I'm thinking about selling plants

[Rajun Gardener]

I thought Ya'll might like to see the way this guy has his sales set up. He does landscape work and sells on the side among other things. I met him a few years ago and see him every year at the Day Lily festival. Here's his facebook page of what he sells/does but more importantly for some of you might be the way he collects money when he's not home. He has a store set up on Square. I'm sure he has some theft, I know he's not in the best part of town.

https://squareup.com/store/urbannaturalist

https://www.facebook.com/TheUrbanNaturalist/

[joseph]

At my market, 6-packs of basil are very popular.

I few years ago I was making 6-packs of mixed varieties of tomatoes. They were very well received.

[BigVanVader]

I pretty much do as cole does only I dont use any ferts unless the plants are getting big and then I use TTF or fish emulsion/kelp. I sell all my veg starts at $3 each or 5 for $10. you can see all my prices here https://nodinesplants.wixsite.com/nodinesplants

It is hard to lose money selling plants. If you can find a plug grower near you it makes it really quick to make a fair amount of $. Dwarf flowers of any sort typically sell well especially Profusion Double Mix zinnias. I'd also call Ball and find your nearest rep. He will know all the growers and plug producers and can likely help you more than anyone here. Hanging baskets are also something to consider. Ask other nursery owners around you what their best/easiest flower is for making $ Good Luck!

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by Rajun Gardener

I thought Ya'll might like to see the way this guy has his sales set up. He does landscape work and sells on the side among other things. I met him a few years ago and see him every year at the Day Lily festival. Here's his facebook page of what he sells/does but more importantly for some of you might be the way he collects money when he's not home. He has a store set up on Square. I'm sure he has some theft, I know he's not in the best part of town.

https://squareup.com/store/urbannaturalist

https://www.facebook.com/TheUrbanNaturalist/

His prices seem awfully low. I'd never sell a veg seedling for less than $2.

[ginger2778]

We have an annual sale here of tomato plants. Here is not a farming community by any means, so there are not a lot of people selling food plants, but lots if ornamentals. So most people go to Home Depot or Lowe's to buy their tomato plants, and those stores sell them for $3.65 each in 4-inch pots. So we make a killing that one weekend we sell, by selling at $3 a piece or 10 for $25. Our sale benefits our local community garden with 100% of the proceeds going to buy supplies for the community garden members. Our community garden lets people garden for free and take home food just for sweat equity. We usually make just under $2,000 in that weekend. We have a large following now because our plants do very very well.

[Cole_Robbie]

100% of my financial proceeds go to me, but one of the best things about growing plants for sale is being in the position to give a lot of them away. Every year, I always end up growing a lot more than I can sell, and then always seem to find a place to donate a lot of plants. One year it was a children's home, and another year it was the state prison. This past summer, a new community garden went up in my town, and they got a lot of plants from me.

You'll also make a lot of friends with loyal customers who will come back next year and remember you, even though you might not remember them. I especially enjoy selling dwarf and container plants to customers who would otherwise be past the age where they were physically healthy enough to garden. Where I live, the soil is good, so growing a tomato in a container is a rare thing and most people don't even know it is possible, especially growing one that tastes good. Each spring, I have an older gentleman track me down to get his favorite dwarf tomato variety (Mano). He is in an assisted living facility, and I can tell it gives him great joy to not only be able to grow tomatoes, but that they "taste the way a tomato ought to taste, " as he puts it.

Just this week, when visiting my grandma, I met another assisted living home resident who couldn't wait to buy a lot of my flowers next spring, after she saw some pictures. The catch is that I have to plant them all in the garden they keep for the residents. I laughed and told her I would. I guess I will end up learning how to landscape.

[imp]

I agree, Cole, some of the most fun was giving many plants away, to the community garden, Rob's chemo nurses, friends and neighbors and kids, too.

Don't get me wrong, the money came in darn handy last year as that was when Rob had just been diagnosed.

A younger family came and bought plants for their garden and as we chatted, turns out the two boys were going to grow a spot with their own plants and would take care of them themselves. Well, the parents picked out their plants, and the boys and I walked around, picking out plants for them and discussing tomato colors and tastes. The boys did the picking, and were so terribly serious about it. Almost like talking with 2 short little farmers!

The boys got their plants free, and hopefully will grow on up planting and enjoying gardening. Both ended up with a lot of varieties and colors.

[loulac]

Originally Posted by imp

The boys got their plants free, and hopefully will grow on up planting and enjoying gardening.

Great idea, Imp. I've noticed fewer and fewer young people enjoy gardening, they seem to prefer buying their food in supermarkets, at least in my place. Helping youngsters keep their own plot will give them the joy or creating something by themselves. This is the right way to create new generations of gardeners.

[kurt]

At our mega block long garage sale,we all have a color round little sticker that denote asking price,red soled,BMWS,MARCEDES,SUVS THAT PULL UP IN THE HASTE AND RUN UP ON YOUR CONESget a special price,x2.This has all been decided before.Pick up truck,dirty,neighbors ,friends,little cub/girl scouts,potential gardners all get change back,they walk away with all their money back minus one Penney .Works for us here,networking,sales,bull.... You name it,and on Nfl days flags go up(steelers for I)and it brings all of our humanity out(betting,spread that day?a little bolita).Its not what you do,how you do it,what you say ,how you say it(sayin from memory long ago)The sale has kinda grown its own mini economy if you will.Remember we sold everyone swampland,unforeseen made millions,come on down.

[Rajun Gardener]

I just got off the phone with Macore, they sell those professional plant stakes pre printed with a pic and description like all the big companies use. 500 is the minimum order for $18, if they don't have the info of the plants you're selling then a research fee of $3.99 is applied. $15.00 handling fee for orders under $200. They can also put a barcode on them too. This price is for the Size 1. It comes out to .4¢ each.

http://www.macore.com/products/plant..._illustrations

[Cole_Robbie]

Wow, last time I looked at MasterTag, a similar product, they had a 5,000 tag minimum order. But I think the MasterTag product is meant to lock into a specific type of cell tray - that's the newest design. It keeps customers from being able to yank out the tag. You would be surprised how many people do that, instead of bending over to read it. Then they don't remember where they pulled it out. Little kids are bad about pulling tags, too.

If you sell peppers, separate the sweet and the hot on the table. A lot of people mistakenly think that a hot pepper seedling is going to burn them or their kids, so they are scared to touch the plants.

[imp]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Wow, last time I looked at MasterTag, a similar product, they had a 5,000 tag minimum order. But I think the MasterTag product is meant to lock into a specific type of cell tray - that's the newest design. It keeps customers from being able to yank out the tag. You would be surprised how many people do that, instead of bending over to read it. Then they don't remember where they pulled it out. Little kids are bad about pulling tags, too.

If you sell peppers, separate the sweet and the hot on the table. A lot of people mistakenly think that a hot pepper seedling is going to burn them or their kids, so they are scared to touch the plants.

Another reason I label right on the solo cup, tags being taken out or dropped. Plus, after transplanting to the ground/bag, I cut the solo cup into a wedge shape with the info on it, punch a hole in the corner and have a plant tag.

Edit:

I do use a small amount of either Popsicle sticks or shorter plastic labels for the seed trays when I am starting seeds as the spaces are so small and like 48 or 72 cells all together. After I take them out of that, into the solo cups single plant at a time.

[agee12]

Originally Posted by imp

What I did may or may not work for you, each area is different.

When I sold some of the starts I did ( I gave about 500 away to the community garden people), at $3.00 each or 4/$10.00, they were in the solo cups with holes drilled through the bottoms. I wrote on the cups with markers, variety, color, size of tomato and leaf type. That way, no labels to lose, being me, or smudge, or to be pulled out and put in the wrong cup. Plants were 6 to 10 inches in the solo cups date of sale.

I bought the solo cups at walmart, and with soiless starter, seed, water, fertilizer and my work, I figured I had right at 50 cents a solo cup/tomato plant on average invested. I also paid one of the neighbor hood girls to help set up the tables in my driveway and sort plants out. That was not figured in the average cost. I did not sell any 4 or 6 packs.

Advertised on Craig's list and on the local radio swap show that goes on early Saturdays - all free. I did do the Craig's list for 3 weekends prior to and including the weekend of the sale. I ran the sale Saturday and Sunday, 10 am to 3 pm under the oak tree, also offered bottled water for 50 cents ( was in a big tub with ice).

Off topic but I am curious about seed starting in Solo cups which I did last season with mixed results but hope to get better at it. How big are the cups you use? Do you water from the top? If you water from the bottom, do you do anything special to get the water wick up high enough in the cup to reach the seedling's roots?

Thanks.

[SueCT]

I also use the Solo cups, and the ones I use are 18 ounces. I water from the top, but I don't wet the leaves. I use a watering can with a long narrow spout and insert it into the cup below the leaves to water each cup. Most people swear by bottom watering, but I never liked it. I found that especially when plants are small and so are the roots, the soil at the bottom of the cup was too wet by the time the water reached the small roots near the top. Bottom watering is fine once the roots are well developed, I guess, but I find it easier to make sure the roots are getting adequate water without over watering if I do it from the top. I also think gravity helps distribute the water more evenly in the soil from the top. If you are not wetting leaves, I don't think it matters much and you will get better results with which ever method makes it easier for you properly judge when and how much water they need. Some people grow way too many plants to water individually like I do, and could not water from the top without wetting the leaves repeatedly. I find it gets a little tedious, but I can keep up with up to 75-100 seedlings in Solo cups watering the way I do.

[Rajun Gardener]

I do both top and bottom water depending on the size of the plant and if I have time to baby each plant. After transplanting i do top water to settle the soil and get any air pockets out.

Maybe your problem is starting seeds in the cup. I start all seeds in a community pot/tub/6 paks then transplant after the first true leaves develop into the cups so I can bury the plants deep and it's usually in the lower 1/3 of the cup so bottom watering will work.