Growing seedlings to sell?

[CricketsGarden]

I have a greenhouse business and been growing tomato plants for sale for 9 years. I have no employees, but accept family volunteers.
Last year I sold 400 flats of tomatoes ( about 14,000 plants) and sold about 1500 potted tomatoes(3 inch and 6 inch pots)
I am goin up on the numbers this year. I had to call in the Calvary. My sister and her daughters to help. Their labor for free plants.

Good luck to those who are starting out. Wishing you big success.

I also grow tomato produce in a greenhouse and in the gardens. Always try to grow a giant.

And I take photos of everything.

Happy Gardening
Cricket

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Would love to see pics and welcome.

Craig

Originally Posted by CricketsGarden

I have a greenhouse business and been growing tomato plants for sale for 9 years. I have no employees, but accept family volunteers.
Last year I sold 400 flats of tomatoes ( about 14,000 plants) and sold about 1500 potted tomatoes(3 inch and 6 inch pots)
I am goin up on the numbers this year. I had to call in the Calvary. My sister and her daughters to help. Their labor for free plants.

Good luck to those who are starting out. Wishing you big success.

I also grow tomato produce in a greenhouse and in the gardens. Always try to grow a giant.

And I take photos of everything.

Happy Gardening
Cricket

[CricketsGarden]

are we allowed to post photos in any thread.

[CricketsGarden]

I will be growing 4 batches of tomato plants in flats. Each batch will be 150 flats not counting the 6inch pots and 3 inch pots.
This is the first batch of 150 flats.

[CricketsGarden]

3 inch pots of tomatoes are on the far left all the way down to the end of the greenhouse and some in the center tables but thats mostly peppers.

[CricketsGarden]

close up of different tomatoes in 3 inch (1801 deep inserts)

[CricketsGarden]

this aint big yet but might get there.
we think this tom has 5 fused blossoms. 4 of them are clear in the photo, one is curled back.

[gardenfrog]

I'm in Shelbyville, near Indy! I've been selling the past couple years at our farmers market downtown. Many of the people who buy from us want BIG, and some want unusual, others taste...but for the most part your enthusiasm for a particular variety (or more) is what sells. I found that guys tended to buy my hot pepper plants and large tomato plants for salsa. Women tended to purchase more of the sweet pepper plants and cherry tomato plants. I had a few Dills Atlantic Giant pumpkin plants that sold well when adults brought their kids to the market. One BIG surprise was the enthusiasm for my leek plants! One seller was doing a great business in selling his "volunteer" berry plants. He sold out quickly whenever he brought them to market.

[GIZZARDFARM]

Around my area not many folks have eaten or grown heirlooms. It has taken me a couple years of selling heirloom tomatoes, and having tastings at the market,to many customers to build my plant sales. this year I have started 2000 plants (35 varities) Ill plant 300 and sell the rest to finance my gardening addiction most floks on here sell them for great profit however I usually sell mine for one dollar per plant which i pot up in styrofoam coffee cups. I have found that Brandywine Sudduth,Black,OTV, KBX, and Cherokee Purple sell the best.....Gizzard

[Jackster]

Do you have any pics of cherry tomato seedlings? Wondering if they look different than regular tomato plants - mine kind of do, plus are lagging a bit in growth...

thanks!

[gardenfrog]

People are "romanced" by a seller who knows some history of heirlooms and the process of heirlooming. Goose Creek, for instance, would just be another good tasting tomato if it weren't for the "romance" of the original seed coming from Africa with slaves to the U.S. and the passdown from family to family. Or Sara's Galapagos, the great-great-grandaughter of Charles Darwin discovering a wonderful cross between a mainland tomato and a native island tomato. The immigrant connection has loads of stories. Japanese Black Trifele, Marianna's Peace, Dr. Carolyn's etc. have stories that woo buyers at he market. How many different flavors of tomato are out there? What variety holds the record for this or that? Did you know that some varieties are actually thought to have aphrodesiac properties?! I have a seed-saver friend of mine who told me she has never tried a tomato she didn't like. With thousands of varieties out there, I wonder how many tomatoes she never knew!

[kevokie]

This may be a stupid question, but I'm gonna ask it anyways. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna give an answer to it as well.

What kind of seeds do you use when you are selling your seedlings? Saved seeds from previous years or do you buy new seeds every year? Or, a mix?

I'm thinking that people would buy new seeds every year to insure a little more that the seeds will come true for the customer that buys the seedling. I'm sure you could always use saved seed, but even though it doesn't happen much, crossing does occur unless you take steps to make sure that don't happen. I would think that might be more trouble than it's worth. I'm sure it would depend on how many varieties a person is going to sell as well versus how many they are going to grow themselves.

[bigmeanmamma]

Originally Posted by BattleOfBennington

Lesa -

Love to catch up with you and learn a little....

Cal

Wow, I'm so glad to see other Indiana people who love tomatoes. Maybe we can hold an Indiana gathering this summer.

Everything I know I've learned (and its not much!) on Tomatoville and from my friend on here, "Miss Mudcat" plus a little trial and error.

[seymour_man]

Kevokie,

As this is my first year of growing plants to sell I am doing a mix of saved seed and purchased seeds. My saved seed is not from bagged blossoms but I tried to save from fruit isolated as much as possible.

Since I had thought about doing this last year I did save a lot of seed from varieties I thought about selling, so I actually have separate lots for most varieties and have started seeds from each lot.

Do I worry there might be an accidental cross? Not so much that a customer buys a Red Beefsteak and ends up with a cross like an "Earls Faux" or "Berkeley Tie-Dye". The customer would be surprised but still OK. My biggest fear is selling a cherry and getting a large fruit or vice versa.

But what it really came down to is knowing that I could "buy" crossed seed just as easily as "save" it.

To all the other Indiana folks:
It is nice to see some more Hoosiers here.

Duane

[Dukerdawg]

It's funny how many Duane's we have here! Must be something about the name and gardening, particularly tomatoes!

Question for those of you selling seedlings. Do you sell them in the 4" square pots? If so where is the best place to get them without breaking the budget? IF not, what do you sell them in. Paper cups seem awfully cheap when asking for money. Thanks in advance!

Duane (another one)