Selling transplants
 

I already have many customers that have requested transplants for heirloom tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. If anyone has any experience growing and caring for transplants that will be sold tips are appreciated. I was wondering if seed starting mix will be a suitable medium for growing the transplants and if lights are nessacary or not.

I'm greenhouse chairman of our Master Gardener group. We grow out about 1000 transplants each year for our sale.
Sell them in 4 inch pots for $3 each. Have about 30 varieties
Start the seeds around march 1st, first sale is Mothers day wekend so they are nice size.

How much space and other resources do you have? Do you have a greenhouse?

Just about any mix will work, but you'll need to fertilize at some point. I use Osmocote because it's easy and hard to mess up. It's a time release pelleted fertilizer that you mix in the soil. If you want to avoid chemical fertilizers, you could add some compost/manure to the media and then add organic fertilizers to the water you give the plant as it needs them.

Fish emulsion is also a good choice if you want to go organic.

I have about 100 sq. ft that can be covered with a low tunnel. Is this method suitable for growing transplants? Fish emulsion is a favorite of mine . I use it on anything from tomatoes to citrus.

Low tunnels are becoming very popular here in Michigan.

They should work fine down there for transplants.

I went to a seminar at Michigan Stae on how to build them; very easy.

Paul

That's not very much space. Is it possible to build a small greenhouse? Transplants can be stacked in layers on shelves, so even a very small greenhouse can give you a lot of useable surface area. If your area is a strip of land next to a house, you can build a lean-to greenhouse. You'd want automatic vent openers so that you don't work yourself to death. Ventilating by hand is a lot of work for not much reward when you're working with a smaller square footage.

I know it's not that big of a space but for what I do which is mainly sell to friends and family, I always have enough transplants to sell and some to keep to grow in my garden.

[QUOTE=paulgrow;332101]I'm greenhouse chairman of our Master Gardener group. We grow out about 1000 transplants each year for our sale.
Sell them in 4 inch pots for $3 each. Have about 30 varieties
Start the seeds around march 1st, first sale is Mothers day wekend so they are nice size.[/QUOTE]

I am interested in this, Paul. How do you organize the gardeners? Do you provide identical pots for each one? How do you decide who grows which seedlings?

I am starting a garden group, and want to do the same thing, but just thought about collecting excess seedlings and selling whatever happens to come in.

[QUOTE=paulgrow;332101]I'm greenhouse chairman of our Master Gardener group. We grow out about 1000 transplants each year for our sale.
Sell them in 4 inch pots for $3 each. Have about 30 varieties
Start the seeds around march 1st, first sale is Mothers day wekend so they are nice size.[/QUOTE]

I have always wondered about 'extra' seeds? I don't have enough room to grow out every seed I have, and I'd rather not waste them. In addition to sharing them with friends and neighbors, can you sell extra seed in a yard sale or at market, or do you need commercial licenses and such, even as a 'hobbyist'? I know plenty of folks here sell veggie plants in their driveway or at town festivals, but I have never seen extra seed mentioned. Just curious... :?

There is usually a state 'seedsman' license required and you have to maintain records as to seed lots, germination percentages, etc. It's not expensive here, but there is paperwork involved. I don't know if there is an exemption for small farmers market type sales or not.

[QUOTE=ScottinAtlanta;333281]I am interested in this, Paul. How do you organize the gardeners? Do you provide identical pots for each one? How do you decide who grows which seedlings?

I am starting a garden group, and want to do the same thing, but just thought about collecting excess seedlings and selling whatever happens to come in.[/QUOTE]

Scott: Like Paul, I participate in an organized sale of seedlings. Ours is not the Master Gardeners Sale, but many in our group are MGs. Ours is a church sale, and the proceeds go to run our 2 church gardens that provide fresh veggies for the local food pantry. Our gardens were just approved as Master Gardener sites where MGs can earn their hours. So the Field of Dreams garden committee divides the seed germinating responsibilities. One or two people are in charge of peppers, the same for tomatoes, herbs, flowers, etc. This yr we are mixing up a large amt of potting mix and usually pot up into 3 or 4 inch pots for the sale right around the same time as yours. Other people donate plants that they have dug out of their garden....Lily of the Valley, Day Lilies, raspberries. We even take donations from church members who are dividing up some of the plants in their gardens. We do a free will donation and do very well...research has shown that people tend to donate even more than the normal cost of the plant. But I don't know that that approach would work for your group. We have been able to use the proceeds to buy our supplies which included a drip system for the one garden last year and will include drip for the other garden this year. It is possible that in the foreseeable future we will be able to even donate funds to some deserving groups. Anyway, I personally think the veggies look better if presented in a uniform pot...tomatoes & peppers, either a 3" or 4" pot. One yr we had some people bring theirs to the sale in old cottage cheese container, etc. While thrifty, I think you might reap more from the sale if you used something else. Last yr, we had tomatoes in 16 oz cups from Sams and peppers in 12 oz. red cups. They can even be color coded according to color of tomato, etc. We label everything, but we were surprised at the number of people who could not tell the difference between a pepper plant or a tomato plant and so color coding helped with that.

I noticed that Sam's sells the cardboard carriers that hold 4 cups for about 25 cents each in bulk. My plants are four for $5, so that will work out well. It's hard for customers to hold more than two plants with a tray, so I think those carrier boxes will work out well.

Very useful information, Farmette. thanks.

No problem Scott. Forgive me for rambling about the gardens; as you can see I really love the project and the way everyone works together. Good luck on yours and keep us posted.