What do you do with leftover seedlings?

[Ruth_10]

Those of you who sell them, what do you charge per plant?

I save some as backups, bring some to family if we are traveling that way at the right time, and give some to co-workers. After sharing excess tomatoes at work last summer, a number of people expressed interest and I plan on giving them some seedlings. In the future, I wouldn't mind making them more generally available for a reasonable price, a reasonable price being one that would at least cover my costs.

[Hilde]

So many good ideas here! Thanks guys for sharing!

Hilde

[jwr6404]

This will be the first year I've been faced with this problem as I had never been successful at growing seeds in the past. This year I have 97 plants with 20 varieties. Only have room for 13 plants,with me it is always feast or famine no matter what I try to do.
Jim

[Doris]

I usually wind up giving about 6 or 8 plants to my son, my niece, a neighbor and a friend.............(the friend had asked me last year if I
grew any of those 'antique' tomatoes) I do keep a few onhand in case any that have been planted have trouble. If all is well, I find a spot to plant them.
.........Doris, NJ

[duajones]

I was able to give away most of what I had leftover including a set of JD's Special C- Tex that was part of a germination test late in the game. I am especially excited about a few plants that I shipped to a fellow Tville member and hope that the plants do well for him. On the other hand, some of my surrogate plants have not faired well at all including the ones I gave my neighbor that I mentioned in my virus thread. My other surrogates are reportedly doing mediocre, but hopefully things will improve. Overall, plants that I have given to friends and such the past couple years have not faired well for whatever reason. I am clueless as to why but I will continue to give plants away in the future.

[Worth1]

So far I have planted around 200 plants and have sold or given away over 100 18 inch tall plants, the rest will go where my radish patch is to just sprawl and run wild.8)

Worth

[jhp]

I give them to family, friends, co-workers, clients, and my husbands co-workers. Last year, I gave about a dozen to a local retirement community for their kitchen garden. I probably could have given more to the residents for their patios, as the few sitting outside when I showed up, seemed very excited about the plants.

My husbands co-workers are so cute about their plants. They all went out to lunch together and were all excited about how good the seedlings looked. Unfortunately, after adoption, they're out of my hands. Some got eaten by deer, some got forgotten about and not watered and some did really well. I'm hoping people learn from their mistakes and do better next time, but I don't worry about it once they're gone, I'm done.

Jen

[Tomstrees]

I have a program called "no seedling left behind" -
so once all of my plants are tucked in and ready for the season,
I bring my extras to:

Family
Friends
Co-workers
Associates
Neighbors

Its fun and as long as I "try" to get some folks into gardening -

~ Tom

[harleysilo]

Wow there are a lot of people in my very same situation posting in this thread. I have 78 good looking seedlings, room for 22. My parents don't want them, so I 'll be giving a few to my neighbor, a few to my co-workers and I think I may drop some off at my mechanic's.....

[feldon30]

The problem is, I cannot in good conscience give tomato plants to folks in this area 2-3 weeks after it's time to plant because then they are wasting space, time, and fertilizer on plants that won't produce much. And I want to save backups in case we have a freak frost.

[JerryL]

A local neighborhood has a charity fund raiser at the end of May. I donate my extras and they sell them for two bucks a piece. I use it as a tax right off.

Everybody wins.

[PaulF]

Family including my children's in-laws
friends
neighbors who may or may not be friends
co-workers (I still work one day a week at the local newspaper)
friends of my family
friends of friends of my family

this year my wife's garden club asked me to give a presentation on tomatoes, so they are all going to get a plant or two or three whether they want them or not.

everything else will go to a friend who owns a nursery and whatever he can get for them, I take out in trade.

[tomatoguy]

I have accumulated a network of 8-10 growers over the years. They consist of friends, family and co-workers. If I have any leftovers they either go to my growers or to any new folks I have gotten interested in OP varieties. Also, since my job is in road construction, sometimes I find a likely spot for planting a few on the jobsite. If I am on a job that has a trailer, I try to plant a few nearby. Then, anyone who works there can have a fresh tomato or two with their lunch, all summer long. I did that a few years ago when I was working on a large project in Nashville. By the time I was done, I had converted 4 new OP growers.

mater

[Ruth_10]

Hey, Mater, what a cool gesture to plant some at your worksite. A win-win situation for all.

[jhp]

Mater, I often say to my husband as we drive along, "Hey, I could stick some seedlings by the side of the road." I think it would be funny to see tomatoes growing in a spot of unused land. Of course, they probably would never get to grow up full sized. The deer would get 'em first. The only reason I haven't done it yet.