what size to re-pot and next soil? - Page 2

Ms. Jitomate · February 16, 2013

Wow, I didn't know you could keep them in small containers for so long, or rather for the height of up to 12". It also looks that the least amount of transplanting the better for me, the customer, and the tomato plant. So, it's better to transplant your seedlings to the pot you are going to sell them in the first place.

Now, I'm wondering, what exactly sets the price of the tomato plants? Height of plant, size of pot, type of plant, ... ?

surf4grrl · February 16, 2013

Price by several things - your location, uniqueness of product, and weeks transplant is at.

6-8 week transplants can go from .99 to $7 a plant - it depends on many factors.

psa · February 21, 2013

I sell my tomato plants at 12"-18" in 3.25" pots at 6-8 weeks old. We've done trials planting various sizes into garden soil and found little difference in plant size, productivity, and time to fruit maturation between plants transplanted deeply from 2.5", 3.25", and gallon pots. They all seem to go through an adjustment to their new soil and then take off when the weather gets warm. We sell in 3.25" pots because that holds better on the shelf, but if I were growing for direct planting I would use long, narrow tubes, I think, and plant at 4 weeks for the most economical, fastest start. Planting into soilless environments and large pots, on the other hand, does seem to benefit more from starting with larger plants, and I do exactly as Tania, transplanting into 1 gallon pots first with 50/50 compost/mix.

Promix for the transplant into 3.25" pots is about half the total cost of producing the plant, unfortunately. I keep trying to come up with ways to bring this cost down, as we expect to use twice as much this year on 11,000 plants.

February 16, 2013	#16
Ms. Jitomate Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: San Gabriel Valley, CA Posts: 99	Wow, I didn't know you could keep them in small containers for so long, or rather for the height of up to 12". It also looks that the least amount of transplanting the better for me, the customer, and the tomato plant. So, it's better to transplant your seedlings to the pot you are going to sell them in the first place. Now, I'm wondering, what exactly sets the price of the tomato plants? Height of plant, size of pot, type of plant, ... ?

February 16, 2013	#17
surf4grrl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: field of dreams Posts: 97	Price by several things - your location, uniqueness of product, and weeks transplant is at. 6-8 week transplants can go from .99 to $7 a plant - it depends on many factors.

February 21, 2013	#18
psa Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: TriCities, WA Posts: 141	I sell my tomato plants at 12"-18" in 3.25" pots at 6-8 weeks old. We've done trials planting various sizes into garden soil and found little difference in plant size, productivity, and time to fruit maturation between plants transplanted deeply from 2.5", 3.25", and gallon pots. They all seem to go through an adjustment to their new soil and then take off when the weather gets warm. We sell in 3.25" pots because that holds better on the shelf, but if I were growing for direct planting I would use long, narrow tubes, I think, and plant at 4 weeks for the most economical, fastest start. Planting into soilless environments and large pots, on the other hand, does seem to benefit more from starting with larger plants, and I do exactly as Tania, transplanting into 1 gallon pots first with 50/50 compost/mix. Promix for the transplant into 3.25" pots is about half the total cost of producing the plant, unfortunately. I keep trying to come up with ways to bring this cost down, as we expect to use twice as much this year on 11,000 plants.