Selling plants

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Hey guys I’m looking at selling tomato and pepper plants next spring. Would you sell all heirloom or sell some hybrid to? Is it worth the extra money for organic seed? Do people really care about that? How do you know what varieties sell? Also where are some good places to sell other than farmers market? Does anybody have any luck with herbs, cucumbers, or eggplant? Thanksguys.
 
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my good neighbor offered up some plants for sale this spring, he sold all heirloom type. Posted in in a Neighborhood Facebook page. Don't think he did that great, had a lot left over. At the end he composted many. But I saved up some and my near by neighbor did also. He also had chili plants. In general, around here, there are so many Amish, and many Amish stands that its easier to spend a few dollars for tomatoes than grow them, especially if you have a small family.
 
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my good neighbor offered up some plants for sale this spring, he sold all heirloom type. Posted in in a Neighborhood Facebook page. Don't think he did that great, had a lot left over. At the end he composted many. But I saved up some and my near by neighbor did also. He also had chili plants. In general, around here, there are so many Amish, and many Amish stands that its easier to spend a few dollars for tomatoes than grow them, especially if you have a small family.
Thanks for the reply. Where are you located? Not many Amish here but there could be a lot of people selling plants.
 
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First, do some research and find out which varieties grow well in your area as ALL tomatoes do NOT grow well in ALL locations. IMO, really healthy beautiful plants sell much better than just typical plants sold at grocery and hardware stores. Most, if not all locations that sell plants, get their plants from large growers and the prices they pay will be lower than what you can grow them and make a small profit. So, where to sell your plants? You sell them either on consignment or retail at any location that does not already sell plants. I doubt if any store will take your plants if they already get their plants from a commercial grower as the commercial grower might stop selling to them if they do. The only way, IMO, to sell your plants at these locations is to sell something that is not available by the commercial grower. And since commercial growers grow just about everything you need something different, such as instead of a six-pack of small plants, sell much larger plants in larger containers for a larger price. But this means you must have a green house and start the plants much earlier.

I don't think people really care if a plant is grown from an organic seed. What is important, IMO, is that the plants be marketed as organically grown.
 
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First, do some research and find out which varieties grow well in your area as ALL tomatoes do NOT grow well in ALL locations. IMO, really healthy beautiful plants sell much better than just typical plants sold at grocery and hardware stores. Most, if not all locations that sell plants, get their plants from large growers and the prices they pay will be lower than what you can grow them and make a small profit. So, where to sell your plants? You sell them either on consignment or retail at any location that does not already sell plants. I doubt if any store will take your plants if they already get their plants from a commercial grower as the commercial grower might stop selling to them if they do. The only way, IMO, to sell your plants at these locations is to sell something that is not available by the commercial grower. And since commercial growers grow just about everything you need something different, such as instead of a six-pack of small plants, sell much larger plants in larger containers for a larger price. But this means you must have a green house and start the plants much earlier.

I don't think people really care if a plant is grown from an organic seed. What is important, IMO, is that the plants be marketed as organically grown.
Thank you for all the information. So I have a dumb question. I can still market them as organically grown if I don’t use organic seed? Also if I were to sell produce at a farmers market can I sell the produce as organic if the seed wasn’t organic?
 
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Thank you for all the information. So I have a dumb question. I can still market them as organically grown if I don’t use organic seed? Also if I were to sell produce at a farmers market can I sell the produce as organic if the seed wasn’t organic?
There is a fine line about totally organic and organically grown. To be safe, sell as organically grown, this takes the seed out of the equation
 
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I would defintely have to time it better as far as when to start them. In years past I’ve had plants in gallon pots by the end. Obviously cost wise gallon pots aren’t something you wanna be giving away. Any ideas on what would be a practical pot? Like a peat pot?
 
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I would defintely have to time it better as far as when to start them. In years past I’ve had plants in gallon pots by the end. Obviously cost wise gallon pots aren’t something you wanna be giving away. Any ideas on what would be a practical pot? Like a peat pot?
You will want the cheapest pot and that is light-weight plastic. Timing is of the utmost importance. You will want the largest plant possible available at the optimum time for planting, but, you do not want the plant to have fruit set if you can help it. This is especially true of determinate varieties. Remember that fruit set is determined by low nighttime temperatures, so if you can adjust the nighttime temperatures so as to not set fruit your plants will grow to a larger size and thus be more enticing to buyers.
 
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I would defintely have to time it better as far as when to start them. In years past I’ve had plants in gallon pots by the end. Obviously cost wise gallon pots aren’t something you wanna be giving away. Any ideas on what would be a practical pot? Like a peat pot?
Peat pots are a disaster. I use the red plastic cups now common everywhere. I burn drain holes with a soldering iron iron in the bottom. They are perfect as one can buy commercially. Zone 5.
 
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Brian, I am going to go at this answer from a business angle. There are several prerequisites to starting up a successful endeavor. First, you must know your product. How much experience do you have raising vegetables from seed? Do you have the horticultural expertise to diagnose and overcome problems that may come up? Second, you have to know your market. In your OP you asked about where to sell your product. Don’t invest your money if you don’t already know that there is a need for your product. Third, you should know what liability you are responsible for.

If you want to do this just for fun and don’t care if you loose some money, go for it. If you are hoping to supplement your family income you must know all aspects of this endeavor.
 
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There is much work in growing plants. Much labor involved. Unless there is access to cheap labour you are going to have lot of personal slugging.

I have about half an acre and about 2500 square feet under cultivation. The result in much slugging labour.. Machines doesn't do everything. Selling or preserving takes much effort.

Starting from scratch requires much reading and effort.

Check round. gardening is shunned by the pizza and hamburger crowd. Hence the world obesity epidemic.
 

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