the largest grower of fruit, nut and shade trees in the USA. They grow 10,500,000 plus trees per year and ships wholesale worldwide. Over the past 20 years Tom has also done television, video, radio, written, conducted workshops and lectured on the concepts of Backyard Orchard Culture and fruit growing in general. Tom's dedication and passion for quality fruit growing has taken him to dozens of states in the USA as well as several countries around the globe to consult and lecture on fruit trees and fruit growing concepts. 

IN THIS PODCAST: Greg and Tom share their passion for fruit trees and talk about some of the resources that home orchard growers have through Dave Willson Nursery and online. Tom talks about some of the learning experiences he has had over the years and a couple of pet projects at the Nursery including an online video library for backyard growers as well as a small orchard experiment with its real world challenges.  He also explains about hybridization and how that is different from genetic modification.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/01/tom-spellman-2/ for show notes and links.