The necessities in pearl farming

[Kevin 53]

What are some of the necessities for pearl farming, everything that I will need to star my own farm

[Caitlin]

First, start with knowledge.

There are two textbooks you should read:
Pearls by Elisabeth Strack which would be "pearls 101"
and
The Pearl Oyster edited by a couple of guys and fairly technical which would be "pearls 102"

The second one is available through Amazon, but read Strack first. Maybe from the GIA? It is sometimes hard to get.

Each one costs around $130 with postage.

Then, start asking questions.

You do not even seem to know what questions to ask, right now, so you need knowledge, first.

[pearlescence]

Where are you planning to site your farm?

[Kevin 53]

I plan on starting one in North Carolina with stiff pen shells to produce black pearls
And thank you Caitlin for the advice!

[KarinK]

Hi Kevin,

There is a lot of information on this site too. You can start reading one thread after the other from the beginning. You'll learn a ton that way.

- Karin

[KarinK]

PS

There is even a thread called Pearl Farming.

- Karin

[GemGeek]

Those pearls have a lot of protein and have a pronounced tendency to crack. Some fellows in Florida tried to culture blister pearls with penns, but they did not have any commercial success. But if you want to try it, best wishes for success.

[LANIFAILEE]

I am also new to this forum and am looking to start up my own business sometime in the future. I have been doing research on the process and the different types of pearling techniques and so on, but when it comes to the actual getting started part, everything that i have read so far has been very vague. I ordered those two books that was mentioned earlier on in the thread. So i am going to start reading as soon as i get them, but i want to know what else i could be doing in the meantime to help educate myself? And also it seems that most of you guys are from australia and overseas. I am from the us so will you all still be able to give me advice relative to my geographic location? Thank you

[Caitlin]

Hi and welcome! Two of you! My goodness!

I would recommend you both go to the Sea of Cortez pearl farm in Guaymas Mexico. It is a 6 hour bus ride south from Tucson,but they also have an airport.

But, before that, if you want to know what they do, check out the threads about them here. Ask questions here for them -and maybe inquire about their special pearl weekends when several people will spend the weekend in Guaymas getting to know the farm and the 3 owners, one of whom, Douglas McClaren, speaks English perfectly. You will not find more experienced pearl farmers in the world and they also culture a unique pearl species, the pteria sterna.
lanifailee, what kind of pearls are you thinking of?



We have a lot of pages n them here, too. With protos and everything.